What's New
Calendar of Events
HRI About Town:
- First Tuesday of each month- Attorney Counseling Evening. 6 to 8 p.m. at Bay Area Legal Aid office in Richmond (1025 Macdonald Ave). Click here for a flyer.
- Second Tuesday of each month- Attorney Counseling Evening. 6 to 8 p.m. at Monument Futures, in Concord (2699 Monument Blvd.) Click here for a flyer.
- Once a month (second or third Tuesday)- Loan Document Review Clinic. 6 to 8 p.m. at the Richmond Library. Bring your loan documents and your questions for a free consultation with a housing counselor. Call 1800-773-2110 for details.
April is Fair Housing Month: (Click here for a Calendar(154 KB PDF))
- APRIL 1st: Attorney Counseling Evening Sponsored by Housing Rights, Inc., Bay Area Legal Aid and the Contra Costa County Bar Association. Held at Bay Area Legal Services Richmond Office, 1025 McDonald Ave. from 6 to 8 p.m. Call 925-370-2548 or 510-233-9954 to reserve a place!
- APRIL 4th: 40th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination. Dr. King was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, by James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray was arrested in London, England on June 8, 1968 and returned to Memphis, Tennessee to stand trial for the assassination of Dr. King. On March 9, 1969, before coming to trial, he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Dr. King had been in Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable conditions.
- APRIL 8th: Orientation for CC-Match at our newest program: Mt Diablo Housing Opportunity Center. CC-Match provides financial education courses and for some graduates of that course, access to a matched saving program (called an Individual Development Account).
- APRIL 11th: Passage of the Fair Housing Act. On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1968 act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968).
The enactment of the federal Fair Housing Act on April 11, 1968 came only after a long and difficult journey. From 1966-1967, Congress regularly considered the fair housing bill, but failed to garner a strong enough majority for its passage. However, when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson utilized this national tragedy to urge for the bill's speedy Congressional approval. Since the 1966 open housing marches in Chicago, Dr. King's name had been closely associated with the fair housing legislation. President Johnson viewed the Act as a fitting memorial to the man's life work, and wished to have the Act passed prior to Dr. King's funeral in Atlanta.
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APRIL 15th: Attorney Counseling Evening Sponsored by Housing Rights, Inc., Bay Area Legal Aid and the Contra Costa County Bar Association. Held at Monument Futures, 2699 Monument Blvd. #G, Concord from 6 to 8 p.m. Call 925-370-2548 or 510-233-9954 to reserve a place!
- APRIL 21st: Illinois artist (and Executive Director of HOPE Fair Housing Center in Wheaton Illinois) Bernard J. Kleina will be present for a reception in his honor and to kick off a two week exhibit of his photographs taken during the Chicago Freedom Movement in 1965-66. The reception will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Elihu Harris State Building at 1515 Clay Street in Downtown Oakland. All are welcome!
- APRIL 21st through May 2: The Chicago Freedom Movement Photography Exhibit by Bernard J. Kleina. During 1965 and 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders led peaceful demonstrations for ‘open housing’. This was the first large scale fair housing campaign in the county placing the issue of equal opportunity in housing before the Nation. These rarely seen photographs document and honor Dr. King and other civil rights leaders and include images of Dr. King, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Atlanta Mayor and UN ambassador Andrew Young, comedian and activist Dick Gregory, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, former Southern Christian Leadership Council President the Rev. Ralph Abernathy as well as thousands of peaceful demonstrators involved in these historic rallies and marches.
- APRIL 30th: Reception honoring: Nolo Press; the United Way of the Bay
Area, Eden I&R, and the Contra Costa Crisis Center for implanting 211 in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties; Monument Community Partnership and the Concord Community Economic Organization (DBA Monument Futures. These groups are being recognized for their work in bringing information and ’Power To The People’. The Reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. end by 8 p.m. at the Silver Dragon Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown.

