Experts will discuss debunking common housing myths in a conference hosted by the Fair Housing Center of Southwest Michigan.
The 2016 Fair Housing Conference will be Friday, April 29 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fetzer Center, 2350 Business Cr., at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
Check in is from 8 a.m. to 8:30 am.
The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required as a continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Register at the center’s website, fhcswm.org before April 26. More information is available at 269-276-9100.
The workshop will be led by Gail M. Schechter, who has more than 30 years experience in community organizing, and is recognized as a premier advocate for affordable housing in affluent areas.
Schechter will be followed by Robert Breymaier, a fair housing policy advocate for more than 20 years, and nationally recognized for establishing a racially integrated community producing multiple benefits for residents.
Attendees will select one of two tracks to follow. One on implicit biases and how they lead to unintended discriminatory housing policies and procedures, and the other on community development and planning and the benefits of creating communities of opportunities. //
Schechter is contributing author of a chapter in the book “The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights Activism in the North.” The book will be for sale and a book signing held. She was executive director of Open Communities in Winnetka Illinois for 22 years.
Breymaier is executive director of the Housing Center in Oak Park Illinois. He formerly served as the Community Relations Director for the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities.
The Center, a private 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides fair housing education for housing providers and consumers, investigates allegations of violations of fair housing law, advocates for public and private policies that promote communities of opportunity, and has the mission to promote integration and eliminate housing discrimination.
The agency serves eight counties in Southwest Michigan, including Barry County.
