About Us

Legal Clinic Work, Mission, and Goals

The Legal Clinic envisions a just and inclusive community for all residents of the District of Columbia, where housing is a human right and where every resident has access to the resources they need to thrive. Our mission is to use the law to make justice a reality for our neighbors who struggle with homelessness and poverty…combining representation, systemic reform, policy and budget advocacy, and community engagement to achieve housing justice for DC’s lowest income residents.

The Legal Clinic’s goals include:

Closing the Justice Gap by making lawyers available to help unhoused and at-risk community members maneuver through DC’s justice and administrative systems.

Ameliorating the Homelessness Crisis by protecting the rights of residents throughout the homeless services continuum; ensuring the lawful and effective operation of programs in that continuum; and safeguarding the interests and property of unhoused residents.

Promoting the Human Right to Housing, in the short term by preventing displacement, protecting and improving subsidized housing; advocating for expansion of deeply affordable housing opportunities; challenging discrimination and other barriers that impact the use of vouchers; and ultimately in the long-run by securing an enforceable right to housing in DC.

Advancing the Human Right to Participation by supporting community members in learning about their rights and how to influence power and government decision-making, and helping clients bring their voices directly into conversation with those decision-makers.

Current Major Programs and Activities

The Legal Clinic uses a combination of direct representation, systemic advocacy (impact litigation, agency reform efforts, and policy and budget advocacy), client education and civic engagement to achieve housing justice for our clients. Its efforts include:

Direct Representation – Community members experiencing homelessness face myriad challenges simply to survive; when combined with an unexpected legal problem, those challenges can become overwhelming. The Legal Clinic was founded to break down barriers to access to justice for unhoused residents. Through both its Attorney-of-the-Day program and its Legal Assistance Project (LAP), Legal Clinic staff and volunteer attorneys continue to represent individual clients, with a primary focus on helping them regain stability by accessing shelter and permanent housing. These cases highlight for the Legal Clinic where systems are broken and where programs are inadequately funded, which in turn informs the Legal Clinic’s systemic advocacy.

Systemic Advocacy – Most often, the legal problems for which clients seek assistance are a result of broken systems, rather than any “brokenness” of clients themselves. Thus, while the Legal Clinic assists clients in resolving their specific legal problems, it also addresses the systems issues that led to the legal issue in the first instance. The Legal Clinic undertakes policy and budget advocacy, as well as agency and program reform, to address those systems.

• Homeless Services advocacy addresses the adequacy of DC’s shelter system in terms of quality, capacity, safety, and accessibility, especially important in the pandemic.
• Affordable Housing advocacy aims to preserve and improve the quality of existing affordable housing; expand housing subsidies; and prevent discrimination that prevents low-income, primarily Black residents from using vouchers or otherwise accessing housing.
• Anti-Criminalization advocacy seeks to minimize the punitive nature of law enforcement, training police about the rights of unhoused residents and the resources available to assist them. The Legal Clinic also protect the rights and property of residents of encampments, which have expanded during the pandemic as unhoused residents seek safer alternatives to shelter.

Community education and engagement – The Legal Clinic is committed to ensuring that unhoused community members are aware of their rights, have the training and support needed to participate in the public discourse that impacts their lives, and the ability and space to develop their own advocacy goals.

In much of its advocacy, the Legal Clinic partners with other legal service providers and community organizations, uniquely bringing to that collaborative work a legal perspective on issues that impact DC’s unhoused and at-risk residents and a deep knowledge of laws governing homeless services.

 

 

Amber W. Harding, Esq. Executive Director, (202) 328-5503, amber@legalclinic.org

Amber has devoted her legal career to housing justice as a member of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless staff for more than 20 years and was appointed Executive Director in November 2022. Amber is responsible for the overall management of the organization and guides the organization’s work toward realizing its vision of a just and inclusive Washington, D.C. Immediately before her appointment as Executive Director, Amber served as the Director of Policy and Advocacy, where she was a primary spokesperson for the Legal Clinic, often speaking with the press and elected officials, and testifying on many occasions before the D.C. Council. Amber joined the Legal Clinic as an Equal Justice Works Fellow shortly after receiving her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She later founded and directed the David M. Booth Disability Rights Initiative at the Legal Clinic. She is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she co-teaches the Homelessness, Poverty, and Legal Advocacy Seminar.

Through individual representation and systemic campaigns, Amber has advocated for the civil and legal rights of people experiencing homelessness; equal access to emergency shelter and housing: disability-rights compliance (particularly in emergency shelters); deeply affordable housing; right to shelter in severe weather; and removing barriers to housing. She is on the Board of Directors of ACLU-DC and First Shift Justice Project.

Renata Aguilera-Titus, Director of Communications and Development, (202) 328-1263, renata@legalclinic.org

Contact about: Interview requests

As the Legal Clinic’s Director of Communications and Development Renata serves as part of the organization’s Leadership Team. She also leads the organization’s development team and fundraising efforts, provides strategic communications support to programmatic staff, and manages organization-wide communications materials. Renata joined the Legal Clinic in 2016 initially as Coordinator of Volunteers, she then became the organization’s first communications manager before stepping into her current role. Renata has a background in direct client services in legal service and anti-poverty organizations, having served as bilingual intake coordinator at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center and as an anti-poverty specialist providing culturally specific services at Catholic Charities El Programa Hispano in Oregon.

Renata received a master’s degree focused on intercultural and international communication from the American University School of International Service.

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 LaJuan Brooks, Director of Community Engagement, (202) 328-5500, lajuan.brooks@legalclinic.org

LaJuan serves as the Legal Clinic’s first ever Director of Community Engagement, leading what is currently a two person team charged with ensuring that members of our client community: know how to access our legal services; know their legal rights and how to access decisionmakers, including elected officials; and are able to provide input and feedback on our priorities as an organization as well as changes to the policies and programs that they are most impacted by. In her role on the Leadership Team LaJuan ensures that our legal services and policy and advocacy work is informed by community engagement. LaJuan joined the staff of the Legal Clinic in 2007 as Administrative Assistant and until assuming her current role in 2022 was the first point of contact for all Legal Clinic clients and potential clients, working to connect low-income community members to the assistance and resources that they needed.

LaJuan is a proud veteran of the U.S. Army. Prior to joining the Legal Clinic in 2007, LaJuan developed experience assisting the Fair Budget Coalition and being an advocate for and with people experiencing homelessness in D.C. She brings her personal experience, background in advocacy, expertise in direct client services to the role of Director of Community Engagement.

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Deborah Chandler, Finance and Administration Manager

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Joshua Drumming, Law Graduate, Policy and Advocacy

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Jo Furmanchik, Outreach Specialist

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Zoe Garcia, Communications and Development Coordinator

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Maria Le, Intake and Office Assistant

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Charisse Lue, Esq.  Staff Attorney

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Becky O’Brien, Esq. Director of Legal Services, (202) 328-5507, becky@legalclinic.org

Becky is a member of the Leadership Team and serves as the Legal Clinic’s Director of Legal Services, overseeing and leading attorneys and staff in providing direct legal services to hundreds of individuals each year via our Legal Assistance Project and staff caseloads. In Becky’s role on the Leadership Team she also ensures that the knowledge and experience of our casehandling work infuses our policy and advocacy efforts and is informed by our community engagement work.  Becky initially joined the Legal Clinic in 2000 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and remained on staff until moving to Boston in 2003. While in Boston, Becky was a staff attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services working in the Elder and Housing Units, specializing in public benefits cases and landlord and tenant issues. She rejoined the Legal Clinic upon returning to the D.C. area in 2008 and built expertise in our legal services model and practice areas as a case counseling attorney and then coordinating attorney with the Legal Assistance Project, supporting volunteer attorneys and clients, until becoming Director of Legal Services in 2022.

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Ann Marie Staudenmaier, Esq. Senior Counsel, (202) 328-5509, annmarie@legalclinic.org

Contact about: Legal Assistance Project, anti-criminalization of homelessness related to encampments and training for police officers and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

Ann Marie joined the Legal Clinic staff in 1996, as a case-counseling attorney for the Legal Assistance Project.   Ann Marie spends much of her time mentoring and supervising volunteer attorneys through the Legal Assistance Project, in addition to maintaining her own caseload. Ann Marie also coordinates all the Legal Clinic’s police-related civil rights work, including monitoring police and government treatment of people experiencing homelessness; working with other anti-criminalization groups around the country; conducting Street Rights seminars; educating local government and businesses about the rights of  persons experiencing homelessness on public space; strategizing about  litigation strategies; and regularly conducting “Homelessness 101” trainings for all Metropolitan Police Department Recruit classes and other law enforcement agencies in D.C.

Prior to joining the Legal Clinic, Ann Marie worked for several years at Maryland’s Legal Aid Bureau as both a staff attorney and Chief Attorney in various local offices. She is a poverty law generalist, having practiced in virtually every area of civil legal services over the past 30 years.

Ann Marie graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin, and received her law degree from George Washington University.

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Kelsey Vaughan, Volunteer Coordinator, (202) 328-1024, kelsey.vaughan@legalclinic.org

Kelsey manages the Legal Assistance Project (LAP) volunteer training program and intake calendar, and is responsible for volunteer recruitment, sustainability, and coordination for both LAP and outreach to families experiencing housing crises. Kelsey is the liaison between the Legal Clinic and a number of law firms and schools throughout the District of Columbia. In addition, Kelsey organizes volunteer events, discussion series, and community presentations on behalf of the Legal Clinic.

The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless mourns the passing of Cheryl K. Barnes. A longtime Freelance Homeless Activist,  Cheryl served on the Legal Clinic’s Board of Directors from 1997 until her passing in May 2023. Cheryl’s friendship, wisdom, and talent are enduring gifts to the Legal Clinic community, and we carry them with us on the continued journey toward housing justice.

James E. Rocap, III, Esq., Steptoe LLP, (2009 – present), President

Ericka Aiken-Adams, Esq., Wilmer Hale, (2017 – present), Vice President

Valerie E. Ross, Esq., ArentFox Schiff, (2013 – present), Treasurer

Jon-Michael Dougherty, Esq., (2021 – present), Secretary

Alan L. Banks, (2018 – present)

Katrina Chapman, (2024 – present)

Michelle D. Coleman, Esq., Crowell & Moring (2023 – present)

Laurie B. Davis, Esq., (1987 – present)

Jennifer C. Everett, Esq., Alston & Bird (2021 – present)

Nkechi Feaster, (2018 – present)

Wesley R. Heppler, Esq., (1989 – present)

Susan M. Hoffman, Esq., Crowell & Moring, (2006 – present)

Sterling Howard, (2014 – present)

Dianna Key (2024 – present)

John R. Jacob, Esq., Akin Gump, (2008 – present)

William M. Leahy, Apple (2021 – present)

Henri Makembe, (2023 – present)

John Monahan, Esq., Georgetown University, (2017 – present)

Nicholas Pastan, Esq., Covington & Burling (2023 – present)

Kristen Reilly, Esq., Combs & Taylor (2023 – present)

David E. Rogers, Esq., Winston & Strawn LLP, (1994 – present)

Tiana Russell, Esq., Crowell & Moring, (2017 – present)

Jeff Schwaber, Esq., Stein, Sperling, (1988 – present)

Cathy Solomon (2023 – present)

Darrell Stevens (2024 – present)

Marsha Tucker, Director of Pro Bono, Arnold & Porter, (1997 – present)

David Wittenstein, Esq., (2002 – present)

Daniel I. Wolf, Gilbert LLP, (2019 – present)

Organization and firm affiliation included for identification purposes only

Since  2003, the Public Welfare Foundation has provided our office space in the historic True Reformer Building, located on U Street in the Shaw community of Washington, DC. The Foundation’s generosity has allowed us to devote our resources more fully to our work. In giving a home to the Legal Clinic, the Public Welfare Foundation has been a faithful partner in our efforts to ensure that all residents of the District of Columbia have a place to call home.

The Legal Clinic was founded in 1986 with the encouragement and support of the DC Bar and DC Bar Foundation, with the goal of breaking down the barriers that prevented the homeless and low-income population in Washington, DC from accessing legal assistance through traditional methods. Since that time, the Legal Clinic has played a major role in protecting the rights and advancing the interests of those who are homeless in the nation’s capital.  Set out below is the story of the Legal Clinic’s growth and the District’s response to homelessness.

Timeline of Homelessness in DC and the Work of the Legal Clinic

November 1984 – DC voters overwhelmingly support Initiative 17, establishing a “right to shelter” in the District, the first statutory right to shelter in the nation

Summer 1985 – DC attorney David Crosland convenes the Ad Hoc Committee for the Homeless under the auspices of the DC Bar

December 1985 – First recruitment session for volunteer lawyers, held at the DC Bar

1986 – Pro Bono lawyers begin to serve four pilot intake sites, supported by volunteers Gloria Flanagan and Faye Williams

Summer 1986 – DC Bar Foundation makes first grant to support the pilot project of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Homeless.  The DC Bar, through both Bar leadership (Judge Paul L. Friedman was then-President of the DC Bar) as well as its Office of Public Service Activities (now the DC Bar Pro Bono Program), lends its full support to the project

Fall 1986 -The project hires first staff person, Susie Sinclair-Smith, as coordinator

May 1987 – The pilot project becomes the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, an independently incorporated non-profit organization.  Mental Health Law Project (now the Bazelon Center) served as fiscal sponsor until tax-exempt status was granted

1987 – DC Bar wins the Harrison Tweed Award for its role in launching the Legal Clinic

Fall 1987 – GULC students, led by Jeff Schwaber, hatch the idea to hold a basketball game pitting Members of Congress against Georgetown Law Faculty to raise money for a homeless charity

1987 – Legal Clinic moves from DC Bar PSA’s office to space donated by Pettit & Martin

1987 – DC council passes law requiring that homeless families be sheltered in an apartment-style setting rather than in run-down motels (the “Crawford Legislation”)

March 1988 – First Home Court game raises $42,000 for the Legal Clinic

1989 – Judge Harriet Taylor finds DC shelters to be “horrendous” and “virtual hell-holes” in Atchison vs. Barry, brought by Howrey & Simon

1990 – Shea & Gardner “adopts” the Legal Clinic from Pettit & Martin and provides office space to the growing program

June 1990 – Then-Mayor Marion Barry signs law repealing the District’s Right to Shelter

July 1990 – Anti-homelessness activist Mitch Snyder dies

October 1990 – Judge Richard Levie finds the District’s family shelter system out of compliance with DC law in Fountain vs. Barry, brought by O’Melveny & Myers

November 1990 – Advocates’ attempt to reverse the repeal of the District’s Right to Shelter fails when Referendum 005 lost by a 51% – 49% vote in the general election

December 1990 – Franklin vs. Barry is filed by Crowell & Moring, challenging the District’s failure to process emergency food stamps in compliance with the law

1992 – The Legal Clinic joins with Hogan & Hartson in filing Little vs. Barry, challenging the District’s scaling back of the General Public Assistance Program, which provided cash support to individuals with disabilities

April 1993 – The Legal Clinic  receives a Commendation from President Clinton in his Volunteer Action Awards Program

1993 – WLCH vs. Kelly is filed by Howrey & Simon, challenging illegalities in the District’s family shelter intake system and seeking to protect counsel’s right of access to their clients

1993 – The Legal Clinic  joins with Covington & Burling to file Pearson vs. Kelly, challenging the unlawful operation of the District’s public housing program.

1993 – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announces the “DC Initiative,” a partnership with the District government and local non-profit organizations to pilot the development of a “Continuum of Care” shelter system

November 1993 – The Legal Clinic  issues “Cold, Harsh and Unending Resistance:  The District of Columbia Government’s Hidden War Against its Poor and its Homeless,” which chronicles the utter breakdown of government services and programs for low income DC residents.

November 1993 – Yetta Adams dies homeless in a bus shelter in front of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development

1994 – Judge Steffan Graae orders the DC public housing program placed into eceivership (Pearson);  the District appeals

Summer 1994 – The Legal Clinic co-convenes advocates and service providers who unite to challenge unfair budget cuts in the wake of the District financial crisis.  This effort becomes the Fair Budget Coalition

August 1994 – The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness issues its Operational Plan for Year 1 of the DC Initiative

Late 1994 – The Legal Clinic testifies before Congress regarding the impact of DC’s financial crisis on residents of DC who are homeless

1994 – The Legal Clinic  helps to establish Campaign for New Community, a multi-faceted advocacy effort to break down the barriers created by neighborhood opposition to the siting of programs for people who are poor, homeless or disabled

1995 – Legal Clinic expands to include an outreach component and intensifies efforts to provide assistance during hypothermic conditions

1995 – Financial Control Board appointed to take over management of the District

1995 – Fair Budget Coalition and other community groups seek to have “Declaration of Emergency” in the District because of the shredded social safety net and palpable suffering of DC’s low income residents

Spring 1995 – David Gilmore becomes receiver of the DC Housing Authority (Pearson)

1996 – District repeals local Emergency Assistance and General Public Assistance programs

Fall 1996 – The Legal Clinic expands our work with homeless families

December 1996 – Mental Health department placed into receivership

1997 – Legal Clinic convenes the Welfare Advocates Group to participate in, and monitor, welfare reform efforts in the District

1998 – District abolishes the Tenant Assistance Program, a locally-funded rent subsidy program serving low-income DC residents

1998 – DC Initiative ends; the Legal Clinic continues to push for reforms concerning the management of homeless services

1998 – The Legal Clinic begins training of Metropolitan Police recruits on issue of homelessness

1999 – The Legal Clinic and Fair Budget Coalition sponsor Campaign for a Just and Inclusive Community, whose Creed of Justice and Inclusion was adopted by 300+ community organizations and District residents

1999 – The Legal Clinic  joins with Akin Gump to file Hackett vs. JMC Associateson behalf of more than 200 mental health consumers whose benefits had been stolen by a Department of Mental Health contractor

March 2000 – The Legal Clinic convenes advocates to challenge District’s proposed condemnations of Columbia Heights apartment buildings housing low-income immigrants

June 2000 – Mayor Williams establishes Homeless Advisory Group

2000 – DC Housing Authority comes out of receivership

2000 – The Legal Clinic launches a Welfare Hotline to provide assistance to recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

October 2000 – The Legal Clinic begins to publish and distribute “Listen Up,” a monthly newsletter for our client community

December 2000 – Mayor Williams abandons Homeless Advisory Group and establishes Continuum of Care Work Group

December 23, 2000 – Jesus Blanco dies homeless on the street, just steps away from La Casa Shelter

Fall 2002 – Legal Clinic establishes Affordable Housing Initiative to intensify efforts to preserve and expand affordable housing for the lowest income District residents

January 2003 – Mayor Williams abandons Continuum of Care Work Group and establishes a Focus Group on Access to Housing for Homeless and Very Low Income City Residents

2003 – The Legal Clinic, along with So Others Might Eat, successfully co-leads community advocacy to establish the Interim Disability Assistance Program

2003 – Housing Production Trust Fund becomes vital tool for development of affordable housing for low-income DC residents

Fall 2003 – The Legal Clinic expands advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities who seek access to shelter and housing, establishing the Disability Rights Initiative

November 2003 – The Public Welfare Foundation provides a new home to the Legal Clinic, inviting us into their True Reformer Building in the Shaw neighborhood of DC

Spring 2004 – District government closes Gales Shelter; begins trend of siting shelters in remote locations towards the fringes of the city

Late 2004 – Agreement reached in Hackett vs. JMC Associates to compensate mental health consumers for theft of funds

December 2004 – DC Court of Appeals establishes the DC Access to Justice Commission to aid in breaking down the barriers that prevent low-income and isolated communities from accessing civil legal assistance

January 2005 – Mayor Williams issues “Homeless No More,” his administration’s 10 year plan to end homelessness

July 2005 – Mayor Williams signs into law the Homeless Services Reform Act, which revamps the legislative framework of the District’s homeless shelter and services system, establishing an Interagency Council on Homelessness and setting out client rights and responsibilities as well as provider standards

September 2005 – Legal Clinic joins with DC Bar Pro Bono Program and Hogan & Hartson to coordinate the Katrina Relief Clinic, to provide legal services to people who relocated to the District from the devastated Gulf Coast

Fall 2005 – Legal Clinic expands efforts to assist homeless children and youth; supports homeless parents’ advocacy efforts as they form SASS (Self-Advocacy, Support and Solutions)

October 2005 – Then-Councilmember Fenty holds unprecedented hearing at DC Village family shelter to get feedback from residents on the quality of services and supports

Winter 2005 – District government closes Randall Shelter

2006 – Legal Clinic participates in Fair Budget Coalition and Affordable Housing Alliance’s successful efforts to establish publicly-funded Emergency Assistance and Rent Supplement programs

Spring 2006 – District government renews threats to close Franklin Shelter

Summer 2006 – Residents of Franklin Shelter form the “Committee to Save Franklin Shelter” to oppose the scheduled closing of the facility

Fall 2006 – Legal Clinic expands our grass roots advocacy efforts to support our clients as they use their voices to speak in the public debates that impact their lives

October 2006 – Deputy Mayor announces that Franklin will remain open and in the homeless services inventory

November/December 2006 – The Legal Clinic co-convenes the Homelessness Work Group of the Fenty Transition team

December 2006 – The Legal Clinic co-leads coalition to advocate for greater accessibility to government services for people with disabilities; the Disability Rights Protection Act becomes law

January 2007 – Mayor Adrian Fenty declares that addressing the needs of people who are homeless is a top priority of his administration

2007 – The Legal Clinic launches Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative advocating for the transition of the District of Columbia’s homeless services system from one that emphasizes emergency shelter, to one that focuses on providing permanent supportive housing options for people who have struggled with homelessness.

2007 – Legal Clinic attorney Scott McNeilly is appointed to the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness

October 2007 – The District Government shuts down DC Village as an emergency shelter for homeless families

April 2008 – Fenty Administration announces its Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative, intended to move people who are chronically homeless off the street and out of shelters into their own housing

September 2008 – The District Government closes the Franklin Shelter, the one remaining men’s emergency shelter in downtown DC

December 10, 2008 – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into a consent agreement with the District to improve the accessibility of emergency homeless shelters for people with disabilities. It is the first large-scale enforcement effort by DOJ in the nation intended to protect the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness.

2009 – The Legal Clinic launches Veteran’s Initiative which provides direct legal representation to Veteran’s particularly in the areas of benefits and housing.

July 2009 – The Legal Clinic re-names disability rights initiative The David M. Booth Disability Rights Initiative, to honor the memory of former intern David Booth

December 2009 – The Legal Clinic establishes a social media presence, joining Facebook

July 2010 – The Legal Clinic launches its blog, “…With Housing and Justice for All”

November 2010 – The Legal Clinic’s long time and beloved outreach worker, Mary Ann Luby, O.P., dies

May 2011 – The Legal Clinic’s budget advocacy campaign, the1500.com, successfully advocates for funding to avoid the loss of up to 1500 shelter beds for single individuals

2012 – The Legal Clinic marks its 25th anniversary of serving DC’s homeless residents.  A Journey Home, a short film about several Legal Clinic clients and their efforts to secure a stable place to call home is released as a part of the 25th anniversary call-to-action

May 2013 – The Legal Clinic successfully leads a community advocacy effort to prevent harmful changes to the Homeless Services Reform Act

2013 – Mayor Vincent Gray commits $100 million to affordable housing

WLCH Position Announcement – Case Counseling Attorney