The Fair Housing Defenders program aims to end housing discrimination once and for all, by educating teens about the Fair Housing Act and empowering them to speak out against housing discrimination!
The Fair Housing Defenders program provides presentation and edutainment materials about housing discrimination and fair housing rights to teens, adults, landlords, and residential property management providers.
Melissa Diaz
Co-Creator/Program Director
Melissa Diaz is the Co-Creator/Program Director of the Fair Housing Defenders program. She manages all finance and legal functions for the FHD program. Melissa develops strategies and establishes functional objectives aligned with the programmatic goals. She cultivates relationships with community organizations, schools, and vendors to ensure sufficient access to services and resources. Melissa also creates the content for the Fair Housing Defenders comic books, workshops, and speaking events.
Melissa graduated with honors from the University of Houston with a Master of Business Administration degree. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Texas Southern University.
Her expertise includes finance, legal, management, administration, grant writing, compliance, communications, content development, affordable housing, economic development and disaster recovery.
Sasha Marshall Smith
Co-Creator/Program Director
Sasha Marshall-Smith is the Co-Creator/Program Director of the Fair Housing Defenders program. She manages new initiatives to support the strategic direction of the FHD program. Sasha oversees funding opportunities for the program to ensure the continuous delivery of services and comic book production. She also creates the content for the Fair Housing Defenders comic books, workshops, and speaking events. Sasha is a national public speaker and has educated over two million people about affordable home development, housing discrimination, and fair housing rights.
Sasha graduated with honors from Langston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations and a Master’s degree in Regional and City Planning from the University of Oklahoma.
Her expertise includes affordable housing, community development, economic revitalization, public outreach, public awareness campaigns, public speaking, content development, grant writing, communications, and management.
Houston, TX
FHD Program Directors, Melissa and Sasha are happy to provide in person and virtual fair housing educational presentations, workshops, and facilitate booths at public events.
To schedule these opportunities or to request copies of the Fair Housing Defenders comic books, email [email protected].