On April 1, 2013, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) announced a series of educational events to occur throughout the month in commemoration of National Fair Housing Month. Each event is free and open to the public, though registration may be required. 

For more details about GNOFHAC’s celebration of Fair Housing Month 2013, please visit www.gnofairhousing.org or call (504)596-2100.

April 2013 events include:

– Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST Training: April 5, 2013, 8:30am-4pm at the AIA New Orleans Center for Design, 1000 St. Charles Avenue (Lee Circle). The training is based on HUD’s Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST Initiative and will be led by two experts that designed the original program: Expert accessibility trainer Scott Moore and HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement Sara Pratt. The training is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Lunch will be provided. Housing developers, architects, and attorneys are especially encouraged to attend. Three hours of CLE credit are available to participating attorneys; AIA New Orleans CEU credits are pending.

– Mapping Discrimination Presentation and Conversation: April 10, 2013, 6-8:30pm, Special Tea NOLA Tea Lounge & Coffee Shop, 4337 Banks Street. GNOFHAC staff will present and discuss maps that spatially analyze complaints GNOFHAC received from 2007 through 2012 throughout Louisiana and the greater New Orleans area. The discussion will address trends that the maps reveal and their relationships to federal, state, and local policy. Finally, staff and attendees will discuss how this information can be used to further fair housing work in the greater New Orleans area.

– GNOFHAC Open House: April 17, 2013, 5:30-7:30pm, GNOFHAC Offices, 404 S. Jeff Davis Pkwy. Join GNOFHAC staff and board for a “Knowledge is Power” Open House to find out more about GNOFHAC’s work and how you can get involved. Light refreshments will be served.

– Spirit House: April 19, 2013, 6pm-9pm, Dryades Theater, 1232 Oretha C. Haley Blvd. Spirit House is an original, multimedia piece of theater that combines research and testimony collected by GNOFHAC and community partners. GNOFHAC commissioned project writer Dr. Geryll Robinson to examine the impact of exclusionary housing policy and practices on women and families through theater, and Spirit House investigates the intersections between sex, gender, race, class and sexual orientation in experiences of finding housing and defining “home.” On April 19th, GNOFHAC, working with New Orleans-based Cripple Creek Theater Company, will produce a staged reading of the piece for free to the public. 

The staged reading is free, but tickets must be reserved by registering here or calling (504) 596-2100, ext 109.

– Welcome to Our Neighborhood Workshop for Kids: April 20, 2013, 12:30-2pm at Rosa F. Keller Public Library. GNOFHAC staff will facilitate an interactive reading of the Center’s illustrated children’s book The Fair Housing Five & the Haunted House and lead an art project with workshop participants to further explore themes addressed in the book. This workshop is free and open to the public, appropriate for 1st-4th graders. The New Orleans Public Library is not a sponsor, nor does it endorse any practices or points of view of the sponsors of this program.

GNOFHAC Executive Director James Perry comments “Fair Housing Month is a great time for all members of the greater New Orleans community to learn about and reflect on the value of communities free of discrimination and segregation.  We hope to make this possible through this robust series of events.”

The Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination in housing on the basis of a person’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or whether or not a person has children.

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