Saturday, April 27 at 6 pm Films begin 7 pm

All are welcome to join us for this free and informative event. Joe’s will screen two short films on housing discrimination, racial segregation, and persistent institutional racism, “All the Way Home” and “A Matter of Place”. 

After the screening, we will host a panel discussion with experts on un-fair housing history and practices.

Free. Please RSVP.

A Matter of Place shines a bright light on housing discrimination, one of the most shrouded and misunderstood civil rights issues in America. The documentary connects past struggles for fair housing to contemporary incidents of housing bias based on race, sexual orientation, disability, and source of income. The film depicts three stories of people who faced housing discrimination in present-day New York City. They poignantly describe the injuries inflicted on them during these incidents, as well as their resolve to fight for justice. Through experts, civil rights advocates, and fair housing testers, the film also recounts our nation's often overlooked history of residential segregation and introduces viewers to systemic and pervasive injustices that, despite the existence of fair housing laws, continue to inflict harm on entire communities and individuals throughout America.

Panelists

Renee Battle-Brooks was appointed the Executive Director of the Prince George’s County Human Relations Commission in December 2019. The Human Relations Commission is the county’s civil and human rights education and enforcement agency and is responsible for eradicating discrimination in all forms for all who work, live, play and visit within the boundaries of Prince George’s County. Further, the Human Relations Commission is responsible for organizing and managing the task force identifying and recovering victims of human trafficking, increasing prosecution of traffickers and education the public in its role as the chair of the Prince George’s Human Trafficking Task Force. Finally, the Human Relations Commission is responsible for overseeing initiatives that protect through legal representation county residents in federal custody under threat of deportation and is responsible for developing, implementing and enforcing an equal language access protocol for all residents to access equally county agencies, programs and benefits.

Jesse E. Buggs, Jr. serves as the Director, Office of Grant Development & Administration in the City Manager’s Office for the City of Bowie, Maryland, where he is also responsible for managing the City’s Entitlement Community program with HUD, including the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). He manages the City’s housing, fair housing, and homeless services programs and conducts a Workforce & Life Skills training program for City residents which includes STEM & STEAM training. Mr. Buggs is the immediate-past Chair of the Housing Directors Advisory Committee for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, is a Member of the Greater Washington Housing Leaders Group, and serves on the Thompson Information Services National Grants Editorial Advisory Board. He is a member of the PGC Opportunity for All Comprehensive Housing Strategy Workgroup and the PGC Affordable Housing Commission. He formerly served as President of the National Capital Area Chapter of the Grant Professionals Association.

Trent Day Hall is a facilitator of dialogue and a facilitator trainer. Trent places an emphasis on equity and inclusion while assisting in the transformation of a wide-range of organizations, including preK-12 schools, institutions of higher education, and international entities that promote democratic values. At Penn State, he served as a dialogue instructor, facilitator, and coach. Trent also helped develop the foundation of the Global/Virtual Dialogue Platform while at Penn State. Most recently, he has brought his skills to the local level of government within Howard County Government Dept. of Community Resources and Services, County Administration, and the Office of the Local Children’s Board, in the role of Community Outreach Specialist . In this position, Trent become the thought leader for #OneHoward, an initiative designed to promote community dialogue and reinforce the county’s goals of diversity and inclusiveness.