Founded in 1973, the Empire Justice Center (EJC) is a legal advocacy nonprofit that fights for social and economic justice for disenfranchised New Yorkers by protecting and expanding their legal rights.
Using a multi-pronged approach that focuses on litigation, education and advocacy efforts, EJC has provided services to more than 12 million people across a wide range of issue areas, including civil rights, health, immigration and housing. Over the past year, EJC has been focused on increasing housing options and affordability in the Rochester area, which has one of the most competitive housing markets in the country.
To create more resilient communities, EJC works with local nonprofit advocacy organizations to train Rochester community members to become affordable housing champions. Collaborators provide workshops to community members who want to learn more about discriminatory housing practices, the need for inclusive zoning changes, and how residents have fought those practices. Workshop participants then receive coaching on how to present to their town boards in support of housing.
“Our part of the work is technical assistance and providing information so residents can effectively advocate,” said EJC’s Data Analysis and Research Manager Barbara Van Kerkhove. “We help them understand various housing and land use options and figure out what might work in their town.”
EJC also provides information that empowers people to decide how to most effectively act, such as demographic housing data, information on how to support denser housing and upzoning at the local level and a sense of how to pursue policy changes in the current political climate.
“At town board meetings, I frequently hear from current homeowners who don’t understand what’s changed in Rochester,” said EJC’s Supervising Senior Attorney Ruhi Maker. “They just want single-family homes in their neighborhoods. But residents don’t always understand how costly it is to maintain infrastructure as housing spreads out [and] as old tax structures struggle to support more services.”
In addition, EJC ensures that area banks offer products to help aspiring homeowners sustainably afford a home mortgage. As the convener of the Greater Rochester Community Reinvestment Coalition, EJC helps banks co-design financial products that provide down payment and closing cost assistance to first-time homebuyers. They are also strong advocates of banks supporting financial education training to help homebuyers become prequalified for home mortgage loans.
“Bank CEOs recognize they can learn from us to better meet their Community Reinvestment Act obligations,” said Maker. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I’ve never been so hopeful.”
Jesse Rhodes is a Contributing Writer.
Photo courtesy of the Empire Justice Center.
