The Paducah Human Rights Commission is inviting the community to attend the Fair Housing Luncheon on Thursday, April 18. The luncheon will be held at the newly renovated Robert Cherry Civic Center located at 2701 Park Avenue with the lunch to be served at 11:30 a.m. General Counsel Colt C. Sells with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights will be the keynote speaker.
There is no charge to attend the Fair Housing Luncheon; however, registration is required in order to provide the caterer with an expected attendance. To register, please send an email with the names of attendees to fairhousingluncheonpaducahky.gov. The deadline to send a registration email is by the end of the business day on Friday, April 12.
Those who should attend the Fair Housing Luncheon include
- Real estate professionals;
- Government officials and policymakers;
- Housing advocates and activists;
- Community leaders;
- Housing counselors and social service providers; and
- Students and academics.
Mayor George Bray said, “We recently repopulated the Paducah Human Rights Commission and increased the board size to seven members. The City Commission also authorized the recruiting process for a Diversity Specialist to support the Human Rights Commission, lead internal diversity, equity, and inclusion training efforts, and work to make sure we have a diverse pool of candidates. This month, Daisha Johnson began her role as Paducah’s Diversity Specialist. The Human Rights Commission has been meeting regularly and is gaining momentum. We are excited to see the return of the Fair Housing Luncheon. This has been a very popular community event in past years, and we encourage interested citizens to attend.”
April is National Fair Housing Month which commemorates the passage of the Fair Housing Act on April 11, 1968. This landmark civil rights law, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibits discrimination in housing because of race, color national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, and familial status.
Paducah Human Rights Commission Chairman Robert Hernandez said, “Even though it has been more than 50 years since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, we continue to work to fight housing discrimination and to bring awareness to this topic so that we can eliminate disparities in housing in our community and across the state of Kentucky.”
City of Paducah Diversity Specialist Daisha Johnson assisted the Paducah Human Rights Commission in the organization of the Fair Housing Luncheon. Johnson began working for the City of Paducah in March with the Luncheon as one of her first projects.
Johnson said, “I am honored to work with the Paducah Human Rights Commission as they collaborate with the community to prevent and eliminate discrimination. Education along with awareness is imperative when eliminating barriers. Our differences as humans should be celebrated and welcomed in all spaces.”
About Colt C. Sells - In his role as Kentucky Commission on Human Right’s Managing Attorney, Colt C. Sells provides general legal counsel to the Commission and oversees the Commission’s prosecutorial function. Colt has been on staff at the Commission for four years and previous serves as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society in Louisville. Sells currently lives in Fisherville, Kentucky, but calls Paducah home and is a proud 2007 graduate of Reidland High School. He earned his undergraduate degree in 2012 from Eastern Kentucky University and his law degree, with honors, in 2015 from Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida.
About the Paducah Human Rights Commission - The Paducah Human Rights Commission was established in 1964. The Commission is a seven-member board governed by Paducah Code of Ordinances Chapter 58-31.
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