BUILDINGAJUSTSOCIETY
ANNUAL REPORT
FOR FY 2025 (JULY 1, 2024 - JUNE 30, 2025)
YEAR-AT-A-GLANCE
MISSION
The Public Justice Center (PJC) pursues systemic change to build a just society. The PJC uses legal advocacy tools to pursue social justice, economic and race equity, and fundamental human rights for people who are struggling to provide for their basic needs. The PJC is a civil legal aid office that provides advice and representation to lowincome clients, advocates before legislatures and government agencies, and collaborates with community and advocacy organizations. The PJC chooses projects and cases that will make a significant impact on systems, laws, and policies.
Number of clients receiving legal services from the PJC $6,338,536
Direct economic benefits for our clients resulting from PJC representation $683,380
Value of the 1,426 hours provided through co-counseling partnerships with private law firms 46
Number of know-your-rights presentations 187
Number of cases and advocacy actions taken to create systemic change
10.5 million
Estimated number of individuals benefiting from the PJC’s advocacy
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
INCOME $4,639,487 EXPENSES $4,478,413
This financial summary was prepared on a cash basis from end-of-year (June 30, 2025) financial statements prior to the completion of the annual independent audit. 962
Thank you for your steadfast support of the Public Justice Center! As the newest leaders of the PJC, we are honored to carry forward an extraordinary legacy of 40 years of advocacy and impact. We are heartened by the persistence, courage, and vision of the PJC team— clients, community members, partners, donors, volunteers, and staff— in advancing justice at a time when hard-won rights are under attack. The accomplishments reflected in this report are a testament to you and your commitment to our work.
In the past year, the PJC fought to protect and expand rights for Marylanders—defending tenants from eviction; ensuring fair treatment for workers; standing with students, older adults and people seeking access to health care and public benefits; and challenging discriminatory practices in our courts and systems. The PJC also advanced the nationwide movement to secure the right to legal representation in cases that threaten people’s homes, families, and basic human needs. These victories remind us what is possible when we stand together.
At the heart of this work is our unwavering commitment to racial equity and anti-racism. We know that justice is interconnected with the struggle to dismantle white supremacy and shift power and resources toward Black, Latine, Indigenous, Asian, and other historically excluded communities. This commitment—which we hold sacred—guides our advocacy, shapes our partnerships, and defines the culture we are building within the PJC.
In the years to come, we will continue building on this foundation. The road ahead is long, but we walk it together—with persistence, with purpose, and with conviction in the power of collective action to create the just society we all deserve.
Khalilah M. Harris, EdD, JD Dena Robinson, Esq. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BOARD CHAIR
HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING PROJECT
Landlords throughout Maryland are required to notify renters at least six days in advance of the scheduled eviction, now that the Tenant Eviction Notice Act is law. The law allows local jurisdictions to pass their own laws to increase the notice period to 14 days or decrease it to four days. Advance notice of the scheduled eviction date provides families with the certainty they need to move their belongings and reduce the disruption of eviction to their lives. Now no family facing eviction in Maryland will have to go to sleep wondering whether the Sheriff and the landlord will show up the next morning to make them homeless and cause them to lose their belongings.
Before the Tenant Eviction Notice Act, Baltimore City was the only jurisdiction in Maryland with similar tenant protections. However, in June 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down Baltimore’s Abandonment Ordinance as unconstitutional because it allowed landlords to remove tenants and their belongings without proper notice or a chance to reclaim their property—violating due process. The Court’s decision echoed arguments from an amicus brief filed by the PJC and allies, underscoring that eviction affects every part of a person’s life and that renters retain the legal right to their possessions even when they are evicted. In response, the PJC and members of Renters United Maryland pushed for statewide reform, first supporting legislation in the 2024 Maryland General Assembly and passing a bill in 2025 that requires notice to renters of the eviction date. The PJC and allies will continue to advocate for renters to have the fundamental dignity of a right to reclaim their possessions post-eviction since that part of the 2025 bill did not pass.
HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING
Baltimore’s eviction crisis is an extension of the City’s legacy of housing discrimination. Baltimore City’s Abandonment Ordinance disproportionately harms Black renters and other people of color, people with low incomes, and women.
“Every day, neighbors we serve share stories of the loss connected with evictions—loss of beds, dressers, tables, chairs, cribs, everything—including cherished memorabilia and family heirlooms. Children coming home from school to see all their possessions strewn out on the curb and being rummaged through by people they do not know. Experiences of having to watch items destroyed by weather before the family could get a moving truck onsite. Each story shares one thing in common—the stripping away of someone’s personal belongings, as well as, their dignity.
A full 10% of the 4,668 families who called us to request furniture last year lost their possessions due to eviction.”
—Rachael Buck, A Wider Circle
HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING PROJECT IN BRIEF
We stand with tenants to protect and expand their right to safe, habitable, affordable, and non-discriminatory housing and their right to fair and equal treatment by Maryland’s landlord-tenant laws, courts, and agencies. We defend renters facing eviction, demand repair of unsafe housing conditions, and represent renters seeking systemic relief from predatory landlord practices. We partner with tenants, tenant organizers, and community-based groups to advocate for changes to the law to further housing justice and demand the development of equitable and sustainable affordable housing.
Human Right to Housing Project Team
(July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Omar Arar ▪ Elizabeth Ashford ▪ Brendan Byrne ▪ Erin Conley ▪ Najá Crockett ▪ Angelea Aldana Dwyer ▪ Samantha Gowing ▪ Matt Hil ▪ Carolyn Johnson ▪ Carolina Paul ▪ Albert Turner
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APPELLATE ADVOCACY PROJECT
Defendants in criminal cases are deprived of a fair trial when the prosecution fails to disclose the use of facial recognition technology. This finding in Johnson v. State of Maryland by the Appellate Court of Maryland follows advocacy by the Public Justice Center, Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys' Association, and the Baltimore Action Legal Team. Brady v. Maryland set the precedent that, in a criminal case, the prosecution must disclose evidence that is favorable to the defense and that could affect the case’s outcome. In our December 2024 amicus brief, we weighed in on the concerning practice that this precedent is often violated when prosecutors fail to adequately disclose the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in identifying potential suspects. The brief also detailed the detrimental consequences people suffer from unnecessary and unwarranted pretrial detention.
Days before Mr. Johnson’s trial for robbery, the State disclosed its use of FRT to identify him without providing additional details on the specific software used or whether the technology generated or should have generated additional leads beyond Mr. Johnson. The Montgomery County Circuit Court judge acknowledged the discovery violation, offered the opportunity to postpone for further discovery, and denied Mr. Johnson’s motion to dismiss. As he had already been in jail for a year and had been acquitted of unrelated burglary charges, Mr. Johnson chose to proceed with trial. He was convicted and appealed.
In August 2025, the Appellate Court of Maryland reversed Mr. Johnson’s conviction, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion to dismiss after the State failed to timely disclose its use of FRT. Notably, the opinion acknowledged the growing concerns surrounding the reliability of FRT and AI and emphasized the need for meaningful scrutiny when such technologies are used in criminal prosecutions.
APPELLATE ADVOCACY PROJECT IN BRIEF
We advocate in appellate courts to influence the development of civil rights and poverty law. We represent individuals and organizations whose cases can reform the law and write friendof-the-court briefs (also known as amicus briefs) in appeals to help judges understand the impact of their decisions on people with low incomes and communities of color. We include race equity analyses in our representation and in our arguments in amicus briefs with the intent of educating courts on racial bias, white supremacy, and oppressive systems. The Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow staffs the project.
FACT: The harms of pretrial detention fall hardest on Black and brown communities, as law enforcement and the courts disproportionately arrest Black and Latine people, hold them pretrial, and set higher bail and punishment, despite similar criminal backgrounds and charges as white people.
“When prosecutors conceal their use of facial recognition technology (FRT), they deny defendants the chance to challenge tools that courts have acknowledged are often unreliable and error-prone. In Johnson v. State, the Appellate Court of Maryland (ACM) recognized that the entire prosecution flowed from a secret FRT search—yet the State’s concealment until the eve of trial deprived the defendant of his ability to challenge the FRT’s accuracy or fairness. This secrecy does more than violate discovery rules: it traps people in needless pretrial detention, costing them jobs, housing, and family ties. Each day behind bars is a punishment before trial, inflicted without transparency. Wrongful arrests caused by misidentification are not rare— they are recurring, and they fall hardest on communities of color. Justice requires openness. The amicus brief filed by the PJC and Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association served as a vital reminder to the courts that hiding FRT use doesn’t just bend the rules; it erodes the public’s faith in our criminal justice system. The ACM’s opinion will hopefully send a message to prosecutors that the disclosure of such tools is not optional, but a constitutional mandate.”
— Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association
Appellate Advocacy Project Team (July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Sahar Atassi, Murnaghan Fellow (2024-25) ▪ Melanie Babb, Murnaghan Fellow (2023-24) ▪ Debra Gardner
Former Murnaghan Fellows Dena Robinson (2019-20), Olivia Sedwick (2020-21), and Michael Abrams (2021-22) as well as Omar Arar, Kelsey Carlson, Najá Crockett, Sabrina Harris, Robin McNulty, Carolina Paul, David Reische, former PJC administrative coordinator Becky Reynolds, and former PJC attorney Lucy Zhou also contributed to the PJC’s appellate advocacy in FY 2025.
EDUCATION STABILITY PROJECT
Students with disabilities in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) will have stronger protections as a result of the PJC’s advocacy with Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). PGCPS has failed time and again to uphold the rights of students with disabilities—a fact that is supported by data from our representation of individual students in Prince George’s County and discussions with other advocates. In the 2024-25 school year, we submitted a joint complaint to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) on behalf of four students and their parents to challenge PGCPS’s systemic, unlawful practices. PGCPS had failed to conduct the manifestation determination reviews required by state and federal law to assess whether the students’ behaviors were connected to their disabilities. This resulted in the four students being unlawfully removed from school and excluded from special education services.
MSDE found PGCPS had violated the rights of the four students, mandated professional development for PGCPS staff on federal and state disability rights laws, and required new oversight tools to prevent future violations. MSDE also ordered randomized audits to identify other students whose rights may have been denied. This is a decisive victory for students with disabilities in PGCPS! But our work didn’t stop there; we are monitoring implementation to ensure real, systemic change. Disability Rights Maryland is now filing similar complaints, citing our case as the foundation for ongoing efforts to hold PGCPS accountable.
FACT: Maryland schools over-suspend students with disabilities for behavior arising from their disabilities, making them twice as likely to be suspended or expelled than their non-disabled peers.
“Working alongside the PJC has allowed us to combine strengths, maximize resources, and amplify the impact of our advocacy. Together, we brought a series of complaints to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to highlight systemic issues in a local school system and seek broad and impactful relief. Our partnership has allowed us to bring forth more examples of this widespread problem to MSDE’s attention and has resulted in significant systemic corrective action. We are proud to partner with the PJC to advance our shared missions and serve Maryland’s most vulnerable youth.”
—Megan Jones, Disability Rights Maryland
EDUCATION STABILITY PROJECT IN BRIEF
We seek to advance race equity in public education, improve student achievement, and prevent student involvement with the criminal legal system in Maryland public schools by combatting the illegal and excessive use of suspension, expulsion, and other forms of school pushout that disproportionately target Black and brown students. We envision a school system in which directly-impacted students and families are empowered to build safe and supportive school environments for all.
Education Stability Project Team
(July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Levi Bradford ▪ Kelsey Carlson ▪ Ingrid Löfgren
HEALTH AND BENEFITS EQUITY PROJECT
Residents of Maryland’s nursing facilities are one step closer to having their rights under federal and state law upheld following an April 2025 ruling in Irene Connor, et al., v. Maryland Department of Health, et al. Lack of state oversight in Maryland nursing facilities has resulted in residents being neglected and at serious risk of harm. A group of nursing facility residents with disabilities and mobility impairments filed a class action lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) in May 2024 with representation from the PJC, Justice in Aging, and Arnold & Porter. (Read coverage in the Baltimore Banner.) The lawsuit seeks to compel the state agency to hold the nursing facilities accountable when they fail to ensure that residents’ federal and state rights are honored and that they receive services to support their health, safety, and quality of life.
MDH has failed to conduct annual surveys of over half of nursing facilities and has a backlog of thousands of overdue complaints about conditions that it has not investigated. The state’s lack of action has robbed residents of dignity, denied them essential care, and risked their health and lives, in addition to violating state and federal laws that govern Medicare and Medicaid-funded facilities.
In April 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted class certification and denied MDH’s motion to dismiss the case. In its order, the Court found that the state must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act in administering its nursing facility oversight functions, recognizing that residents with mobility-related disabilities in nursing facilities experienced unique harms when the state failed to ensure that their nursing facility met quality standards.
FACT: The state’s failure to adequately regulate nursing facilities has not landed evenly across populations. More than 50% of nursing facilities that have a majority of Black residents have the lowest ratings on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Care Compare website (1 or 2 stars).
“The residents at my nursing facility need each unit fully staffed, better communication between residents and staff members, and more accountability for staff when residents receive poor care. I hope that the court’s decision will lead to more oversight from the state to ensure these things happen.”
— Irene Connor, a plaintiff in the case
“When older adults and others with mobility-related disabilities enter nursing facilities, they generally have to give up a lot—their lives in the community, their sense of independence. That tradeoff is significant, but to not actually get the care you are entitled to, to be treated in a way that robs you of your dignity, then that tradeoff becomes unconscionable. It’s the state’s role to keep nursing facilities from treating people this way.”
— Regan Bailey, Justice in Aging
HEALTH AND BENEFITS EQUITY PROJECT IN BRIEF
We advocate to protect and expand access to health care and safety net services for Marylanders struggling to make ends meet. We support policies and practices that are designed to eliminate racial and ethnic inequities and enable every Marylander to attain their highest level of health.
Health and Benefits Equity Project Team (July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Michelle Madaio ▪ David Reische ▪ Sam Williamson ▪ Ashley Woolard
New Life workers met with the case team from CASA and the PJC in June 2025 after the court granted conditional collective certification to hear updates in the case.
WORKPLACE JUSTICE PROJECT
Workers seeking compensation for unpaid overtime from their employer secured court approval to expand their case to include others facing the same injustices. Workers at a Baltimore County assisted living and adult medical day care facility endured years of egregious workplace violations, including unpaid overtime wages and dangerous, exploitive work conditions, such as inadequate staffing, lack of proper clinical oversight, and broken air conditioning. In April 2024, four members of the national immigration advocacy organization CASA filed a federal lawsuit individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated against their employer, New Life Healthy Living, LLC, with representation from the PJC and CASA.
The case, Isabela Rivera Brito, et al. v. New Life Healthy Living, LLC, et al , alleges that the company failed to pay overtime to workers who regularly worked over 50 hours per week. The complaint reveals that New Life tried to evade wage and hour laws by issuing two separate paychecks to employees under the guise of operating two separate businesses: one for assisted living and one for adult daycare. The lawsuit argues that these were a single, integrated enterprise under the control of one individual, Alif Manejwala.
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland granted conditional collective certification in March 2025, permitting more than 200 current and former workers employed by the defendant at any time since February 12, 2022, to join the lawsuit. By the September deadline, 25 additional workers joined the case. The workers, many of whom are immigrants, are bravely standing up to demand justice and accountability.
FACT: Employers steal wages from more than one quarter of low-wage workers, according to a study by the National Employment Law Project.
“The fight for our rights and dignity is essential not just for me, but for everyone facing similar situations. We all deserve to be treated with respect and humanity.”
— Isabela Rivera Brito, named plaintiff in the case
“I will not tolerate the injustice that affects those who have come to this country seeking a better future. The voice of our community must be heard, and I am determined to fight for meaningful change and an environment where we can all thrive.”
— Maria, a plaintiff in the case
WORKPLACE JUSTICE PROJECT IN BRIEF
We advance justice and equity for Maryland workers by defending and expanding workers’ rights based on the principle of worker power. We focus on low-wage, highviolation industries where Black and immigrant workers predominate, such as home care, cleaning, transportation, construction, and food service. We collaborate with community partners, including unions and community membership organizations, to ensure that those we serve determine our priorities. We provide know-your-rights education to empower and learn from workers, represent workers in wage-theft and other litigation, and advocate to change policies that maintain racial and economic inequity.
Workplace Justice Project Team
(July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Ejaz Baluch, Jr. ▪ Amy Gellatly ▪ David Rodwin ▪ Nicole Tortoriello ▪ Sam Williamson ▪ Lucy Zhou
PRISONERS’ RIGHTS PROJECT
Systemic racism and implicit bias are deeply embedded in Maryland’s criminal justice system. The PJC’s Prisoners’ Rights Project is committed to long-term advocacy to improve conditions at the Baltimore City jail and reduce pretrial detention.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has failed to provide constitutionally adequate health care and conditions of confinement in the Baltimore City Detention Center—for decades. The ACLU National Prison Project, Troutman Pepper Locke, and the PJC represent detainees in the Baltimore City jail, pressing aggressively for the overhaul of the Baltimore City Detention Center’s health care system and major improvements to facilities, including accommodations for people with disabilities, required in the 2016 settlement agreement in Duvall v. Hogan (now Duvall v. Moore). Court-appointed federal monitors tracking medical and mental health care in the city jail have found unsafe and dangerous conditions, including overcrowding, deteriorating health care, and other violations of the consent decree requiring improvements in these areas. In October 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that the State of Maryland is obligated to comply with the 2016 settlement agreement. This marks the third time the court has had to extend the agreement because of the state’s persistent failure to comply with the agreement and to make necessary improvements to its facilities. We applaud the Court for making clear the state cannot just walk away and will continue to push for constitutional health care and facilities at the Baltimore City Detention Center.
PRISONERS’ RIGHTS PROJECT IN BRIEF
We aim to eliminate pretrial detention to the extent possible; to eliminate unnecessary arrests and detentions that disrupt and destabilize families and communities; and to end pretrial practices that have a disparate impact on people and communities of color.
“For over two decades, the PJC been an indispensable partner in our efforts to improve medical and mental health care, and accommodations for people with disabilities, in the Baltimore jail. The state has fought us tooth and nail, hiring an out-of-state law firm that has made tens of millions of dollars defending horrific prison and jail conditions in the Deep South. Thanks to our partnership with the PJC, in the last year we’ve won a two-year extension of the consent decree and the appointment by the court of a new medical monitor to report on the state’s compliance or noncompliance with the decree. As we work together to ensure that jail conditions meet minimal standards of health, safety, and human decency, we are inspired every day by the courage and resilience of our incarcerated clients, without whom our work would not be possible.”
— David Fathi, ACLU National Prison Project
Pretrial detention itself undermines the fairness of court proceedings and harms individuals, their families, and communities, which is why—now that Maryland relies far less on money bail to detain individuals before trial—the PJC advocates for rules narrowing the discretion of trial court judges to hold individuals without bail as a substitute. Detaining a person before trial makes it more difficult to mount a defense, increases the odds of conviction, and lengthens jail and prison sentences. It also causes loss of jobs, homes, and child custody; debt; and harm to physical and mental health while incarcerated. And research shows that two-thirds of individuals languishing in jail awaiting trial are eventually released through having charges dropped or acquittal.
Prisoners’ Rights Project Team (July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Debra Gardner
ANTI-RACISM VISION
The Public Justice Center envisions a just society where Black, Latine, Indigenous, Asian, and other historically exploited people are free from systems of oppression, exploitation, and all expressions of discrimination. This will shift power and resources to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color) across Maryland.
We envision that our organization is actively anti-racist and perpetually learns and applies anti-racist principles to our internal work and our advocacy as we partner with our clients and communities in pursuit of liberation.
Finally, we envision the individuals within our organization are liberated themselves, and we recognize that all liberation (our own, our clients’, our communities’) is intertwined.
ANTI-RACISM MISSION
To end oppression and dismantle racist systems and institutions that perpetuate oppression in any form, including white supremacy, both internally at the PJC and externally in our broader communities, by dedicating funds, time, and staff to follow through with these commitments.
The PJC strives to be anti-racist, and there is a long road ahead.
ANTI-RACISM COMMITMENTS
To our clients, our partners, and our general community, we commit to:
1. Partnering with organizations and funders with anti-racist values and calling out (or in) partners who express antiBlackness or racism.
2. Developing authentic, non-transactional relationships with Black-led organizations and institutions.
3. Soliciting and incorporating feedback from our clients, partners, and the broader community about our approach, our work, our interactions, and our outcomes. We will use this feedback to:
a. Identify which systemic changes our clients want us to help advance; and
b. Better our client interactions to ensure we’re useful partners and assistants.
4. Advancing and initiating efforts to achieve justice for all people in contact with the legal system, and which challenge white supremacy in the legal profession and justice system, by:
a. Taking cases which attack white supremacist and racist systems and defaults;
b. Incorporating anti-racism analysis in our work;
c. Advancing race equity arguments in our cases; and
Race Equity Team
(July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
Elizabeth Ashford ▪ Sahar Atassi ▪ Melanie Babb ▪ Robin McNulty ▪ Erin Brock ▪ Kelsey Carlson ▪ Angelea Aldana Dwyer ▪ Debra Gardner ▪ Dan Gugliuzza ▪ Sabrina Harris ▪
Jeniece Jones ▪ Michelle Madaio ▪ John Pollock ▪ David Reische ▪ David Rodwin ▪ Albert Turner ▪ Ashley Woolard
d. Taking small and big actions as part of our antiracism work.
5. Building solidarity by joining our clients and community for moments of joy, and not just responding to crisis.
6. Implementing community lawyering practices.
The PJC challenges laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate racial inequities and injustice through legislative advocacy in the Maryland General Assembly. Each legislative session, our Race Equity Team reviews bills introduced to identify those that, if passed, will advance our anti-racism vision and mission. We provide testimony and advocate in coalition with allies. In the 2025 legislative session, we advocated for the following bills:
The passage of the Maryland Values Act (HB 1222) is a step toward protecting the privacy and dignity of Maryland residents, particularly immigrants. The new law prohibits the state, local governments, and their agencies from entering into agreements with the federal government for immigration enforcement purposes—ending the use of the 287(g) program in Maryland. It also requires federal law enforcement to notify sensitive locations, including schools and places of worship, before taking immigration action in these areas. And it requires the state to develop guidelines to protect the privacy of personal data held by government entities from being sold or misused. Our written testimony highlighted the well-documented history of racial profiling, discrimination, and wrongful detentions of the 287(g) program and supported the bill with the amendments that removed the mandated detention and transfer protocols in the original bill. The amended bill passed and was signed by Governor Wes Moore.
HB 1006 would have required the Maryland Attorney General to develop guidelines and policies for immigration enforcement at sensitive locations— providing more protection at schools, hospitals, courthouses, and other sensitive locations than HB 1222. For more than a decade, federal policy limited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities at sensitive locations; in January 2025, the federal government revoked these protections. Our written testimony described the environment of fear and uncertainty that discourages individuals from seeking medical care, pursuing education, accessing legal resources, or engaging with law enforcement using specific examples from our Human Right to Housing Project and Education Stability Project. Unfortunately, this bill did not pass.
The Maryland Data Privacy Act would have prohibited state and local government agencies, as well as law enforcement agencies, from sharing
personal information, facial recognition data, and access to public facilities with federal immigration authorities unless a valid warrant was presented. Our written testimony for HB 1431 and SB 977 described how PJC clients and Maryland communities would be irreparably harmed by ICE practices without the protections provided by the Maryland Data Privacy Act. The final version of HB 1222 incorporated aspects of these bills.
HB 1198 would have supported women returning home from prison. The bill would have required the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Department of General Services to find an adequate site for the Women’s Pre-release Center to provide pre-release services mandated by law—including educational and occupational programs, parenting and family reunification programs, and therapeutic and substance abuse programming that are gender-responsive, traumainformed, and evidence-based—and set deadlines for providing those services onsite. The PJC advocated with fellow members of the Women’s Pre-release Equity Coalition for this bill, which unfortunately did not pass.
The Maryland Voting Rights Act sought to strengthen protections against voter discrimination and ensure that BIPOC and people with disabilities can fully participate in the electoral process. The PJC joined the Legal Defense Fund’s campaign for a package of four bills that would have protected the right to vote by boosting election transparency, prohibiting discriminatory vote dilution and voter suppression, expanding language access, stopping voter discrimination by requiring “preclearance” to proposed election changes, and stopping voter intimidation. One bill (HB 983 / SB 685)—which will require the local government or board of elections to provide voting materials in additional languages when two percent or more of the population
speaks a language other than English—passed both chambers and was signed into law by Governor Moore in May 2025.
The PJC successfully opposed HB 1398, which would have created a new enhanced penalty of up to 20 years in prison for those found liable for distributing heroin or fentanyl that results in a fatal overdose. In our written testimony, we advocated for the Maryland
General Assembly to focus on proven solutions that prevent overdose, like evidence-based treatment and education, to bring an end to the overdose epidemic, rather than on longer prison sentences, which have failed to address problems related to drug use and disproportionately impact people of color.
The PJC took steps to strengthen our anti-racism workplace culture by continuing to implement the four priorities of our 2023 Race Equity Action Plan: 1) a transformative justice process that can be used to build community and address conflicts and harm within the PJC, 2) a restorative justice culture and practices within the PJC, 3) anti-racist community engagement practices, and 4) supervision practices that incorporate racial equity considerations in one-on-one and team meetings, in problem-solving conversations, and in supporting staff experiencing racism in the course of their work. Examples of our progress in the last year include:
Developing a set of guidelines and tools for communication, collaboration, and conflict navigation rooted in intersectional equity and transformative justice.
Reviewing internal policies for ways to incorporate rest and foster a restorative culture.
Working through components of a policy to compensate people who are directly impacted by oppressive laws and policies for contributing their personal expertise in support of the PJC’s legislative or administrative advocacy.
Building skills through trainings on supervision across differences, resilient advocacy, white supremacy culture in legal workspaces, and traumainformed inclusive communications as well as oneon-one coaching for supervisors.
Resilient Advocates Collective shared this theory of change for Trauma-Informed Anti-Racist Advocacy in a series of staff trainings related to creating a transformative justice process.
HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING PROJECT
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Renters’ rights to safe, habitable, affordable, and non-discriminatory housing were expanded in the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session, thanks to advocacy by tenants, the PJC, and members of Renters United Maryland. Among this year’s accomplishments are laws that will:
Require landlords throughout Maryland to notify renters at least six days in advance of the scheduled eviction date.
Require landlords to assess and remediate mold in specified timeframes and require the Maryland Department of the Environment to issue regulations for identifying and removing hazardous mold.
Provide $14 million in annual funding for the Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE) program through fiscal year 2028. The ACE program assisted Maryland families in nearly 9,200 eviction cases in fiscal year 2024, helping 88% of represented families who wanted to stay in their homes avoid eviction, according to the January 2025 Report of the Access to Counsel in Evictions Task Force.
We successfully mitigated the harm of SB 46 a bill that would have stripped renters of their constitutional right to due process in certain types of eviction cases. “Wrongful detainer” cases are often misused by predatory owners to target tenants and survivors of domestic violence, falsely labeling them as “squatters.” The original version of the bill would have stripped away basic protections and made it harder for people to stay in their homes. We successfully urged lawmakers to restore crucial due process rights in SB 46 to give tenants the chance to stand up for themselves in court and stay safely housed.
We backed two bills that did not pass. One would have allowed local jurisdictions to pass their own laws to prevent landlords from evicting people without a good reason, and the other would have prevented landlords from discriminating against potential tenants based on criminal history. While both were unsuccessful this year, we plan to continue advocacy for these bills with tenants and Renters United Maryland in 2026.
Two attempts to undermine the effectiveness of Maryland’s Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE) law, which provides eligible tenants an attorney in eviction cases, were defeated by the PJC and allies. First, the PJC rallied opposition to an amendment proposed by landlord industry representatives to the Maryland Rules of Practice and Procedure, which would have allowed landlords to omit critical information about the rent owed, landlord contact information, and notice of legal and financial assistance from the notice landlords are required to send tenants ten days before filing an eviction complaint. The Rules Committee rejected the amendment. Second, through the ACE Task Force, we worked with the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office to bring its practices into line with the ACE law. Now, tenants receive a clear notice about their legal rights and available financial resources with both mailed and posted versions of any eviction complaint. These victories ensure that renters have the information they need to fight for their rights in court and to access legal help—just as the ACE law intended.
Tenants won the right to proceed as a class action against Westminster Management to recover illegal late fees—with representation from attorneys at Brown Goldstein & Levy, the PJC, and Santoni, Vocci & Ortega. In March 2025, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City certified as a class all current and former tenants at Westminstermanaged properties in Maryland who have been charged fees related to the late payment of rent since 2014 and who paid those fees. The Supreme Court of Maryland had already found that Westminster Management, one of Maryland’s largest landlords, had violated the law by charging fees related to the late payment of rent above the permissible 5% late fee and by attempting to avoid eviction protections for renting families. The Circuit Court’s decision is the next step forward in working to ensure that thousands of current and former Westminster tenants will be able to recover the fees that Westminster Management illegally charged them.
“In these uncertain times, this ruling is a huge step forward to protect vulnerable tenants.”
— Tenae Smith, lead plaintiff
Pictured here, Pascale Lemaire from Progressive Maryland's Enclave Tenant Association spoke at the March 2025 Renters United Maryland Good Cause Eviction rally and press conference in Annapolis. Photo Credit: Renters United Maryland
Read our full report on the 2025 Maryland General Assembly.
Landlords may not implement practices that have a disparate impact on renters who use a housing voucher to pay rent, according to a July 2025 Supreme Court of Maryland decision in the case of Katrina Hare v. David S. Brown Enterprises. The PJC and eleven other civil rights public interest organizations filed an amicus brief in April 2025 urging the Court to protect the fair housing rights of residents under the 2020 HOME Act (which added “source of income” to Maryland’s fair housing law following years of advocacy by the PJC and allies). The plaintiff, Katrina Hare, is one of more than 200,000 Marylanders who use a Housing Choice Voucher or similar subsidy to pay part of their rent each month. The landlord denied her rental housing application because her income did not equal 2.5 times the full market rent for the unit, despite Ms. Hare’s income being over 2.5 times her share of the rent.
Members of the PJC’s Human Right to Housing Project—including Carolina Paul, pictured here at the Southeast Community Action Partnership Resource Fair—conducted eight know-your-rights trainings and attended three resource fairs, reaching more than 175 people with information about renters’ rights and fair housing resources.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of Maryland did not find that this landlord’s policy was discriminatory on its face without the need for further proceedings and sent the case back to the trial court to consider whether this egregious policy has a disparate impact on residents, like Ms. Hare, who rely on a voucher to pay part of their rent. The PJC sides with Judge Watts’ concurring opinion which argues that because of the intent of the HOME Act, a landlord may only consider whether the tenant can pay their share of the rent. We will continue to advocate for enforcement of fair housing laws that hold landlords accountable for policies that discriminate.
Public awareness of dangerous, unhealthy rental housing in Baltimore City and the need to reform Baltimore City’s landlord licensing law is growing, thanks to advocacy by the Safe Homes Now coalition. As a founding member of the Safe Homes Now coalition, the PJC is working with housing justice advocates to address the systemic problems of a flawed licensing system that is not doing enough to safeguard the health and safety of our neighbors, as described in this August 2024 Baltimore Banner article We are organizing renters, researching best practices, educating policy makers, and pushing for reforms that will make housing safer and hold landlords more accountable.
These changes would include randomizing which inspector visits a property to prevent bias, requiring regular audits of inspections to ensure quality, and creating a clear complaint process for tenants to challenge bad landlords or inspectors. We’re also calling for more transparency—like making landlords share who really owns a rental property, even if it’s hidden behind an LLC. These reforms are about making sure tenants are treated fairly, homes are safe, and the system works for the people who live in it—not just those who profit from it. Join the fight!
WHY WE ADVOCATE FOR A HUMAN RIGHT TO HOUSING
The toxic combination of substandard and unaffordable housing, legacies of discrimination in housing access and segregation, and economic inequality has resulted in an eviction crisis in Baltimore City and Maryland—with tens of thousands of evictions per year. While more tenants than ever are obtaining legal representation in these cases, structural imbalances still often allow landlords to get away with unjust evictions, charges of illegal and predatory fees, and neglect of properties in low-income neighborhoods, forcing tenants to live with threats to health and safety. Due to hundreds of years of systemic, racist housing and economic policies, Baltimore’s eviction crisis is a racial equity issue that disparately impacts Black and female-headed households. A 2020 study by Dr. Timothy Thomas found that about three femaleheaded households were evicted for every two male-
headed households. The number of Black women evicted is 3.9 times higher than the number of white men evicted.
At the same time, people with limited means are at a significant disadvantage in the housing economy. Housing costs are skyrocketing, and affordable, safe, fair housing opportunities are increasingly rare. We partner with tenants, organizers, and communitybased organizations in Renters United Maryland to seek systemic change to this unjust system throughout Maryland, and with our partners in Safe Homes Now for issues specific to Baltimore City. Our policy advocacy supports the work of tenants and communitybased organizations in addressing the racist, structural elements of housing courts and the housing economy that most affect renters.
APPELLATE
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Employers cannot use bankruptcy proceedings to dodge certain debts, including wages that they failed to pay their employees. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held in July 2025 in Benshot, LLC v. 2 Monkey Trading, LLC that under Subchapter V of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, the rules governing which debts can be discharged apply to both individual and corporate debtors. The PJC and allies filed an amicus brief in October 2023 that provided the Court with context on how wage theft affects workers throughout the Eleventh Circuit region of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The brief described the challenges workers face in holding employers accountable, including fear of retaliation, lack of state enforcement of wage laws in most of the region, inadequate federal enforcement, and the difficulty of collecting unpaid wages and damages through litigation. The Eleventh Circuit’s ruling reverses a lower court decision that said that Subchapter V’s prohibition on the discharge of debts that arise from “fraud” or from “willful and malicious injuries” only applied to individuals, not corporations—and continues the PJC’s successful advocacy in similar bankruptcy cases around the country.
For client communities to access representation and vindicate their rights, lawyers must be paid reasonable, fully compensatory hourly rates. When the courts cut those fees—as the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland did by awarding less than half of what plaintiffs requested in Flor Arriaza De Paredes v. Zen Nail Studio LLC—it threatens people’s ability to secure the representation they need. In this case, two former employees successfully sued Zen Nail Studios LLC and its owners for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and an analogous Maryland state law. The District Court used the 2014 Guidelines Regarding Hourly Rates in Appendix B of the Local Rules to calculate reasonable hourly rates and, thus, reduce the attorneys' fees awarded. On an appeal of the decision, the PJC and the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association filed an amicus brief in August 2024, and the PJC submitted comments to U.S. District Court studying possible improvements to the 2014 Guidelines. In April 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the fee order and remanded the case for further proceedings. According to the opinion, the court may not “treat court-produced fee matrices as setting a baseline from which departures are disfavored and require special justification” and must consider all relevant evidence to
determine “the prevailing market rates in the relevant community”. The Fourth Circuit’s decision has farreaching implications for our client communities’ access to justice. In September 2025, the U.S. District Court released proposed changes to the 2014 Guidelines that will increase compensation to attorneys representing people vindicating their rights as the PJC and other advocates had urged.
Access to no-cost preventative care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was preserved by a ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc. in June 2025. The PJC and 47 consumer health advocacy organizations joined an amicus brief filed by the United States of Care in February 2025 asking the Court to reverse the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s erroneous ruling that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has unlawfully exercised governmental authority since 2010 in determining which preventative services are covered by the no-cost requirement of the Affordable Care Act. The brief highlights the negative impact of eliminating cost-free coverage of preventative services, noting that consumer utilization of preventative care substantially decreases when out-of-pocket costs are required. This, in turn, increases costs throughout the health care system as preventive services help reduce long-term expenses by preventing serious diseases. The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling, protecting preventive care for more than 200 million Americans.
Members of the public must be able to hold the government accountable when it fails to provide records requested under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA). In 2021, Sugarloaf Alliance—a Frederick County nonprofit organization— filed two MPIA requests. When the County failed to respond, Sugarloaf Alliance filed a lawsuit to compel the County to produce the records and asked the court to award attorneys' fees and costs for the lawsuit. After two years of litigation, the Circuit Court for Frederick County found in favor of Sugarloaf Alliance but arbitrarily reduced the attorneys’ fees request by nearly half. The PJC joined the case on appeal, and unfortunately, the Appellate Court of Maryland affirmed the trial court’s decision. In June 2025, the PJC filed a petition urging the Supreme Court of Maryland to review the Appellate Court’s opinion and clarify that fee-shifting provisions under the MPIA are meant to ensure robust public access to government records. The Court agreed in September 2025 to hear the appeal.
WHY WE ADVOCATE IN THE APPELLATE COURTS
Appellate advocacy is a powerful legal tool because a judge’s decision in an appeal sets legal precedent that can impact people across a court’s jurisdiction, whether that’s the state of Maryland, a multi-state region, or even nationwide. For instance, decisions in appellate cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affect residents in the states of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia,
and set legal precedents that impact people nationwide. The PJC identifies cases on appeal that have the potential for changing the legal and social systems that create or permit injustice. The PJC has used the tool of appellate advocacy to influence decisions related to government accountability and transparency, tenants’ rights, workers’ rights, civil rights, and more.
EDUCATION STABILITY PROJECT
students facing suspension, expulsion, and other forms of school pushout received legal advice, representation, or a referral to one of our partners in the Maryland Suspension Representation Project, a private attorney, or a special education advocate. Through representation, we enforce students’ legal rights and ensure that they receive due process, and we combat the overuse of exclusionary discipline practices that disproportionately target Black and brown students and students with disabilities. We help students:
Revoke suspensions or expulsions.
Avoid extended suspension or expulsion. Schools in Maryland overuse discipline practices— like expulsion—that fail to lead to improved student behavior or create a positive school climate. Baltimore City Public Schools expelled a tenth-grade student for alleged cyber harassment—but the facts didn’t support the claim. We represented the student and his mother at the expulsion hearing and made the case that the school did not have sufficient evidence tying him to the defamatory statements about another student on a public Instagram account he did not manage. We also showed that he posed no imminent threat of serious harm to other students or staff. The hearing officer agreed, denied the expulsion, and ordered the school to allow him to return the next day.
Receive educational and student support services during a suspension or expulsion.
Remove suspensions from their student records.
Obtain appropriate special education. Maryland schools over-suspend students with disabilities without conducting the legally required reviews to determine if behaviors stem from their disabilities. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) repeatedly sent home a seventh-grade student with autism and excluded him from school activities for behavioral reasons—even though his needs were clearly outlined in his Individualized Education Plan and Behavior Intervention Plan. Instead of revising his special education plan to give him the support he needs, the school pushed him out without following the legal process required for suspensions. We met with MCPS to clearly communicate that it is illegal to send a student home for behavioral reasons without following suspension due process. As a result, MCPS changed course. The student is no longer being sent home, and his mother told us he is now doing much better in class.
Support students and families with school placement issues.
When we represent individual students in student discipline matters, we often also seek a commitment from school districts to revise their school discipline policies and practices, as well as to train staff on the law governing discipline and on effective, non-exclusionary strategies for supporting student behavior and school safety.
Education and youth justice stakeholders are equipped to uphold students’ rights, as a result of 10 know-your-rights trainings led and joined by members of the PJC’s Education Stability Project, including:
A presentation to AASA, The School Superintendents Association, with students, school leaders, and other advocates on school discipline policy in Maryland and progress on improving equity in schools. Watch the webinar.
A discussion of the legal rights of students with disabilities who are facing school pushout with attorneys from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender on the EmpowerED podcast. Listen to the podcast.
A series of seven trainings for Maryland Department of Juvenile Services case managers with our partners in the Maryland Suspension Representation Project (MSRP). We trained the case managers to identify red flags related to school discipline, advocate for students, and access legal representation through MSRP. We learned about trends and systemic issues related to school discipline and education access
that case managers have observed in their jurisdictions—information that will inform the PJC’s advocacy priorities for the coming year. Baltimore City Public Schools took important steps to make its discipline policies—and its use of body cameras by school police—fairer and less harmful to students, as a result of advocacy by the PJC and allies. With Disability Rights Maryland, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, and other allies, we educated Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) about the legal and ethical pitfalls of body camera use by school police and the harm that constant surveillance can cause children. We urged BCPS to limit body camera use to necessary situations only and to prioritize student privacy. With fellow members of the Maryland Suspension Representation Project, we submitted detailed comments, met with BCPS staff, and testified before the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners on proposed changes to BCPS discipline policies and procedures. BCPS adopted many of our recommended changes to both policies, an important step to protect students’ rights and build more supportive school environments.
Members of the PJC’s Education Stability Project team held in-person trainings for nearly 180 Department of Juvenile Services case managers in every region of the state. Pictured here (from left to right) are Abbie Flanaghan, Maryland Office of the Public Defender; PJC paralegal Kelsey Carlson; Jennifer Wimbrow-Jenkins, Maryland Department of Juvenile Services; PJC attorney Ingrid Löfgren; and Logan Ewing, Disability Rights Maryland.
Schools in Maryland will be more supportive and inclusive, thanks to advocacy in the 2025 Maryland General Assembly by the PJC and Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline. We successfully advocated to: Pass a bill to integrate restorative practices into schools.
Defeat three bills that would have violated education rights by banning certain students from in-person school attendance.
Defeat ten harmful bills designed to increase school punishments for children accused of crimes off school grounds.
We backed two bills that would have improved how the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) tracks and addresses disparities in school discipline and ensured that children cannot be arrested for socalled disruptive behaviors in school. While both were
unsuccessful this year, we plan to continue advocacy for these important bills.
The PJC secured new data from MSDE that reveals which schools regularly suspend students unfairly. Right now, MSDE’s system only flags the most extreme cases—just 29 of Maryland’s 1,421 public schools— letting many disparities go unnoticed. The bill we backed would have changed that. Using our proposed metric, at least 154 schools would be identified for disproportionately suspending Black and brown students or students with disabilities at double the rate of their peers—disparities that should not be ignored.
Vital data on school discipline disparities— by race, disability status, and more— remains available to power our advocacy and community education following the relentless efforts by the PJC and allies to secure and protect it. Maryland schools suspend and expel Black and brown students at far higher rates than white students, despite no meaningful differences in behavior, and schools disproportionately discipline students with disabilities for disability-related behavior. To challenge these injustices, we need data. During the 2024-25 school year, the PJC filed nearly three dozen Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA)
The PJC created this chart and the chart on page 21 with data from the Maryland State Department of Education.
requests and gathered massive amounts of data from numerous public sources to build a robust understanding of Maryland’s school discipline landscape. The data helped us identify the most severe discipline issues in the state, including the sharp rise in school-based arrests in Montgomery County. We also worked with advocates across the country in response to the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education to archive the federal Civil Rights Data Collections and filed MPIA requests with every school district in Maryland to preserve access to civil rights data reported to the federal government.
WHY WE ADVOCATE FOR SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS
Schools have long employed exclusionary school discipline, including suspension and expulsion, as a method to address behavioral issues. But research and experience have shown that this punitive approach often fails to create a positive school climate or lead to improved student behavior. Instead, it exacerbates the underlying problems, disproportionately affects marginalized students, and contributes to a culture of disengagement and resentment. In Maryland schools, Black students are about three times as likely to experience exclusionary discipline as white students, even though they comprise only one-third of the overall student population. Maryland schools also over-suspend students with disabilities for behavior arising from their disabilities, making them twice as likely to be suspended or expelled than their nondisabled peers.
Research shows that implicit bias, cultural stereotypes, and explicit prejudice explain why schools discipline Black and brown students at much higher rates than white students. This is especially true for subjective offenses like disrespect, defiance, or disruption. Maryland data shows the real-life impact of this—in the 2023-24 school year, schools imposed approximately 55% of the out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for disrespect or disruption on Black students. Teachers are more likely to refer Black students to the office for disciplinary
action, even when they exhibit the same behavior as white students, and once in an administrator’s office, Black students are more likely to receive a harsher punishment.
The PJC is committed to making discipline fair, responsive to students’ behavioral needs, appropriate to the infraction, and designed to keep youth on track to graduate. We are also committed to encouraging schools to increase their use of restorative practices, socio-emotional learning, and trauma-sensitive practices. Research shows that implementing restorative practices builds positive relationships among students and staff to prevent conflict, repairs harm and imposes accountability when conflict does occur, decreases suspensions, and narrows racial disparities. Incorporating socio-emotional learning into the curriculum helps develop youths’ selfawareness (recognizing emotions), self-management (regulating emotions), social awareness (empathy), relationships, and responsible decision-making, and has demonstrated short-term and long-term impacts on student behavior and relationships—including decreased emotional distress, violent behaviors, and conduct problems. Trauma-sensitive practices recognize the impact of trauma on learning while focusing on students’ physical, social, and emotional safety in a culturally-responsive way, contributing to decreases in student problem behavior.
Members of the Community Health Workers Empowerment Coalition of Maryland—including PJC attorney Ashley Woolard and PJC paralegal David Reische—celebrated the passage of HB 871, which will help create a more sustainable source of funding for CHWs.
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Marylanders will have better access to quality healthcare and to public benefits to make it through tough times, thanks to advocacy in the 2025 Maryland General Assembly by the PJC and allies. Among this year’s accomplishments are laws that will:
Address language barriers to accessing state-run services, like food and cash assistance.
Promote collaboration between hospitals and community-based organizations in developing community health worker (CHW) workforce programs.
Require the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to issue a comprehensive report on its treatment of incarcerated trans people.
Sustain funding for doula Medicaid reimbursement and other initiatives provided through the Health Services Cost Review Commission, including funding for the Maryland Department of Health’s Maternal and Child Health Population Health Improvement Fund.
Maintain the Prevent Electronic Benefits Theft Act of 2023 reimbursement program, but unfortunately with a yearly budgetary cap of $30 million in reimbursement of stolen benefits due to the Department of Human Services’ efforts to gut the law.
We backed three bills that would have addressed the dental hygienist shortage, established an Overdose and Infectious Disease Prevention Services Program, and decriminalized possession of drug paraphernalia. While these bills did not pass this year, we plan to continue advocacy for them with our partners in 2026.
The Community Health Workers Empowerment Coalition of Maryland, the Doula Alliance of Maryland, and the PJC co-hosted a virtual advocacy training for doulas and community health workers (CHWs) in January 2025 on Maryland’s legislative process and how to advocate. More than 75 CHWs,
doulas, and community members attended the training or watched the recording in preparation for advocacy on legislation that impacts CHWs and doulas, including two bills in the 2025 legislative session: HB 871, which will help create a more sustainable source of funding for CHWs by incentivizing hospitals to invest community benefit dollars in a CHW workforce, and HB 65, which would have required the Governor to annually declare May 8 as Community Health Worker Appreciation Day.
The Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition led advocacy with the PJC and numerous allies to defeat all of the antitrans bills before the legislature and successfully pass bills to decriminalize the transmission of HIV, maintain Medicaid funding for telehealth services and define telehealth to include audio-only conversations, and create comprehensive health education in Maryland schools (unfortunately, with a provision that allows parents to opt their children out of the human sexuality portion that we were unable to defeat).
The PJC also advocated with fellow members of the Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition to force the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) to issue a report on its treatment of incarcerated trans people—including where people were being housed and details related to investigations of complaints for TGNC (trans and gender nonconforming) issues—or risk losing $100,000 from the DPSCS budget if the next report is not as comprehensive as required. As part of this advocacy, PJC attorney Sam Williamson was quoted in an article in the Baltimore Banner about DPSCS’s slow progress. An article in Trans News Network also describes DPSCS’s failures.
Read our full report on the 2025 Maryland General Assembly.
PJC attorney Ashley Woolard, PJC paralegal David Reische, and allies attended the bill signing for HB 1473, the Equal Access to Public Services for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency Act.
Marylanders with limited English proficiency (LEP) now have stronger language access rights when navigating state and Baltimore City services—thanks to new laws championed by the PJC and allies. The state law includes provisions to require state-run entities to establish a language access plan; notify people with LEP about their right to free language assistance services; and report annually on their language access plan and budget, language access services provided to community members, and language access complaints received. The law also establishes the Maryland Language Access Advisory Group, which will develop a template language access policy, plan, and standard operating procedures for state agencies, departments, and programs as well as a framework to assess their compliance with Maryland’s law. (Watch Governor Wes Moore’s press conference for the bill signing starting at 15:46, where he names the bill as one of his administration’s priorities.)
The new Baltimore City law codifies Baltimore City’s Language Access Policy and the City’s commitment to ensuring that all individuals with LEP have timely and effective access to public services. It designates the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) as the entity responsible for monitoring and coordinating implementation of the City’s Language Access Policy and requires all covered entities to file an annual report with MIMA.
To reflect the changes in language access laws at local, state, and federal levels, we are revamping our know-your-rights trainings and materials—including a language access know-your-rights brochure and an “I Speak” card indicating which language a person speaks to empower individuals with LEP to know and assert their rights with health care providers and state agencies. The materials will be available in Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Korean, Amharic, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Russian.
MARYLAND LANGUAGE ACCESS EQUITY ALLIANCE
The PJC advocates for stronger language access rights with members of the Maryland Language Access Equity Alliance; the coalition unveiled a new logo that visually represents our commitment and work to:
Raise awareness of language access barriers and discrimination faced by individuals with LEP in navigating public services and health care access.
Uplift and stand in solidarity with directly impacted people to achieve reforms that promote equity and inclusivity, regardless of someone’s primary and preferred language.
The Doula Alliance of Maryland (DAM) will lead advocacy for reimbursement by Medicaid for doula care, including emotional and physical support, information, and advocacy for birthing people and families during prenatal, birth, and postnatal periods. The PJC and our partners co-founded this coalition, led by community-based doulas, to continue building on six years of successful advocacy to improve the health outcomes of birthing parents and infants. We helped DAM set up the organization’s infrastructure, including bylaws and a fiscal sponsor, and secure $100,000 in funding. The PJC will continue to serve as a resource to the coalition as its members lead the administrative and legislative advocacy for Medicaid reimbursement and future priorities that emerge from the doula community.
WHY WE ADVOCATE FOR EQUITABLE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE AND PUBLIC BENEFITS
Many systemic barriers keep people from attaining their highest level of health and accessing safety net services meant to help keep people out of poverty:
The lack of state oversight in Maryland’s licensed nursing facilities has resulted in residents being neglected and at serious risk of harm. The state’s failure has had a disparate impact on Black residents as Maryland’s licensed nursing facilities that have a majority of Black residents are more likely to have lower quality of care.
People with limited English proficiency face significant barriers to accessing high quality, culturally competent health care, and public services. The state of Maryland has not provided strong monitoring and enforcement of language access rights under state and federal law, leaving individuals whose primary and preferred language is not English to experience delays in accessing timesensitive services with little recourse.
Community health workers (CHWs) play a vital role in addressing racial and economic disparities in accessing health care—providing culturally competent health education, care coordination, and social and emotional support; helping people navigate health and social service systems; and advocating for individuals and communities. Despite their importance in improving health outcomes, CHWs face inequities in the field, including uncertain funding sources, language access issues, low pay, and lack of employer understanding of
community health work, among others.
The Black maternal mortality rate in Maryland is four times the white maternal mortality rate; among the reasons is racial bias by health care providers that results in Black women’s concerns being ignored and a lower quality of care.
It is unnecessarily difficult for individuals and families to apply for, receive, and maintain food and cash assistance benefits in Maryland, ranging from challenges with verifications, in-person and phone appointments, agency error, language and disability-related barriers, and theft of benefits from Electronic Benefits Transfer cards due to vulnerabilities in card security. Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance program is especially difficult to access, putting up barriers to vital financial assistance as parents seek employment and stability during economic crises, while often experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, and/ or lack of childcare or transportation.
The criminal legal system disproportionately targets and incarcerates transgender and gender-expansive people, particularly trans people of color. Jails and prisons employ policies and practices that harm the somatic and psychological health and safety of trans people in their custody.
These are just a few of the ways that our health care systems and safety net services continue to fail our communities, and in particular, fail people with low-incomes and people of color. Through a range of advocacy strategies, the Health and Benefits Equity Project is taking on these challenges, addressing racial and ethnic disparities in language access and maternal health, addressing inequities in the community health worker field, protecting and expanding access to public benefits, protecting the rights of nursing facility residents to be free from abuse and neglect, expanding access to gender-affirming care, and ensuring safety for incarcerated transgender and gender-expansive people.
WORKPLACE JUSTICE
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Nursing home, hospital, and home care workers in Maryland will have stronger protections—and patients will have increased access to care—as a result of successful advocacy by the PJC and fellow members of the Caring Across Maryland coalition in the 2025 Maryland General Assembly. Among this year’s accomplishments are laws that will:
Increase transparency into, and oversight over, nursing home spending on direct care staff wages and benefits—one step toward addressing critical staffing shortages.
Establish an Interested Parties Advisory Group (including consumers, home care workers, and agency providers) to evaluate Medicaid Provider Reimbursement rates for home care workers.
Require the Maryland Department of Health to report to the legislature on its plan to establish an online directory to enable Marylanders to find home care workers who meet their needs.
We also backed bills that would have protected patient lives and worker safety by addressing unsafe conditions in hospitals and enhanced protection for workers from workplace fraud in the form of independent contractor misclassification, which denies workers full pay and basic labor protections and excludes them from the social safety net. While these bills were unsuccessful this year, we plan to continue advocacy for these bills with workers and fellow members of the Caring Across Maryland coalition in 2026.
PJC attorney Sam Williamson and members of the Caring Across Maryland coalition attended the bill signing for HB 1142, which will establish an Interested Parties Advisory Group to evaluate Medicaid Provider Reimbursement rates for home care workers. Photo Credit: Caring Across Maryland coalition
Members of the Caring Across Maryland coalition and the Patient Worker Collaborative held a press conference with caregivers and advocates calling for legislative action to bolster jobs for care workers, increase access to care, and improve transparency. Speaking in this photo is Andre Johnson, a Baltimore hospital worker. Watch the press conference. Photo Credit: Caring Across Maryland coalition
Read our full report on the 2025 Maryland General Assembly.
Nearly 325 workers are equipped with the knowledge to enforce their rights in the workplace following 16 know-your-rights trainings presented by members of the PJC’s Workplace Justice Project. Workers empowered with knowledge can stand up for their right to full and fair pay, recover unpaid wages, and create systemic and sustained change in the way highviolation industries do business by holding their employers accountable to the law. We collaborate with unions and worker membership organizations, workforce development organizations, community colleges, and other organizations that serve lowwage workers and/or predominately Black and Latine communities—such as CASA, Caroline Center, and Bon Secours Community Works—to reach and engage workers in low-wage industries where wage theft and other violations are common. We conduct in-person and virtual know-your-rights trainings in English and Spanish, sharing information on the harms of and remedies for misclassification and other forms of wage theft, including workers’ options for enforcing their rights. We also engage workers in sharing their experiences and identify patterns of violations by specific employers and in specific industries.
50+ flaggers responsible for traffic control at construction sites around Maryland reached a settlement agreement for $500,000 in unpaid wages and damages in their lawsuit against the Baltimore-based company LRW Traffic Systems (LRW) and its owner, Robert Scott-Coples, with representation from the PJC and Murphy Anderson PLLC. The lawsuit, Hays v. LRW Traffic Systems LLC, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in November 2024, alleging that LRW did not pay more than 500 flaggers for significant time working off the clock; failed to pay overtime when workers were on the job for more than 40 hours per week; and when the flaggers worked shifts at multiple sites in one day, LRW paid them only for the first site. The lawsuit also named general contractors Stella May Contracting Inc. and B. Frank Joy LLC as strictly liable because their subcontractor, LRW, failed to pay its workers the required wages for work done on those general contractors’ projects. The plaintiffs amended their claim in December 2024, alleging that, after learning the workers were planning to sue, LRW and Scott-Coples illegally retaliated against the workers by terminating workers and disciplining them, in violation of federal law. We filed a motion seeking court approval for the settlement agreement and are awaiting the court’s ruling on our motion.
Two deconstruction workers filed a class and collective action wage theft lawsuit in federal court with representation from the PJC and Werman Salas. The lawsuit, filed in September 2024 on behalf of Manuel Portillo and Francis Betancourth, alleges that Second Chance, Inc., its owner, a subcontractor called 300 Painting and Remodeling LLC (300 LLC), and the subcontractor’s owner misclassified them as independent contractors and denied them their earned overtime and other wages. Almost immediately after the plaintiffs sought in good faith to engage Second Chance and 300 LLC in pre-suit settlement discussions, the defendants fired Ms. Betancourth—the only plaintiff still working for them—in violation of federal and state anti-retaliation protections. We filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board relating to this alleged retaliation. Five additional workers have joined the lawsuit as of September 2025.
The Baltimore Banner and the Baltimore Sun wrote about the federal lawsuit alleging that Second Chance, Inc. misclassified workers as independent contractors, depriving them of pay and benefits required by state and federal law.
Sixteen home care workers achieved a legal victory that advances the fight against wage theft in the home care industry in Bobb v. FinePoints Private Duty Healthcare, LLC. Represented by the PJC and AARP Foundation, Margaret Bobb, Delisia Bracey, and other workers sued FinePoints Private Duty HealthCare in November 2023 for unlawfully docking their pay and failing to pay them overtime and for travel time between clients’ homes. FinePoints misclassified its home care employees as independent contractors, which exposed them to the loss of other employee rights such as sick leave, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation coverage. In August 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted a default judgment in favor of the workers for over $500,000 in unpaid wages, liquidated damages, attorneys' fees, and other costs.
This case is part of the PJC’s broader advocacy to combat wage theft and the practice of misclassification of employees as independent contractors in the home care industry. Together with allies, the PJC successfully
WHY WE ADVOCATE FOR WORKPLACE JUSTICE
In many low-wage industries, employers do not pay their employees fully for all hours worked. The U.S.’s history of racism and discrimination created occupational segregation, often relegating Black workers, women, and immigrants to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Lower wage jobs, in turn, often have high rates of wage violations such as wage theft. Wage theft can include failure to pay for “off-theclock” work; tip theft; failure to pay minimum wage, overtime, and anything for worktime spent traveling between worksites; misclassification of employees as independent contractors; and denial of employers’ accountability for unpaid wages.
The impacts of wage theft are devastating: loss of wages needed to support families and build wealth,
advocated to pass the Home Care Worker Rights Act in 2024, which will require home care agencies to correctly classify their home care workers as employees to receive reimbursement from certain Medicaid programs in Maryland when it goes into effect in January 2026. The PJC will continue representing workers to recover unpaid wages and will monitor the State’s implementation of the Home Care Workers Rights Act so that employers classify home care workers correctly and provide full pay and benefits.
increased need for public benefits, and depression of wages across industries. Misclassification, in particular, has a direct effect on workers’ incomes and job quality. It denies workers their rights to minimum, overtime, and travel-time wages guaranteed by state and federal law. Misclassification denies them state and federal benefits, including workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, employer-sponsored health insurance, and sick and safe leave. It also imposes on workers a high selfemployment tax burden (which frequently leads to significant debt) and makes it far harder to obtain the protections of anti-discrimination statutes.
FOR A CIVIL RIGHT TO COUNSEL
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More people around the country have the right to counsel because of new laws and pilot projects supported by the NCCRC.
The City of Los Angeles passed the right to counsel for tenants, becoming the 26th jurisdiction to do so.
New tenant right to counsel pilot projects were launched or extended in eight cities: Boston, MA; Birmingham, AL; Akron and Dayton, OH; Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, TN; and Richmond, VA.
Nevada’s legislature enacted a right to counsel for parents who cannot afford legal representation to defend themselves in a civil court case.
NATIONAL
Missouri enacted a right to client-directed counsel for children aged 14 and older in some child abuse cases.
We successfully defeated a Montana bill that would have repealed the right to counsel for children in abuse cases, in partnership with the National Association of Counsel for Children. Read our written testimony in opposition to the bill.
Advocates around the country received technical assistance from the NCCRC, including information and strategies around campaign building, stakeholder identification, data identification and development, bill language, cost estimates, implementation concerns, funding, and tactics to further race equity and tenant empowerment. We tailored our technical assistance to the needs of each community but always made sure they were connected to others leading right to counsel efforts across the country.
Our technical assistance in the last year included:
Supporting 60+ jurisdictions around the country on tenant right to counsel campaigns.
Submitting testimony on seven bills around the country, including testimony in support of the successful bill to provide $14 million in funding for tenant right to counsel in Maryland through FY 2028, in support of bills related to the right to counsel in forfeiture cases and adult guardianship in Colorado, and in opposition to the repeal of the right to counsel for parents in termination of parental rights cases in Idaho.
Strategizing on federal eviction policy, tenant right to counsel implementation, and attorney pipeline in tenant right to counsel programs in working groups
we coordinate; serving on advisory committees like the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s National Tenant Protections Coordinating Committee and the Disability and Economic Justice Collaborative’s Working Group; and working with federal elected officials to draft and reintroduce the Eviction Right to Counsel Act, which would provide federal funding for cities, counties, and states that enact tenant right to counsel policies.
Partnering with CityHealth to publish their 2.0 Policy Package, which includes tenant right to counsel (called Legal Support for Renters) in their rating of large cities’ progress in adopting evidence-based policy solutions.
Contributing to successful litigation, including in a Missouri case related to the right to counsel in termination of guardianships, in a Florida case related to a child’s right to hire a lawyer to fight for an adoption, and in a Washington tenant right to counsel case*. We also provided technical assistance in pending right to counsel cases in Massachusetts related to child custody and incarcerated individuals being transferred to mental health facilities as well as in potential litigation challenging Idaho’s repeal of its parental right to counsel in termination of parental rights cases.
From Concept to Pilot to Game Changer: A Right-to-Counsel via Legal Support for Renters —one component of CityHealth’s 2.0 Policy Package—focuses on how right to counsel policies help keep families safe in their homes, reduce evictions, prevent homelessness, and improve public health. Watch the webinar.
*The NCCRC supports litigation at varying court levels to establish, strengthen, expand, and protect a civil right to counsel. In Sangha v. Keen, a tenant who received an eviction notice let the court know they planned to participate in the case, even though they had not yet been appointed an attorney under the Washington state right to counsel law. The tenant did not file a formal written response to the claims made against them, and the court ruled in favor of the landlord by default. The NCCRC and the Tenant Law Center filed an amicus brief in support of the tenant’s appeal. The Washington Supreme Court overturned that decision, saying tenants who notify the court that they are participating must be given a hearing—they cannot lose their case just because they did not file paperwork in a specific format. Our brief supported that outcome, since allowing landlords to win by default would weaken the protections offered by Washington’s right to counsel law.
The foundation for right to counsel policy is stronger, thanks to the NCCRC’s efforts to collect, analyze, and publicize research about civil right to counsel. Our research work included:
Regularly updating our network on the status of right to counsel in their jurisdictions around the country through news and activity updates on our website, legal landscape changes on our civil right to counsel status map, and new resources in our comprehensive bibliography
Tracking 300+ bills around the country to provide our network with civil right to counsel legislative updates and to identify priority bills for which we needed to provide testimony or connect with local advocates.
Advising on seven studies, including an Alliance for Safety and Justice report that found that renters are three times as likely to be subjected to violence as
homeowners and a RAND report that found the Legal Services Corporation helps 75,000 households maintain their housing each year at minimal cost per eviction prevented.
Contributing an analysis of why tenant right to counsel policies may not be blocked by state laws broadly preempting local landlord/tenant laws, which provides encouragement to local right to counsel campaigns as well as to other housing advocates seeking creative preemption strategies. The analysis was part of a report by PolicyLink, Popular Democracy in Action, and Right to the City that explains how to win rent control policies.
Publishing the Eviction Right to Counsel Guide, a comprehensive resource that presents all of the strategies, tools, and information we have collected over the years to help tenants, organizers, and advocates advance tenant right to counsel in their jurisdictions.
issues related to the effective and sustainable implementation of tenant right to counsel in their jurisdictions. This is the fourth in the virtual Sprint series, and we have helped 54 teams comprised of more than 500 individuals from tenant and community organizing groups, legal services, government agencies, and academia from around the country advance tenant right to counsel in their jurisdictions.
Delivering over a dozen presentations at conferences, webinars, community events, and trainings, including town halls in Bozeman, MT, and Lawrence, KS; the Equal Justice Annual Conference; the National Low Income Southern Tenant Protections Convening; the United Philanthropy Forum; and the International Access to Justice Forum.
Highlighting the national civil right to counsel landscape in the press, including Bloomberg CityLab, Law360, the Baffler, Springfield Citizen, Idaho Press, Lawrence Times, and Belleville News Democrat
Publishing a blog post for CityHealth about solutions that cities can pursue to address attorney shortages in tenant right to counsel programs.
WHY WE ADVOCATE FOR A CIVIL RIGHT TO COUNSEL
A right to counsel is a law, or otherwise enshrined right, that guarantees an attorney will be provided, at government expense, to a person in a civil case. In advancing the civil right to counsel, we focus on civil legal issues that affect people’s most basic needs—like housing, custody, health, and safety—guided by what the community tells us matters most. A right to counsel has been shown to help people protect their rights and get fair outcomes in the civil justice system. We believe that the right to counsel is imperative in critical civil cases, where research shows that litigants, more commonly defendants, lose regardless of the facts or the law when they proceed unrepresented. Individuals in these cases deserve to have counsel so that they can impress their situation and story upon the court, and have a greater chance at retaining their benefits, staying in their homes, and keeping custody of their children. The lack of a right to counsel has a greater impact on communities of color, particularly in evictions due to discrimination in the housing and
employment markets that has caused income inequality and pushed Black tenants into substandard, overpriced housing where families are at greater risk of eviction.
The NCCRC is the only national entity in the country dedicated solely to advancing and protecting the right to counsel in critical civil cases. We work to protect people’s basic human needs when they are under threat, to provide communities with an additional tool to challenge the systems that perpetuate poverty and racial inequity, and to get closer to fundamental fairness in the civil legal system. Our long-term vision is to have the United States adopt and effectively implement an enforceable right to high-quality, fully funded, clientdirected counsel for people in civil cases who are facing the loss of their basic human needs, thus moving towards reversing systemic disempowerment and unfairness, restoring faith in the system, and advancing equal justice. We advance the right to counsel as a tool to help us reach a world where everyone’s basic human needs are met and unthreatened.
FY 2025 INCOME & EXPENSES
July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025
Thanks to our many supporters, the Public Justice Center had another very strong year financially. Highlights from FY 2025 include:
The PJC Board approved a budget of $4,567,927—including a deficit of $442,827 (i.e. funds to be identified and raised throughout the year to fully cover anticipated expenses). We ended the year with a net positive income of $161,074.
Income was up 13% in FY 2025 compared to FY 2024, with the most significant increases in earned attorneys' fees, restricted grants from foundations, and event registration for the Tenant Right to Counsel Convening. The increase was also driven by a cy pres award in Amaya, et al. v. DGS Construction, LLC, et al. recommended to the court by Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA. Such awards are approved by courts for donation of unclaimed class action funds to organizations whose missions help support the interests of the class. We saw a modest increase in unrestricted gifts from individuals and slight declines in unrestricted donations from law firms and foundations as well as restricted government grants.
On the expense side, the PJC made several strategic investments to advance our advocacy. We hired a full-time Lead Attorney for our Education Stability Project—an increase of 0.5 FTE on the project. We hired three new staff: one fundraiser and two attorneys following the closure of Homeless Persons Representation Project to expand the scope of our legal services for and advocacy with renters, people experiencing homelessness, and people seeking access to public benefits. We hosted a two-day Tenant Right to Counsel Convening that brought 165+ tenant leaders, organizers, legal aid attorneys, researchers, advocates, and supporters from around the country together to advance the strength, breadth, and effectiveness of the tenant right to counsel movement. We also hired consultants to train staff on supervision across differences, resilient advocacy, white supremacy culture in legal workspaces, and trauma-informed inclusive communications as well as to support the PJC Board’s search for our new Executive Director, hired in July 2025.
At the end of the year, we had just over $2.2 million in unrestricted net assets (reserves) that will help us weather any fluctuations in the economy, invest in staff and training, and respond to unanticipated opportunities.
Thank you for trusting the PJC to use your contributions wisely to create systemic change and for continuing or increasing your financial commitment to our mission and advocacy. You make the progress described throughout this annual report possible!
This financial summary was prepared on a cash basis from end-of-year (June 30, 2025) financial statements prior to completion of the annual independent audit. The audited financial statements will be available at www.publicjustice.org/financials-and-annual-reports/.
The Public Justice Center, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization, gifts to which are deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes. The Public Justice Center is incorporated in the State of Maryland. Copies of current financial statements are available upon request by contacting the Public Justice Center at 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1200, Baltimore, MD 21201 or by telephone at 410-625-9409. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State, Annapolis, MD 21401 for the cost of copying and postage. The Public Justice Center is registered to request contributions in the states that require charitable solicitation registration. See www.publicjustice.org/charitable-solicitation-disclosures/ for more information.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS!
Thank you to the many individuals and organizations that led us and partnered with us in advocating for good laws, policies, and practices at the local, county and state levels between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.
INDIVIDUALS
Delegate Gabriel Acevero
Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary
Senator Malcom Augustine
Delegate Heather Bagnall
Language access advocate
Susana Barrios
Senator Pamela Beidle
Delegate Adrian Boafo
Senator Benjamin Brooks
Delegate Lorig Charkoudian
Louis J. Ebert, Attorney at Law
Delegate Elizabeth Embry
Delegate Kris Fair
Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos
Senator Dawn Gile
Senator Shaneka Henson
Senator Stephen Hershey, Jr.
Senator Shelly Hettleman
Delegate Terri Hill
Delegate Aaron Kaufman
Reverend Dr. Terris King of Liberty Grace Church of God
Senator Benjamin Kramer
Senator Clarence Lam
Delegate Lesley Lopez
Senator Sara Love
Delegate Ashanti Martinez
Senator Corey McCray
Senator Mike McKay
Senator Anthony Muse
Delegate Cheryl Pasteur
Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk
Professor Michael Pinard
Senator Jim Rosapepe
Delegate Sandy Rosenberg
Delegate Sheila Ruth
Delegate Karen Simpson
Senator Will Smith
Delegate Vaughn Stewart
Senator Charles Sydnor, III
Delegate Jennifer Terrasa
Elizabeth Vanderpool
Christine Webber
Delegate Jennifer White Holland
Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins
ORGANIZATIONS
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
4th Trimester Family LLC
AARP Foundation
AASA, The School Superintendents Association
PJC attorney Ashley Woolard, PJC paralegal David Reische, Delegate Gabriel Acevero, and partners celebrated the signing of HB 1473, which will address language barriers to accessing state-run services, like food and cash assistance.
Access to Counsel in Evictions Task Force
ACLU National Prison Project
ACLU of Maryland
Advance Maryland
Alzheimer’s Association –
Greater Maryland and National Capital Area Chapters
AmericaWorks
Arnold & Porter LLP
Asylee Women Enterprise
Axia Amplified Consulting
Baltimore Action Legal Team
Baltimore City Community College
Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success
Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights
Baltimore DC Metro Building Trades Council
Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition
Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership
Baltimore Renters United
Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Development
Behavioral Health System Baltimore
Bon Secours Community Works
BRIDGES
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
BUILD
Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth
Caring Across Maryland
Caroline Center
CASA
CASH Campaign of Maryland
Catholic Charities of Baltimore
PJC AWARDS
July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025
John P. Sarbanes Courage Award
The John P. Sarbanes Courage Awards honor clients and others who exhibit tremendous courage in the face of injustice.
JESSICA LEGGETTE PAGE 40
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante
Centro SOL
CHOICE Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Civil Justice Inc.
Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC
Comité Latino de Baltimore
Common Cause
Community Development Network of Maryland
Community Health Workers
Empowerment Coalition of Maryland
Debt Collective
Decriminalize Montgomery County
Disability Rights Maryland
District Court Self-Help Center
Doula Alliance of Maryland
DoulaID
Earl’s Place/Prospect Place
Outstanding Partner Awards
The Outstanding Partner Awards go to individuals and organizations whose work makes a difference for our clients and the issues we work on.
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE PAGE 41
LEGAL DEFENSE FUND PAGE 45
PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND’S ENCLAVE TENANT ASSOCIATION PAGE 46
JOSEPH GREENWALD & LAAKE, PA PAGE 47
John P. Sarbanes Courage Award
The John P. Sarbanes Courage Awards honor clients and others who exhibit tremendous courage in the face of injustice.
JESSICA LEGGETTE
Jessica Leggette advocated with the PJC against disastrous legislation that would have put many Maryland families in danger—while dealing with extreme adversity and trauma following a rental scam that put her family’s housing at risk. After moving into their new home, she learned the person she had paid for the first month’s rent and security deposit was not the owner. The owner filed a wrongful detainer eviction case, in which she successfully negotiated time for her and her children to move. During the 2025 legislative session, Ms. Leggette testified in front of the Senate Judicial Proceedings and House Judiciary Committees urging they reject “evict first” legislation that would circumvent the due process rights of families in her situation. Her testimony helped persuade the Maryland General Assembly to keep due process rights of people who had been scammed intact, ensuring they would be given their day in court.
Economic Action Maryland
Equal Access Language Services, LLC
Equal Rights Center
Ethiopian Eritrean Special Needs
Community
Fair Housing Justice Center
Family Values @ Work
Florida Legal Services
Food and Water Watch
Gallagher LLP
Georgia Legal Services Program
Health Care for the Homeless
Homeless Persons
Representation Project
Housing Works
Inclusionary Housing Coalition Baltimore
Intercultural Counseling Connection
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades – District Council 51
Jews United for Justice
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Jubilee Association of Maryland
Justice in Aging
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Project HEAL (Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law)
La Clinica del Pueblo
Language Access Task Force
Law Offices of Joseph S. Mack
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle
Legal Defense Fund
Liberty Grace Church of God
Life After Release
LiUna! – Baltimore Washington Laborers’ District Council
Management Boards
Maryland Access to Justice Commission
Maryland Behavioral Health Coalition
Maryland Center on Economic Policy
Maryland Centers for Independent Living
Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative
Maryland Coalition of Families
Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline
Maryland Community Action Partnership
Maryland Community Health Worker Association
Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association
Maryland Delaware D.C. Press Association
Maryland Dental Action Coalition
Maryland Department of Disabilities
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
Maryland Department of Juvenile Services
Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council
Maryland Equity Coalition for People with Disabilities
Maryland Eviction Prevention Funds Alliance
Maryland Family Network
Maryland Governor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Maryland Hunger Solutions
Maryland Language Access Equity Alliance
Maryland Latinos Unidos
Maryland Legal Aid
Maryland Legal Services Corporation
Maryland Office of the Public Defender
Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO
Outstanding Partner Award
The Outstanding Partner Awards go to individuals and organizations whose work makes a difference for our clients and the issues we work on.
VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE
Vera Institute of Justice works to transform the criminal justice and immigration systems nationwide so that fewer people are incarcerated and everyone behind bars is treated with dignity. Aligned with that mission, Vera has been an outstanding partner in advocacy for the Fair Chance in Housing bill introduced in the 2025 legislative session. John Bae, Caroline Iosso, and Celia Strumph of Vera wrote and submitted testimony in the Maryland General Assembly, supported research and data in favor of the bill, and conducted public relations with media outlets for the Fair Chance Coalition’s demonstration in Annapolis. Because of their hard work, the Fair Chance in Housing bill is set up to have strong support in the 2026 legislative session.
Maryland State Bar Association
Maryland Suspension Representation Project
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
Marylanders for Patient Rights
Mental Health Association of Maryland
Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association
Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters
MOMCares
Montgomery County Renters Alliance
Murphy Anderson PLLC
NAACP, Baltimore City Branch
NAACP, Baltimore County Branch
NAMI Maryland
National Center for Law and Economic Justice
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Employment Law Project
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Housing Law Project
National Lawyers Guild
National Women’s Law Center
North East Housing Initiative
Parents’ Place of Maryland
Partners for Dignity and Rights
Poor People’s Campaign
Poverty and Race Resource Action Council
Prince George’s County Housing Justice Coalition
Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland
Progressive Maryland
Progressive Maryland's Enclave Tenant Association
Renters United Maryland
Resilient Advocates Collective
Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP
Safe Homes Now
Santoni, Vocci & Ortega, LLC
SHARE Baltimore
Somos Baltimore Latino
South Baltimore Community Land Trust
Southeast Community Development Corporation
Southern Poverty Law Center
Stout Risius Ross
Time to Care Coalition
Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition
Troutman Pepper Locke
UNITE HERE! Local 7
United States of Care
United Way of Central Maryland
United Workers
University of Baltimore School of Law Civil Advocacy Clinic
University of Baltimore School of Law Community Development Clinic
University of Maryland Carey School of Law Clinical Program
University of Maryland Carey School of Law Youth, Education and Justice Clinic
Vera Institute of Justice
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Werman Salas P.C.
Women’s Law Center of Maryland
Women’s Pre-release Equity Coalition
Young People for Progress
Youth Action Board
Za Gualay Consulting, LLC
Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
NCCRC
National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
NCCRC
NATIONAL COALITION FOR A CIVIL RIGHT TO COUNSEL PARTNERS
Thank you to the many individuals and organizations who partnered with us to ensure individuals have a right to effective counsel when facing the loss of their basic human needs in the civil legal system.
National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
INDIVIDUALS
Senator Cory Booker
Malika Conner
Pablo Estupiñan
Representative Summer Lee
Legal Services Corporation
National Association of Counsel for Children
NCCRC
Representative Mary Scanlon
Andrew Scherer
ORGANIZATIONS
ACLU*
TheCaseMade
ChangeLab Solutions
CityHealth
National Homelessness Law Center
National Housing Law Project
National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
National Low Income Housing Coalition
New York Law School Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law
Northeastern University School of Law
NCCRC
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
PolicyLink
RESULTS
Democracy Policy Network
The NCCRC also thanks the more than 1,000 allies in 48 states—including civil legal aid organizations, the private bar, public interest law firms, academia, bar associations, access to justice commissions, nonprofit organizations, public defender offices, and community organizing groups—leading the efforts at the local, state, and federal levels to establish a right to counsel in civil cases.
National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel
Democratic Socialists of America*
Disability Economic Justice Collaborative
Enterprise Community Partners
Eviction Lab
Equal Justice Works
Housing Justice Network
Human Impact Partners
International Municipal Lawyers Association
Kaiser Permanente
Results for America
Right to Counsel NYC Coalition
Salvation Army*
Stout Risius Ross
Strategic Actions for a Just Economy
United Philanthropy Forum
United Way*
Urban Institute
World Justice Project
* National organizations with local chapters that partner with the NCCRC
THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS!
Thank you to the many individuals and organizations who made gifts between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Together, we are building a just society!
PJC CATALYSTS
Thank you to the many individuals who give monthly to fuel individual and class action lawsuits, engage people directly impacted by injustice to advocate for better laws, challenge racist and biased systems, and help their neighbors take back their power. PJC Catalysts stand with us each month to dismantle systems that oppress BIPOC communities and build pathways to justice.
MONTHLY DONORS
Anonymous (4)
Joseph Adams
Liz Atlas
Michael J. Bell
Kate Bladow
Delegate Regina T. Boyce
James D. Bragdon
Mara Braverman
Paul S. Caiola and Vanessa D. Billings
Paula Carmody and Keith Zimmerman
Andrew Chalfoun
Keally Cieslik
Colette Colclough
Hannah Cole-Chu
The Honorable Leeland J. Cole-Chu
Anne Coventry
Chad Crowley
The Honorable David Dreyer
Sally and Keenan Dworak-Fisher
Erika D. Eason and Mark Likos
Deborah and Neil Eisenberg
Jeremy Feldman
Lisa Firnberg
Mindie Flamholz
Susan Francis and Sandra Daniels
Debra Gardner
Thomas X. Glancy, Jr. and Charlotte A. Stivers
Rebecca Gorton Grandfield
Brian Gregory
Kathleen Gregory
Heather Harris
Olivia Holcombe-Volke
Amy Horton
Jeniece Jones
Stephanie Jones
Lisa Klingenmaier
Margaret Ladlow
Matthew LaGarde
Kathleen Maltbie
Eliza McDermott
Maureen McNulty
Arley Mosher
Jeremy Mullendore
John Nethercut
Nathaniel Norton
Thomas Pacheco
Jennifer Pelton
Diana Philip
Rebeca Rios and Dan Gugliuzza
Dena Robinson
Christopher R. and Carla Ryon
Brooke Sachs
Stephanie Schulze
Aniko Schwarcz
Joshua Segall
Charlie Shilling
Jon Shuttle
Larry Simmons
Amy Sobnosky
Nancy and James Stivers
Marcus Taube
Daniel Thiel
Keeley Thomas Zach Uhrich
Christine E. Webber and J. Wesley McClain
Jessica Weber
Rachel Whiteheart
Lewis Yelin and Teresa Hinze
QUARTERLY DONORS
Emried D. Cole, Jr. and Wandaleen P. Cole
Elaine Frazer
Cynthia Wheeler
BECOME A PJC CATALYST
Outstanding Partner Award
The Outstanding Partner Awards go to individuals and organizations whose work makes a difference for our clients and the issues we work on.
LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) defends the humanity and advances the rights of Black people in America. In that work, LDF has been instrumental in advancing legislative advocacy with the PJC and Renters United Maryland. In support of Good Cause Eviction legislation, LDF effectively named that Black renters in Maryland face the highest rates of lease non-renewal and retaliation by their landlords. In advocacy for the Fair Chance in Housing bill, LDF provided new research showing that Black prospective tenants with a criminal record face worse treatment from their landlords and lower access to housing opportunities than white prospective tenants with a criminal record despite evidence that a criminal record is not an effective predictor of whether someone will be a good tenant who abides by the terms of their lease and pays rent on time. David Wheaton of LDF, in particular, has made a tremendous contribution to ensuring the Good Cause Eviction and Fair Chance in Housing legislation remain a high priority of the Legislative Black Caucus—giving these bills a fighting chance in the 2026 legislative session.
INDIVIDUALS
Anonymous (18)
Karen Ahlquist
Don and Lisa Akchin
Alisha Akmal
Sue Albrecht
Bonnie C. and David Allan
Jose Anderson
Rita Anselmo
Omar Arar
Judith A. Armold
Maxine Arnsdorf
Joshua N. Auerbach
Mary Azrael
Andrew Baida and Cynthia Spell
Nathaniel Balis
William M. Barry and Joan H. Jacobson
Howell Baum and Madelyn Siegel
Jonathan Beard
Peter V. Berns
Daniel Besingi
Michael S. and Pamela M. Betton
Michelle P. Betton
Andrea Bjorklund
Salli Blevins
Les Bodian
David S. Bogen and Patricia Y. Ciricillo
Rachel Boss
Marcus Boston
Leonidas and Mary Boutsikaris
Susan Boyce
Alisa D. Bralove-Scherr
Anne Bricker
Gregory A. Brock and Wendy J. Wirth-Brock
L. Tracy Brown
Anita Byrd
Walter Calvert
Gregory P. Care and Adrienne Breidenstine
Yana Cascioffe
Meghan Casey
Bobby Cherayil and Nandini Sengupta
Maya Cherayil
Ann T. Ciekot and Noah D. Parker
Diane Citrin
Elsa L. Clausen
Max Claussen
Sarah Coffey Bowes
Douglas L. Colbert
The Honorable Charlotte M. Cooksey
Lawrence and Arlene Coppel
Andy Dahl
Ayoka Campbell Davis
Gabrielle Dean and Tim Teigen
Victoria Dirac
Susan E. Dodge and Gerald J. Whittaker
Mark and Jacqueline Donowitz
Aluanda Drain
Fran and Frank Dworak
Anna A. Ellis
Jerome Epstein
Shelley Estersohn
Rachel Fehr
John Folkemer
Andrew D. Freeman and Jo Margaret Mainor
Gerard J. Gaeng
Thomas Gagliardo
Bill Geenen and Lillie Stewart
Maureen Glancy
Outstanding Partner Award
The Outstanding Partner Awards go to individuals and organizations whose work makes a difference for our clients and the issues we work on.
PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND'S ENCLAVE TENANT ASSOCIATION
Progressive Maryland’s Enclave Tenant Association is a leader on housing justice in Montgomery County and throughout Maryland—advocating for tenants’ rights, improving living conditions, and fostering community awareness. The Association is a clear, effective voice for their members and has co-led successful campaigns passing the Tenant Safety Act and Tenant Eviction Notice Act. Members of the Association are also leading the charge to ensure that landlords must provide a legitimate reason for any eviction. Their commitment to building power and collaborating with partners around the state has advanced the rights of all Marylanders to fair, safe, affordable, and accessible housing.
Heidi Goddard
Sally Gold and Elliott Zulver
Goldberg Family Fund
Daniel F. Goldstein and Laura W. Williams
Andrew Jacob Gordon
Ms. Sally T. Grant
Karie Gray and Kimberly Peeren
Elizabeth Grdina
Nakita Green
Sarah Green
Mary Grossman
Leslie Guthrie
Mary Hambleton
Lisa Anne Hamilton
Janelle and David Hansen
The Honorable Glenn T. Harrell, Jr. and Pamela C. Harrell
Jane Harrison
Laurence Hartwig
Carel T. Hedlund
Heather Heilman
Michael and Ilana Heintz
Lee M. Hendler
Senator Michelle L. and Jeffrey K. Hettleman
Rufino and Lauri Richman Hidalgo
Charles Hill
Thomas Hochstein
Joan Hooker
Jan Houbolt and Rachel Wohl
Susan and Thomas Howley
John Hummel
David A. and Katherine B. Hurst
Steven Isbister
Daniel Isenberg
Nicholas Johansson
Tina Johnson
Alan Kabat
Jason Kaleko
Rachel Kaplan
Richard Kashnow
Joyce S. Keating
David Kerschen
Ingrid Kershner
Karen Kinnamont
Brenda Krause
Nancy and Ed Kutler
Janet LaBella
Claire Landers
David Lapp
Aaron Levin
Anna Levy
William C. Lindsey
Rhonda Lipkin and Michele Nethercott
Sonya Liu
Lorie Logan-Bennett
Brian Joseph Markovitz
Kyriakos P. Marudas
Laura Mateczun
Lisa D. and William T. Mathias
Shavonna Maxwell
Sharon May
Jeanne Marie McCauley and Frank C. Paul
Kathie D. McCleskey
Ellen McGinnis
Brian McNally
Mary Helen McNeal
Brenda and Michael Midkiff
Christopher Miller
Alexa Milton
Pamela Mitchell
David Momot
Eric Mondesir
Annette Mooney
Ed Morman
Fergal Mullally
Miriam Nemeth
Outstanding Partner Award
The Outstanding Partner Awards go to individuals and organizations whose work makes a difference for our clients and the issues we work on.
JOSEPH GREENWALD & LAAKE, PA
Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA recommended to the court in Amaya et al. v. DGS Construction, LLC, et al. that the PJC receive a donation of unclaimed class action funds (i.e., a cy pres award); the result was a substantial award that will build our capacity to protect and expand rights for Marylanders and people in communities around the country. Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA represented the construction workers in their fight for compensation by their employer for required travel time. From 2019 to 2022, three PJC Murnaghan Fellows authored amicus briefs joined by Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers’ Association in support of the workers, who ultimately prevailed in their lawsuit.
Louisa Nickerson
Kristine Nixon
Jean Noonan
Laurie J. Norris
Lee Norris
Mark Norris
Scott Norris
Marci Norton
Andrew and Sharon Nussbaum
Linda and Milan Obradovic
Aaron Oldenburg
Ira Oring
JoAnn Orlinsky
Heidi Ortmeyer
Daniel Paige
Linda Pardoe
Mimi L. Parvis
Ed Pascucci
Carolina Paul
Anne S. Perkins
Eliana and Andrew Perrin
David S. Preminger
Jeff Rackow and Dana Shoenberg
Rachelle H. Raphael
Darius and Monica Rastegar
Salem Reiner and Dana L. Johnson
Elizabeth Ann Renuart
Eileen Carr Riley and Douglas B. Riley
Harriet M. Robinson and Donald Jennings
James A. Rossman
Tricia Rubacky and William F. Merritt
Evelyn K. Rubel
Nora Ryan
Rod Ryon and Joan Stanne
Brad Sagal
Joy R. Sakamoto-Wengel
Barbara Samuels
Jeffrey and Marsha Samuels
Jane Santoni
Erica Sarodia
Mr. Neil J. Schechter
Clay Serenbetz
Joshua M. Sharfstein
Daniel and Kathleen Shemer
Gary and Laura Siegel
Brandon Silverman and Alisa Padon
Michael A. Smith
Solomon H. and Elaine B. Snyder
Philanthropic Fund
Howard Sollins and Barbara Resnick
Cayla Spear
Thomas S. Spencer
Ray and Linda Sprenkle
Hal David Starr
Rashad Staton
Therese Staudenmaier and Daniel J. McCarthy
Nevett and Betsy Steele
Thomas and Jane Steele
Marc E. Steinberg and Jennifer A. Goldberg
Walter and Susan Stone
Susan W. and John A. Talbott
Joseph B. Tetrault
Stephen Thibodeau
Denise and Jerrold A. Thrope
Francis James Townsend, III
Susan Trainor
Albert Turner
John Welliver
Susan Wolman
Susan Yost
Jean Zachariasiewicz and Jordon Steele
Natalie Zaidman
Philip and Marla Zipin
Claudia Zuckerman
ORGANIZATIONS
AbbVie
The Abell Foundation
Apple
The Clayton Baker Trust
Baltimore Women's Giving Circle
Benedictine Sisters
The Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Community Development Block Grant, Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development
Family Values @ Work
The Fine and Greenwald Foundation
FM Global
The Fund for Change
Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, State of Maryland
Harvest
The Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund
Little Hearts Foundation
Maryland Housing Counseling Fund, State of Maryland, Department of Housing and Community Development
LAW FIRM CAMPAIGN DONORS
Maryland Legal Services Corporation
Meyer Foundation
Microsoft Corporation
Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., Appellate
Advocacy Fellowship
Pfizer
Nora Roberts Foundation
Sempra Energy
SNF USA
Thank you to the many law firms and individual lawyers who join the Public Justice Center in building a just society. Our Law Firm Campaign donors fuel advocacy that advances economic justice and race equity in Maryland and beyond.
$15,000+
Venable Foundation
$4,000+
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Saiontz & Kirk, PA
$3,000+
Gallagher LLP
Iliff, Meredith, Wildberger & Brennan, P.C.
$2,000+
Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC
Correia & Puth, PLLC
DLA Piper LLP
Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
$1,000+
Ballard Spahr LLP
Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Moore & Quinn, LLC
Gilbert Employment Law, P.C.
Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA
CY PRESS AWARD
KSC Law
Law Offices of Kathleen Cahill LLC
Murphy Anderson PLLC
Saul Ewing LLP
Up to $750
Nathans & Ripke LLP
MEDIA SPONSOR
Such awards are approved by courts for donation of unclaimed class action funds to organizations whose missions help support the interests of the class. We are so grateful to Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA for proposing and securing a generous cy pres award for the PJC this year.
NATIONAL COALITION FOR A CIVIL RIGHT TO COUNSEL DONORS
Thank you to the many individuals and organizations who made gifts to advance the right to counsel for lowincome people in civil cases involving basic human needs, such as housing, health, domestic violence, civil incarceration, and child custody.
INDIVIDUALS
Elizabeth Bluestein
Tonya Brito
Catherine C. Carr and Louis N. Tannen
Cynthia Chagolla
Randall D. Chapman
Keally Cieslik
Emried D. Cole, Jr. and Wandaleen P. Cole
The Honorable David Dreyer
Russell Engler and Tracy Miller
Steve and Amy Eppler-Epstein
Jeremy Feldman
Debra Gardner
Michael S. Greco
Daniel Greenberg and Karen Nelson
David Sunshine Hamburger
Bryan and Susan Hetherington
Dwight Hines
Alan W. Houseman
The Honorable Earl Johnson, Jr.
Amy Karozos
Eve Biskind Klothen and Ken Klothen
Brittany Lane
Karen Lash
Chinh Le and Vanita Gupta
Gregg and Elizabeth Lombardi
Michelle Lucas
Josh Margulies
Lauren McCulloch
Steven McGarrity
Thomas and Ginger Mlakar
Gene Nichol
Jordan Pacelli Everett
Marcia E. Palof
Clare Pastore
Deborah Perluss and Mark Diamond
Port Tack Family Fund
Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg
Elizabeth Rosenthal
Toby Rothschild
Louis S. and Carolyn C. Rulli
Jamie Sabino
Brad Sagal
Joy R. Sakamoto-Wengel
Drew P. Schaffer
Andrew Scherer
Kenneth L. Schorr
Stephanie Schulze
Erica Schwarz
Dveera Segal and Bradley Bridge
Joshua Segall
Zafar Shah
Margaret Shull
Sally Silk
Jonathan M. Smith and Wendy Turman
Mark and Carol Steinbach
Eric Tars
Rhodia D. Thomas
Jayne Tyrrell
Jennifer Wood
ORGANIZATIONS
Bunting Family Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
JPB Foundation
Maryland Legal Aid
PolicyLink
SeaChange-Lodestar Fund for Nonprofit Collaboration
George Washington University
ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERS
Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada
North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Philadelphia Bar Association
Texas Access to Justice Foundation
Build on the foundation of 40 years of advocacy and impact. Stand with us to create the just society we all deserve.
Become a PJC Catalyst or Champion of Justice, make a one-time gift online, or choose from other meaningful ways to give, including:
Donor-advised fund (DAF) grants
Individual retirement account (IRA) charitable distributions
Stock donations
Workplace giving
Employer matching gifts
YOU CAN ALSO MAIL A CHECK TO: Public Justice Center, 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1200, Baltimore, MD 21201
For more information about giving today or leaving a legacy, contact Kathleen Gregory by email or at (410) 625-9409 x239.
THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS!
Thank you to the many talented and inspiring volunteers who contributed their time between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.
Our Board of Directors and Leadership Council provide excellent guidance, weigh in on special topics, and help sustain our mission. Through our Litigation Partnership, private law firms and individual attorneys assist with specific projects—by serving as co-counsel, providing research, and offering consultation. Through the Lawyers’ Alliance, private and public interest attorneys, corporate counsel, and law students act as ambassadors for the Public Justice Center within their own firms or organizations and within the bar at large, raising awareness of and unrestricted funding for the PJC. Law students clerk on our projects.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR
Colette Colclough
VICE CHAIR
Dena Robinson, Esq.
TREASURER
Karen Kinnamont, MBA, MSM
SECRETARY
Simeon Niles
BOARD
MEMBERS
Max Blumenthal, Esq.
James Bragdon, Esq. Gallagher LLP
Hannah Cole-Chu, Esq.
Andy Dahl
Lisa Klingenmaier, MSW, MPH
Thomas Pacheco, Esq. Lee Segui PLLC
Xander Perry
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Larry C. Simmons, Jr. LCSimmons Consults, Nobody Asked Me Campaign
Rashad Staton Community Law in Action
Cynthia Wheeler, MBA
LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
Camille Blake Fall, Esq.
Max Blumenthal, Esq.
Paul Caiola, Esq. Gallagher LLP
Gregory Care, Esq. Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Emried D. Cole, Jr.
Professor Michele Gilman University of Baltimore School of Law
Tom Glancy, Esq.
Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, Esq.
Miriam Nemeth, Esq.
The Honorable Nancy Paige
Professor Michael Pinard University of Maryland School of Law
Christopher R. Ryon, Esq. KSC Law
Joy Sakamoto-Wengel, Esq.
Michael K. Wasno
Christine Webber, Esq. Cohen, Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
LITIGATION PARTNERSHIP
Arnold & Porter
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll PLLC
Louis J. Ebert, Attorney at Law
Gallagher LLP
Murphy Anderson PLLC
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP
Santoni, Vocci & Ortega, LLC
Troutman Pepper Locke
Werman Salas P.C.
Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
LAWYERS’ ALLIANCE
CO-CHAIR
Monica Basche, Esq. Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
CO-CHAIR
J. Michael Pardoe, Esq. Cole Schotz P.C.
LAWYERS’ ALLIANCE MEMBERS
James D. Bragdon, Esq. Gallagher LLP
Hannah Cole-Chu, Esq.
Michael Collins, Esq. Ice Miller LLP
Neel Lalchandani, Esq. Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Emily Levy, Esq. Jackson Lewis, P.C.
Anamika Moore, Esq. Saul Ewing LLP
Thomas Pacheco, Esq. Lee Segui PLLC
Lelia Parker, Esq. Covington & Burling LLP
Aniko Schwarcz, Esq. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
Michael Spanos, Esq.
Rosenberg Martin Greenberg LLP
Kevin Sullivan, Esq. Sullivan Law, LLC
Lauren Harrison Williams, Esq. Covington & Burling LLP
Catherine Woolley, Esq.
LAW CLERKS AND VOLUNTEERS
Karley Dodson
Erin Fullerton
Rithu Gurazada
Isabelle Hartmann
Carolyn Sacco
THANK YOU TO OUR STAFF!
Thank you to the dedicated staff whose work between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, is detailed in the pages of this annual report.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeniece Jones, MPA, JD
Debra Gardner (Interim)
Kathleen Gregory, CFRE (Interim)
LEGAL DIRECTOR
Debra Gardner
ATTORNEYS
Andrew Ashbrook*
Elizabeth Ashford
Ejaz Baluch, Jr.
Levi Bradford
Angelea Aldana Dwyer
Amy Gellatly
Samantha Gowing
Matt Hill
Carolyn Johnson
Ingrid Löfgren
Michelle Madaio
John Pollock
David Rodwin
Maria Roumiantseva
Nicole Tortoriello
Albert Turner
Sam Williamson
Ashley Woolard
Lucy Zhou
Amanda Insalaco, JD
MURNAGHAN FELLOWS
Sahar Atassi (2024-25)
Melanie Babb (2023-24)
MANAGING PARALEGAL
Carolina Paul
PARALEGALS
Omar Arar
Brendan Byrne
(Jesuit Volunteer Corps, 2023-24)
Kelsey Carlson
Erin Conley
(Jesuit Volunteer Corps, 2024-25)
Najá Crockett
Angelea Aldana Dwyer
David Reische
EVICTION RIGHT TO COUNSEL ENACTMENT SPECIALIST
Shuron Jones
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Brenda Midkiff
Tamra Perkins, CPA
OFFICE AND OPERATIONS MANAGER
Sabrina Harris
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
Becky Reynolds
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Kathleen Gregory, CFRE
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Erin Brock
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE, OPERATIONS AND GRANTS COMPLIANCE
Dan Gugliuzza
INSTITUTIONAL GIVING MANAGER
Robin McNulty
*Admitted in New York only.
Jews United for Justice (JUFJ) honored the Public Justice Center with its Heschel Vision Award in December 2024 for our leadership and partnership to advance justice in Montgomery County and across Maryland. The award recognized our Education Stability Project’s work in coalition to reduce the role of police in Montgomery County Public Schools in the 2023-24 school year and our ongoing participation in the Decriminalize Montgomery County coalition’s efforts to decriminalize students. It also celebrated our Human Right to Housing Project’s statewide work with tenants, JUFJ, and other advocates to advance housing justice, including laws to establish Maryland tenants’ right to an attorney in eviction cases, prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income, and more. Watch the video.
PJC TEAM UPDATES
THANK YOU TO DAVID RODWIN AND BRENDA MIDKIFF
We send our best wishes to two long-time staff members—David Rodwin and Brenda Midkiff—who started their next chapters in the last year. Dave and Brenda leave incredible legacies at the PJC, and we are grateful to have counted them as colleagues.
Dave dedicated nine years to fighting wage theft, particularly misclassification, in low-wage, highviolation industries where Black and immigrant workers predominate such as home care, cleaning, transportation, construction, and food service. Through legal advocacy with the Workplace Justice Project team, he successfully expanded workers’ rights and built worker power.
WELCOME TO NEW PJC STAFF
Brenda retired at the end of 2024 after an incredible 27 years at the Public Justice Center. Brenda started at the PJC in 1998 as the Office Manager and rose to the position of Director of Finance and Administration. In these roles, Brenda made a meaningful and far-reaching impact on every aspect of the PJC’s operations. She helped us grow financially, modernized our systems, and guided us through important transitions.
We were excited to welcome a number of new members to the PJC team between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.
ERIN CONLEY was a paralegal in our Human Right to Housing Project. She joined the organization in August 2024 through a year-long service program with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
ROBIN MCNULTY joined the PJC in August 2025 as Institutional Giving Manager on our development team.
SAHAR ATASSI was the Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow from September 2024 to August 2025.
TAMRA D. PERKINS, CPA, started as the PJC’s Director of Finance and Administration in December 2024.
INGRID LÖFGREN has been the lead attorney for our Education Stability Project since December 2024.
MICHELLE MADAIO is an attorney in our Health and Benefits Equity Project. She joined the PJC in April 2025.
NICOLE TORTORIELLO became the lead attorney of our Workplace Justice Project in April 2025.
CAROLYN JOHNSON is an attorney in our Human Right to Housing Project. She returned to the PJC in May 2025.
EJAZ BALUCH, JR., returned to the Public Justice Center as an attorney in our Workplace Justice Project in June 2025.
Dr. Khalilah M. Harris named as the Public Justice Center’s new Executive Director
On July 28, Dr. Khalilah M. Harris became the new Executive Director of the Public Justice Center—a local and national leader in public interest law reform that uses systemic legal advocacy to pursue social justice, economic and race equity, and fundamental human rights for people who are struggling to provide for their basic needs.
Dr. Harris shared, “I’m delighted to be joining the team at the Public Justice Center to build on its 40-year history of movement lawyering and advocacy. The opportunity to expand and deepen the civil rights and anti-poverty work of PJC in collaboration with community partners is critical at this time of great uncertainty, and I’m ready for the challenge.”
Dr. Harris joins the PJC after over two decades in policy and justice. She recently served as Executive Vice President of Program Strategy at the Center for Policing Equity and as a campaign advisor for a mayoral campaign in New York City. She brings a unique perspective to her work from an extensive career fighting to expand access to opportunity
through a racial equity lens. Over the course of her career, she has organized and been an advocate on a range of issues including access to quality K-12 public education, economic development, policing reform, women’s rights, Black maternal health, and building an inclusive workforce. Native to Brooklyn, New York, and nurtured by Baltimore, Maryland, Khalilah is also a proud mother to three amazing children and daughter to Costa Rican and Jamaican immigrants—all of which grounds her work and shapes her global perspective.
Board Chair Dena Robinson commented, “As a visionary and principled leader whose work has spanned community organizations to the federal government, Dr. Khalilah Harris is well poised to usher in the PJC’s next transformative era, during a time of socio-political upheaval. With the PJC’s phenomenal staff, Dr. Harris will deepen the PJC’s roots as an embodied movement organization and expand its reach in Baltimore and beyond. We could not be more thrilled to welcome Dr. Harris as our next Executive Director!”
The Public Justice Center took 187 impact cases and advocacy actions to create systemic change benefiting an estimated 10.5 million people in FY 2025.
Pictured here, PJC attorney Sam Williamson and fellow members of the Caring Across Maryland coalition— including the National Domestic Workers Alliance, AFT, and 1199SEIU—met with Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk to advocate for policies that strengthened protections for nursing home, hospital, and home care workers. Photo Credit: Caring Across Maryland coalition
SUPPORT THE PUBLIC JUSTICE CENTER’S ADVOCACY TO BUILD A JUST SOCIETY:
Make a gift online or choose from other meaningful ways to give, including:
Donor-advised fund (DAF) grants
Individual retirement account (IRA) charitable distributions
Stock donations
Workplace giving
Employer matching gifts
YOU CAN ALSO MAIL A CHECK TO:
Public Justice Center 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1200 Baltimore, MD 21201
For more information about giving today or leaving a legacy, contact Kathleen Gregory by email or at (410) 625-9409 x239
Thank you!