PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy

Poverty & Race Research Action Council

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Phil Tegeler and Tessa Delgo at Houston Housing Authority redevelopment siteNCSD Director Gina Chirichigno speaking at Sheff Movement coalition event in HartfordBoard member Sheryll Cashin at NCSD 2025 conferenceGina Chirichigno toasting at NCSD 2025 conferenceBoard member Michael Allen, former Board member Betsy Julian, Executive Director Phil Tegeler at UConn Law SchoolTess Delgo and Audrey Martin with Mobility Works Community Engagement Director Kristina Garrity (center)Phil Tegeler at the Mobility Works practitioner gathering in Boston, 2024Calvin Johnson, Martha Galvez, and Phil Tegeler at HUD symposium 2024HUD conferencePRRAC Staff Tessa Delgo and Jenna Tomasello at the Library of CongressPhil Tegeler and John Brittain9th National Housing Mobility Conference RegistrationKeynote speaker, Raj Chetty of Opportunity Insights chats with PRRAC's Audrey Lynn Martin during the 9th National Mobility ConferencePRRAC's Dave Pringle with 9th National Housing Mobility Conference Attendees2018 PRRAC Board Meeting: PRRAC board members posing after meeting.PRRAC's "Civil Rights Intersections: Celebrating 50 Years of the Fair Housing Act Symposium" in Selma, Alabama: PRRAC board member Damon Hewitt and civil rights activists Bruce and Betty Boynton.7th National Conference on Housing Mobility: PRRAC Executive Director Philip Tegeler honoring Alexander Polikoff, “Father of Mobility,” lead counsel on Gautreaux, honored for blazing the trail of mobility as a means of integrating cities based on race and income.Cleveland, OH: Housing Choice Partners Executive Director Andrea Juracek and former PRRAC Deputy Director Megan Haberle.PRRAC's "Reproductive Justice and the Politics of Resistance: An Evening with Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger" event: former NCSD Outreach Coordinator Tyler Barbarin moderating event.7th National Conference on Housing Mobility: PRRAC staff preparing for presentation.7th National Conference on Housing Mobility: former PRRAC Senior Research Associate Brian Knudsen giving a presentation.PRRAC's “Civil Rights Intersections: Celebrating 50 Years of the Fair Housing Act Symposium” in Selma, Alabama: Panelists, including PRRAC Executive Director Philip Tegeler.7th National Conference on Housing Mobility: former PRRAC Law & Policy Associate Peter Kye.Fair Housing Intersections Panel Discussion (from left to right): PRRAC Board Members Dennis Parker and Demetria McCain, as well as co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice Vernice Miller Travis, former Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, and former Secretary of Education John King.Former PRRAC Executive Director Chester Hartman's retirement party: PRRAC board members (from left to right) Philip Tegeler, John Brittain, Elizabeth "Betsy" Julian, and John Charles Boger.Former Deputy Director Megan Haberle participating in HUD meeting on the Rental Assistance Demonstration program.PRRAC and LCCR's "Fair Housing Act At 50 Symposium:" Presentation on the Small Area Fair Market Rule court case by PRRAC Executive Director Philip Tegeler.2018 PRRAC Staff Holiday Lunch.UDC Law School's “FHA @ 50: Renewing our Commitment to Housing Equity Symposium:” PRRAC Executive Director Philip Tegeler and other panelists at event.PRRAC board members speaking at PRRAC anniversary event.Buffalo, NY Fair Housing Work: former Deputy Director Megan Haberle.PRRAC Executive Director Phil Tegeler and Board Member Dennis Parker at a 2019 NYU Law Panel on Race and Segregation.Jenna Tomasello and Gina Chirichigno of NCSD pictured with the US Capitol building in the background.PRRAC policy fellow Nina Todd and Raj Chetty at the 9th National Housing Mobility ConferenceAttendees at the 9th National Housing Mobility Conference

The Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) is a civil rights law and policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Our mission is to promote research-based advocacy strategies to address structural inequality and change the systems that disadvantage low income people of color. PRRAC was founded in 1989, through an initiative of major civil rights, civil liberties, and antipoverty groups seeking to connect advocates with social scientists working at the intersection of race and poverty.

Our advocacy work focuses primarily on housing and education policy, but also involves land use, and the interconnections between housing policy and education, health, and transportation. These policy areas too often reflect inequities driven by structural segregation. PRRAC is unique in its focus on policies that address structural segregation directly. While we fully support place-based policies to redress the history of segregation and disinvestment, we believe that we cannot meaningfully address racial inequity and oppression without also changing the systems and structures that reinforce racial segregation – and supporting policies that facilitate racial and economic integration. In racially isolated, low income communities, we strongly support non-profit ownership and community control of housing and land resources to provide important protections against economic exploitation, wealth extraction, and displacement. Working with communities who are most impacted by structural segregation, we can contribute to efforts to expand opportunities and reduce poverty.

We also believe in strong coalition and partnership models, and our work is informed by an extensive national network of researchers, organizers, attorneys, educators, and public health and housing professionals. PRRAC is a founding member of Mobility Works, a national technical assistance collaborative that supports public housing agencies and other groups seeking to build housing mobility programs.  PRRAC is also a founding member of the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD), and helps to staff the coalition’s organizing, advocacy, and outreach.

Staff

Thomas Silverstein, PRRAC's new Executive Director
Thomas Silverstein
President/Executive Director
Gina Chirichigno
Director, NCSD
dave pringle
Dave Pringle
Dir., State & Local Engagement
Philip Tegeler
Senior Counsel
Jenna Tomasello
Communications Manager, NCSD
Tessa Delgo
Policy and Development Associate
Audrey Lynn Martin
Housing Policy Counsel

 

Remembering Chester Hartman 1936-2023

Read his obituary, here: A Mensch with a Mission

 

Board of Directors

Olati_Johnson
Olati Johnson
Chair
Brian Smedley
Treasurer
john a. powell
Secretary
Jin Hee Lee
Board Member
Justin Steil
Justin Steil
Board Member
Gabriela Sandoval
Board Member
Dennis Parker
Board Member
David Hinojosa
David Hinojosa
Board Member
Damon Hewitt
Damon Hewitt
Board Member
rachel-godsil
Rachel Godsil
Board Member
Craig Flournoy
Craig Flournoy
Board Member
Sheryll Cashin
Sheryll Cashin
Board Member
John Brittain
Board Member
ReNika Moore
Board Member
John Charles Boger
Board Member
Chinh Q. Le
Board Member
Jessica Huseman
Board Member
Silvia Argueta
Board Member
Michael Allen
Board Member
Natalie N. Maxwell
Board Member

Previous Members of the Board of Directors

Social Science Advisory Board (SSAB)

PRRAC’s Social Science Advisory Board is a group of leading scholars who are committed to PRRAC’s vision of an inclusive society, and who believe that civil rights and poverty law advocacy need to be informed by research.  Our Social Science Advisory Board members provide us with important insights into the work we do to affect federal, state and local housing, educational, and environmental policies.

Members of PRRAC’s Social Science Advisory Board (SSAB)

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