Centering Racial Justice and Addressing Debt in Black Communities

Do you want to be more intentional about incorporating racial justice in your consumer debt practice? Are you already engaged in the work and want to share best practices you’ve learned?

What Will You Learn

• How other advocates are working to center racial justice in their practices
• How to examine your own consumer debt practice—from outreach and intake to case selection and resolution—with a racial equity lens to identify priority areas for improvement

Facilitator

Zenia Laws is a senior staff attorney in the Consumer Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Zenia represents low-income homeowners facing foreclosure and consumers with debt collection matters. She regularly represents individuals who have been sued for the collection of consumer debt and draws on that experience in advocating for systemic change. Prior to joining DC Legal Aid, Zenia was a staff attorney in the Community Lawyering and Maryland Workforce Legal Services projects at Maryland Legal Aid, where she assisted jobseekers with expungement, bankruptcy, unemployment appeals, and other civil legal matters.