Tenant Right to Counsel Convening: Full Schedule

1:50pm EDT

Bringing it Home: Strategies for Early Campaign Building and Achieving Key Stakeholder Sign on LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT

In this strategy session, you'll hear from and work with tenant leaders and organizers from jurisdictions that have passed a tenant right to counsel. We’ll explore successful tenant RTC campaign building strategies, specifically for tenant organizers, tenant leaders, and people impacted by eviction. We’ll also cover specific challenges organizers and leaders face advancing tenant RTC. We’ll have opportunities to examine existing campaign plans from various jurisdictions where RTC has been enacted and implemented.

Speakers

Maria Roumiantseva

Associate Coordinator, National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel

Maria (she/her) is the NCCRC’s Associate Coordinator. Before joining the NCCRC in February 2020, Maria was a Staff Attorney at Legal Services of Central New York, Inc., primarily representing tenants facing eviction. Maria began her legal career at the Legal Aid Society, Juvenile... Read More →

Karen Harvey

Director, Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition

Y. Frank Southall

Organizing and Community Engagement Manager, Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative

Y. Frank Southall is the Organizing and Community Engagement Manager at the Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative (JPNSI) in New Orleans, LA.At JPNSI, Southall manages the organization’s organizing and community engagement strategies. His primary organizing focuses are... Read More →

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT
Room W302, 3rd floor

Breakout strategy session

1:50pm EDT

How to Activate All Tenants: Learnings about Tenant Outreach and its Impact on Tenant RTC LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT

Auditorium WA14, basement level

As you advance and implement a tenant right to counsel, tenant outreach is imperative at all stages of your plan. Tenants must be involved in developing the plan, activated to make other tenants aware, and deeply familiar with the strategies and what a right to counsel can mean. Developing effective, adaptable, multi-faceted outreach strategies, and planning for how outreach and phase-in will interact is key to an effective, sustainable, and transformative tenant right to counsel law. How can we better reach tenants? Are there drawbacks to effective outreach (causing legal services providers to be over-capacity and potentially close intake)?

Join us in this strategy session to learn more about successful tenant outreach techniques and potential cautions.

Speakers

Amy Nevarez

Outreach Manager, Stay Housed LA

AmyLinda Nevarez is the Tenant Outreach and Education Manager for Stay Housed LA at SAJE (Strategic Actions for a Just Economy). Born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles to immigrant working-class parents, AmyLinda has firsthand experience with the housing struggles faced by many... Read More →

Pablo Estupiñan

Director, Anti-Eviction, SAJE-Strategic Actions for a Just Economy

Coalition Coordinator, Keep LA HousedCampaign Director, LA Right to Counsel Coalition

Cata Romo

Co-Program Manager, Stay Housed LA Community Based Organizations

Catalina Romo Paxcle, is a queer adult-adoptee raised in Long Beach, California. Currently Catalina works in housing justice across Los Angeles County, California via Stay Housed LA and the LA Right to Counsel Coalition. With over 10 years of experience Cata has led political campaigns... Read More →

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT
Auditorium WA14, basement level

Breakout strategy session

1:50pm EDT

Narrative Strategy: How to Politicize Evictions and Communicate the Power of RTC LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT

Events Center

In this strategy session, we’ll explore narrative successes and challenges from tenant right to counsel campaigns and brainstorm new messaging strategies together. This will be a working session where we’ll learn together about:

how to uplift tenant stories in messaging and narrative
messaging to politicize evictions
challenging the narratives that vilify tenants
how right to counsel can be used as a tenant organizing tool
how to message what makes a right to counsel a right

Speakers

Malika Conner

Coalition Coordinator, Right to Counsel NYC Coalition

Malika is an experienced community organizer, coalition builder, campaign strategist, and social worker. She has worked in the social justice movement for over a decade and has extensive experience building coalitions and campaigns from the ground up. Malika began working with the... Read More →

Bryan Fotino

Tenant Organizer, Catholic Migration Services

Bryan Fotino is a Tenant Organizer at Catholic Migration Services, a role he has held since November 2022. He organizes tenant associations across Queens to advocate for better living conditions and mobilizes tenants for community meetings and the Housing Courts Must Change campaign.Previously... Read More →

Lauren Springer

Tenant Leader; RTC NYC Coalition, Steering Committee Member, Catholic Migration Services

A native New Yorker, product of public housing, and a long-time rent-regulated tenant, Lauren Springer is a volunteer tenant leader with Catholic Migration Services (CMS), a non-profit legal services provider in Queens providing legal assistance and know-your-rights education in the... Read More →

Thursday April 24, 2025 1:50pm - 3:20pm EDT
Events Center New York Law School, 185 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013

Breakout strategy session

3:45pm EDT

Building Up The Organizing Infrastructure To Pass And Implement Tenant RTC Laws LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT

Room W302, 3rd floor

In this strategy session, we’ll workshop the type of community organizing infrastructure necessary to implement RTC effectively, sustainably, and justly. The conversation will focus on the critical role of grassroots mobilization, coalition-building, and ongoing community engagement in ensuring that tenants are aware of their right to counsel and can fully access and benefit from it. While the passage of RTC laws represents a monumental victory, the fight for tenants' rights does not end there.

Speakers

Lucy Block

Kyle Nelson

Senior Policy and Research Analyst, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE)

Kyle Nelson is a Senior Policy and Research Analyst at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). Since graduating from UCLA with a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2022, Nelson has worked for SAJE, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and UCLA Veterans Initiatives and Partnerships conducting... Read More →

Adalky Capellán

Right to Counsel NYC Coalition

Adalky Capellán, a Washington Heights and Bronx native, graduated from DePauw University in 2013. Her Afro-Latina heritage and neighborhood experiences significantly shape her artistic and activist work. Over the past decade, she has engaged in various roles, including as an intern... Read More →

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room W302, 3rd floor

Breakout strategy session

3:45pm EDT

Developing Relationships, Alignment, and Accountability with Elected Officials LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT

Auditorium WA14, basement level

In this strategy session, we’ll learn more about the successful techniques to and challenges in developing relationships, alignment and accountability with elected officials. Though we’ll have time to hear from advocates on the panel, we’ll also brainstorm strategies together to ensure your elected officials are fighting hard to pass and implement RTC in your region.

Speakers

Judge Shera Grant

Circuit Court Judge, 10th Judicial Circuit-Birmingham, Alabama

Judge Shera Grant is a Circuit Court Judge in the 10th Judicial Circuit in Birmingham, Alabama. She became a judge in January 2016. Judge Grant is a 1999 graduate of Alabama State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems. After college, Judge Grant... Read More →

Malika Conner

Coalition Coordinator, Right to Counsel NYC Coalition

Randy Dillard

RTCNYC / Community Action for Safe Apartments at New Settlement (CASA)

Randy Dillard is a resident of the Bronx and a single father of 5 children. He has been a CASA member for 14 years and a CASA leader for 12 of those years. Randy has been intricately involved in the creation of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition. Since 2014, Randy was also appointed... Read More →

Janet Fry

Deputy Executive Director, Community Resource Center

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT
Auditorium WA14, basement level

Breakout strategy session

3:45pm EDT

Planning the Attorney Pipeline: Advocate Recruitment and Retention LIMITED

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT

Events Center

In this session, we’ll hear from advocates in tenant RTC jurisdictions about what it looks like to build capacity among legal services providers. We’ll begin the discussion into the attorney pipeline, if and how law schools are promoting housing justice and tenant defense, and how we increase the number of attorneys entering this work. We’ll also explore strategies to address recruitment and retention issues among legal services providers, including burnout, turnover, the need for training among line attorneys and supervisors, the use of advocates who are not lawyers by training, and the use of technology and remote appearances.

Speakers

Michelle Lucas

Senior Managing Attorney - Right to Counsel, Northwest Justice Project

Michelle is the Senior Managing Attorney for Right to Counsel at Northwest Justice Project (NJP). In this role, she oversees and supports NJP’s Eviction Prevention Unit, a statewide team of attorneys providing appointed representation to tenants facing eviction. Previously Michelle... Read More →

Ora Prochovnick

Director of Litigation and Policy, Eviction Defense Collaborative

Ora Prochovnick is the Director of Litigation and Policy at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, the lead agency for San Francisco’s Tenant Right to Counsel Program. She joined the EDC in 2020 after over 35 years of working in the Bay Area’s legal services community. Ora went to... Read More →

Barbara J. Schultz

Director of Housing Justice, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

Barbara J. Schultz is the Director of Housing Justice and oversees LAFLA’s work on housing, houselessness, and community empowerment.Barbara joined LAFLA in 1996 as an AmeriCorps Fellow. Between 1997-2011, she worked as an attorney in the eviction defense, community economic development... Read More →

Andrew Ashbrook

Tenant Right to Counsel Implementation Advisor, NCCRC

Andrew (he/him) is the NCCRC’s Eviction RTC Implementation Specialist. Before joining the NCCRC in January 2024, Andrew was a Supervising Attorney on the Bronx Defenders’ Right to Counsel team. In that role, he supervised a team of attorneys representing tenants facing eviction... Read More →

Erica Braudy

Deputy Director, Housing Unit, Manhattan Legal Services

Erica Braudy is a deputy director in the Housing Unit at Manhattan Legal Services where she’s worked since 2016. She previously served as a staff attorney and supervising attorney prior to assuming this role. Erica is an adjunct professor and clinic coordinator in the Housing Rights... Read More →

Thursday April 24, 2025 3:45pm - 5:15pm EDT
Events Center New York Law School, 185 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013

Breakout strategy session

10:30am EDT

Research and Data: Key Tools for Tenant Right to Counsel LIMITED

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT

Events Center

In this strategy session, we’ll explore research and data connected to tenant RTC. Topics covered will include:

eviction data disaggregation
cost/benefits analyses
gathering data to effectively evaluate tenant RTC
identifying critical research needs and how we might set a national research agenda
the importance of community involvement, and
relationships between RTC advocates and researchers

Speakers

Danya Keene

Associate Professor, Yale School of Public Health

Danya Keene is an Associate Professor of Social Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her research examines housing and housing policy as determinants of population health equity. Moving beyond a focus on housing and individual health, her work considers how an... Read More →

Lauren Harper

Stay Housed LA Data Manager, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

Harper (she/they) is the Data Manager for Stay Housed LA. They do grant reporting, website management, program evaluation, and anything else involving spreadsheets to implement a Right to Counsel in the City and County of Los Angeles. Harper is passionate about using data and mapping... Read More →

John Pollock

Coordinator, National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel

John (he/him) has been the NCCRC Coordinator since 2009. He is the author of several law review articles, including Appointment of Counsel for Civil Litigants: A Judicial Path to Ensuring the Fair and Ethical Administration of Justice, Court Review, Vol. 56 Issue 1 (2020), The Ca... Read More →

Dr. Tim Thomas

Research Director of the Urban Displacement Project and Director of the Eviction Research Network, UC Berkeley

Dr. Tim Thomas is a professional researcher and research director at Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project (UDP) specializing in urban sociology, demography, and data science. His research focuses on how neighborhood change, housing disparities, policies, and displacement affects... Read More →

Samantha DiDomenico

Director, Stout

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Events Center New York Law School, 185 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013

Breakout strategy session

10:30am EDT

RTC for Culture Change: What High-Quality Representation Looks like LIMITED

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT

Auditorium WA14, basement level

This session examines high-quality representation and how RTC programs are changing the law. We'll explore questions around attorney supervision, how impact work and appeals can continue to be prioritized after tenant RTC is enacted, and how tenant RTC-related litigation is (or can) impact the body of law and practice of law in specific jurisdictions.

Speakers

Andrew Scherer

Professor of Law; Policy Director, Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law, New York Law School

Andrew Scherer is a Professor, the Policy Director of the Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law, the Director of the Right to Counsel Project, and the Co-Director of the Housing Justice Leadership Institute. Professor Scherer currently directs the Housing Rights Clinic. He has... Read More →

Michelle Lucas

Senior Managing Attorney - Right to Counsel, Northwest Justice Project

Marika Dias

Managing Director, Urban Justice Center

Marika Dias is a public interest attorney whose work has focused on providing legal services that support community organizing efforts and grassroots organizing groups, in particular in struggles around housing, immigrant rights, and LGBTQ rights. Marika is currently the Managing... Read More →

Gina Chiala

Attorney, Executive Director, Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom

Gina Chiala is the Executive Director and Staff Attorney for the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom. Gina has years of experience with both social justice campaigns and public interest litigation. Gina began her legal career as a public defender, where she vigorously defended the... Read More →

Hazel Remesch

State and Local Policy Director, Ohio, Enterprise Community Partners

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Auditorium WA14, basement level

Breakout strategy session

10:30am EDT

Self-Directed Workshop LIMITED

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT

Room W302, 3rd floor

This session will focus on court watch—an organizing tactic in which tenants and organizers maintain a consistent, visible presence at the housing courts to support tenants with information about their rights, monitor ongoing cases, and ensure accountability in the court system. Court watching serves as a critical component of community-based efforts to protect tenants' rights and uphold Right to Counsel. Court watch allows organizers to identify trends in eviction cases, pinpoint systemic issues in the court process, and highlight gaps in the provision of Right to Counsel. Court watch serves not only as a means of direct intervention, but also as an organizing tool for expanding our base.

Speakers

Khadija Hussain

Campaign Organizer, Right to Counsel NYC Coalition

Khadija is a tenant organizer based in Brooklyn. She has organized with Brooklyn Eviction Defense and has previously organized tenants in Connecticut to help pass Right to Counsel as a statewide right in 2021. Prior to working at the RTCNYC Coalition, she worked at the Safety Net... Read More →

Adalky Capellán

Right to Counsel NYC Coalition

Friday April 25, 2025 10:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Room W302, 3rd floor

Breakout strategy session

1:30pm EDT

Ins And Outs of Movement Lawyers And Working With/For The Community You’re Serving LIMITED

Friday April 25, 2025 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT

TBA

In this strategy session we’ll look at how lawyers involved in tenant RTC programs can work closely with organizers and movement leaders to advance housing justice more broadly. We’ll explore how legal services programs can remain movement and community-focused while handling the demands of tenant RTC caseloads. We’ll also look at the benefits and insights that RTC attorneys can bring into the movement space.

Speakers

Pablo Estupiñan

Director, Anti-Eviction, SAJE-Strategic Actions for a Just Economy

Coalition Coordinator, Keep LA HousedCampaign Director, LA Right to Counsel Coalition

Andrew Scherer

Professor of Law; Policy Director, Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law, New York Law School

Marika Dias

Managing Director, Urban Justice Center

Ruby-beth Buitekant

Associate Director of Movement Partnerships, Movement Law Lab

Ruby-Beth Buitekant is a radical southern lawyer, facilitator, and speaker. A life-long activist, she has worked as a consultant for organizations and workplaces tackling issues of racism and organizational development. Prior to her consulting work, Ruby-Beth was a Public Policy... Read More →

Friday April 25, 2025 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
TBA

Breakout strategy session

1:30pm EDT

Starting a Tenant Right to Counsel Campaign 101 + Evolution LIMITED

Friday April 25, 2025 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT

TBA

In this strategy session we’re focusing on leading a right to counsel campaign. We’ll workshop strategies, talk about challenges and ways to respond. We’ll explore key aspects not to miss in planning your tenant RTC campaign. We’ll look at plans that have worked and discuss some mechanisms for passing tenant RTC like passing funding first then tenant RTC legislation or working on advancing a tenant right to counsel through a ballot initiative process.

Speakers

Detrese Dowridge

Executive Director, Baltimore Renters United

Detrese was born and raised in Baltimore City and has been working as a tenant advocate since May 2013 when she joined Right to Housing Alliance as a volunteer. In 2022 Right to Housing Alliance merged with and became Baltimore Renters United. Detrese has testified at both the city... Read More →

Jordan Cooper

Director, Organizing, UHAB

Jordan Cooper joined UHAB as Organizing Director in 2023 where she and her team organize the HOPE Tenant Union of Eastern Brooklyn. A native of Philadelphia currently based in Flatbush, Brooklyn, she has been working to support the Tenant Movement in New York since 2016. Previously, Jordan... Read More →

Cinthia Gonzalez

Program Coordinator, Eastside LEADS

Friday April 25, 2025 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
TBA

Breakout strategy session

1:30pm EDT

The Money Side of Tenant RTC: Costs and Funding FILLING

Friday April 25, 2025 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT

TBA

This session will explore finding sustainable funding streams for tenant RTC. We’ll examine strategies that have worked, as well as those that didn’t, and discuss what it means to develop a thorough and careful tenant RTC budget that includes funding not just for infrastructure growth but also lawyer supports (paralegals / social workers), program outreach, and evaluation.

Speakers

Luke Grundman

Director of Litigation & Advocacy, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid

Luke Grundman has made legal aid casework the center of his entire career. He started with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in 2009, spent five years fighting foreclosures and predatory lending, staffed a medical-legal partnership clinic for two years... Read More →

Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg

State Delegate, 41st District, Baltimore City, Maryland General Assembly

Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg has been a member of the House for Delegates since 1983 and currently serves as chair of the Subcommittee Health Occupations and Long-Term Care and House chair of the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review.

Breakout strategy session