ABOUT US

Mission
Board of Directors
Staff
History


MISSION

The mission of the Fair Housing Justice Center is to:

• Challenge systemic discrimination that restricts access to housing opportunities or fosters segregation.
• Advocate public policies and programs that reverse the harm caused by systemic discrimination, reduce inequality, and promote open and inclusive communities.
• Upgrade and strengthen local, state, and national fair housing enforcement.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bernhard Blythe, President
   Blythe Designs

Gene Capello, Vice President
   Assistant General Counsel, Pfizer, Inc.

Robert Martin, Treasurer
   Deputy Director, District 37 Municipal Employees Legal Services

Yvette Wilson, Secretary
   Minister In Residence, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims
   Associate Dean for Student Life and Assistant Director of Recruitment, Union Theological Seminary

Sharon McGruder
   Actor

Nancy Trott
   Senior Associate, Risk Management Research Group
   PricewaterhouseCoopers

Note: Organizations listed are for identification purposes only.

STAFF

LaDonna Burns, Intake Analyst
Prior to joining the FHJC, Ms. Burns worked as a Legislative Assistant for the Indiana House of Representatives.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University in Microbiology.  Ms. Burns has lived in New York City since 2001 and is a professional singer.

Fred Freiberg, Field Services Director
Prior to co-founding the Fair Housing Justice Center in 2004, Mr. Freiberg worked for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice where he directed a national testing program that he helped to establish in 1992.  From 1999 - 2002, Mr. Freiberg directed the field work in two national research projects conducted by The Urban Institute involving testing - a study of mortgage lending practices and the national Housing Discrimination Study (HDS).  During the 1980s, Mr. Freiberg worked as a fair housing consultant for private and public fair housing organizations.  Mr. Freiberg was a founder and the first Executive Director of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council from 1977-1981.  Since 2005, Mr. Freiberg has been co-teaching the Housing Discrimination Law Seminar at Columbia Law School.

Vanessa Gonzalez, Office Manager
Ms. Gonzalez joined the FHJC after two years with The Children’s Village in Westchester County, New York where she worked with at-risk teenagers in a transitional housing program.  She has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton, PA in Counseling and Human Services. Ms. Gonzalez is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Susan Kurien, Executive Director
Susan Kurien returned to New York City in 2010 after working as an employment rights attorney in private practice in Madison, Wisconsin.  During law school, Ms. Kurien worked for two years as a student attorney at the Consumer Law Litigation Clinic at the University of Wisconsin and then as a staff attorney at the Dane County Circuit Court.  Ms. Kurien was a litigation paralegal in New York City and taught paralegal studies at CUNY before attending law school.  In addition to her law degree, Ms. Kurien holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she double majored in political science and theater.  Ms. Kurien is originally from Connecticut.

Justin Levy, Staff Attorney
Mr. Levy holds a Juris Doctor from Hofstra Law School where he graduated summa cum laude.  While at Hofstra, Mr. Levy served as a Notes & Comments Editor on the Hofstra Law Review and interned with the Housing Rights Clinic. Mr. Levy was admitted to the New York State Bar in May 2010.

HISTORY

The Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc. (FHJC) is a membership-based 501(c)(3) fair housing organization based in New York City. The FHJC was initially incubated as a program of HELP USA, a non-profit provider of housing and social services for homeless families and individuals. In 2004, upon learning that many formerly homeless families were encountering discriminatory barriers during their search for permanent housing, HELP USA recruited two of the nation's leading fair housing advocates, Diane L. Houk and Fred Freiberg, to organize the FHJC and fill the void left by the closing of the New York Open Housing Center in 2003.

Sponsorship by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council enabled HELP USA to access funding provided by HUD to open the FHJC in April 2005. Ms. Houk served as FHJC's first Executive Director from 2005 - 2009. The FHJC is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors.