WHY ZIP CODE MATTERS: THE EFFECTS OF SEGREGATED HOUSING ON EDUCATION

Westchester Residential Opportunities will hold a symposium co-sponsored by John Jay Legal Services and CitiBank on December 9, 2016 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.at Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y.  The program will be called WHY ZIP CODE MATTERS: THE EFFECTS OF SEGREGATED HOUSING ON EDUCATION.  This program will be open to the general public, at no charge.  WRO intends for this to be a frank discussion among panelists from various disciplines with ample time for audience participation. 

 

Panelists include:

 

Willis Caruso, Co-Executive Director (Ret.) The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center & Clinic and Clinical Professor of Law at John Marshall. Professor Caruso is a graduate of Northwestern University and Northwestern Law School. He formerly practiced law with Sidley & Austin; Caruso & Caruso; Isham Lincoln & Beale; and Keck, Mahin & Cate. He served as the General Counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority from 1991 to 1994 and General Counsel for the Leadership Council on Metropolitan Open Communities from 1970 to 1991. Professor Caruso has litigated over 1,000 fair housing cases, including the Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation, and Gladstone Realtors v. Village of Bellwood. He has lectured at large-number legal seminars and also authored many outlines, pamphlets, articles, and a textbook entitled Cases and Materials on Fair Housing and Fair Lending Law, Sixth Edition, 2009.

 

Cora Greenberg, Executive Director of Westchester Children’s Association. Cora Greenberg, a social worker and educator, joined the Westchester Children’s Association as Executive Director in 1994. Ms. Greenberg holds an MSW degree from Hunter College School of Social Work and an MSEd in Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a BA from SUNY Binghamton. Immediately prior to joining WCA in 1994, Ms. Greenberg was the Associate Executive Director of Project Reach Youth, a multi-service youth and family agency in Brooklyn, New York, where she was instrumental in developing model programs in youth development, family literacy and after school education. Earlier, she had served as Executive Director of Interfaith Neighbors, a pioneering youth program founded and supported by more than 20 churches and synagogues on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and as a Program Coordinator at United Neighborhood Houses, an umbrella for the 36 settlement houses and community centers in New York City. Cora lives in Pleasantville with her family.

 

Bernard Kleina, Artist and Civil Rights Activist. Mr. Kleina has served as Executive Director of HOPE Fair Housing Center for over 36 years. Bernard Kleina is one of the most respected advocates for fair housing in the country. Paul F. Hancock, former Chief of the Housing Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, calls him “one of the country’s recognized experts in fair housing. The principle which he honors most is promoting justice for everyone.” He has been described by others as “a champion of fair housing and other social concerns.” One of the founding members, Bernard Kleina currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). He is past President of the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance. He

serves on the board of the DuPage Legal Assistance Foundation, the DuPage Housing Authority Management, Inc., Housing Choice Partners of Illinois, and has served on the faculty of the Office of Legal Education for the U.S. Department of Justice. Bernard Kleina continues to serve as a consultant to NFHA on national ad campaigns addressing issues of housing, lending and home insurance discrimination. Bernard Kleina is also a professional photographer and media consultant. He has produced some of the most innovative and powerful audio-visual presentations on fair and affordable housing in the country. His photography and multi-image presentations have been exhibited in both the United States and Europe. He has produced more than twenty five video presentations on fair housing and fair lending, and the destructive effects of discrimination in housing-related services, such as home insurance.

 

Dennis Parker, Director of ACLU Racial Justice Project, is leading its efforts in combating discrimination and addressing other issues with a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Parker oversees work to combat the “School-to-Prison” pipeline, the profiling of airline passengers subjected to searches and wrongfully placed on watch lists and the racial bias in the criminal justice system. Prior to joining the ACLU, Parker was the chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the Office of New York State Attorney General under Eliot Spitzer. He previously spent 14 years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Parker has also worked with the New York Legal Aid Society. He teaches Race, Poverty and Constitutional Law at New York Law School. He graduated from Harvard Law School and Middlebury College.

 

(MODERATOR) Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton, Superintendent of Schools, Mount Vernon City School District.  Dr. Hamilton is a graduate of Seton Hall University and Jersey City State University. He completed leadership institutes at Harvard University and Princeton University, before earning his doctoral degree at Nova Southeastern University.  He worked as a Special Education teacher in Newark, NJ for 10 years, and later became the district’s Resource Teacher for bridging the gap between special education and general education instructional practices. After leaving Newark Public Schools, Dr. Hamilton become Vice Principal at Hubbard Middle School in Plainfield, NJ where he implemented the first Middle Schools of Choice program designed to develop career academies for middle school students with a  focus on the performing arts, math and science, humanities and business as an alternative to the traditional failing middle school program.  After being recognized for his ability to initiate change and spearhead improved student outcomes, he was promoted to Principal of Clinton Elementary School where he implemented one of the first mandatory school uniforms policies in the State of NJ and increased student performance by 83% in 4 years. He was later hired as the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Cherry Hill, New Jersey where his responsibilities included supervision for middle school programs, district wide professional development, minority achievement initiative (closing the achievement gap) and diversity recruitment. He then became Superintendent of Schools in Westampton Public Schools where he was recognized for implementation of several programs designed to improve student outcomes.  Next he served as the Superintendent of Schools in Monroe Township, NJ, where he implemented the largest 1:1 iPad initiative on the east coast, successfully managed district reconfiguration (including the opening of a new state of the art high school), developed and implemented the district’s strategic plan, co-authored Senate Bill S2307 and presented before the NJ State Senate to justify the need for support of that proposal for equitable state funding for the children of Monroe. In July of 2014, Dr. Hamilton was appointed as the Superintendent of the Mt Vernon City School district where his leadership is creating new synergy focused on community engagement and a quest for excellence.