Amy Gellatly is an attorney on the PJC’s Workplace Justice Project, where she represents low-wage workers in wage-theft litigation, does know-your-rights outreach in partnership with community organizations, and advocates for legislation to better protect workers’ rights.
Prior to joining the PJC, Amy was a supervising attorney on the movement lawyering practice at Bread for the City in Washington, DC. In that capacity, she collaborated with tenant-led community groups organizing to build power and transform the housing landscape in DC. Over her seven years at Bread for the City, she successfully represented hundreds of tenants fighting displacement and substandard housing conditions. However, Amy’s legal roots are in the workers’ rights field. While she was in law school and upon graduation, she held positions at the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice; Zipin, Amster & Greenberg LLC; and the DC Employment Justice Center.
Amy earned a J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before attending law school, Amy worked as a union organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x223
Email
she/her
March 15th, 6-8 PM at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis and on Zoom
We invite you to join us to celebrate Maryland’s Community Health Workers and all of the incredible work they do across the State to advance health equity in our low-income communities. Hear directly from CHWs about the unique role they play in connecting their communities to needed care and addressing social determinants of health.
Please RSVP to join us in-person or virtually here.
This rally is organized by the Community Health Workers Empowerment Coalition of Maryland.
15 de marzo, de 6 a 8 p.m en
Lawyers Mall en Annapolis y en Zoom
Los invitamos a unirse a nosotros para celebrar a los Trabajadores Comunitarios de Salud de Maryland y todo el increíble trabajo que hacen en todo el estado para promover la equidad en salud en nuestras comunidades de bajos ingresos. Escuche directamente a los CHW’S sobre el papel único que desempeñan en conectar a sus comunidades con la atención necesaria y abordar los determinantes sociales de la salud.
Regístrate para participar aquí.
Este evento está organizado por la Coalición de Empoderamiento de los Trabajadores de Salud Comunitarios de Maryland.
Shuron Danielle Jones (she/her) is the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel’s Eviction Right to Counsel Enactment Specialist. After living under and being evicted by a slumlord, Shuron began organizing around housing with Homes for All – St. Louis in 2019. Her work focuses on the research, passage, implementation, and evaluation of legislation and policies that forward renter-worker protections. Shuron assisted in crafting the campaign around Right to Counsel in St. Louis City to the eventual passage of an ordinance around the policy in 2023.
Shuron is also a public researcher, historian, and analyst, focusing on the work, lives, and organizing/advocacy/writings of radical and Queer Black Women in the Midwest from the 1970s.
Shuron enjoys messing after her house plants, eating at her favorite vegan restaurants, shopping at thrift stores, and live music.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x251
Email
she/her
Andrew Ashbrook (he/him) is the Eviction Right to Counsel Implementation Specialist at the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC). Before joining the NCCRC in January 2024, Andrew was a Supervising Attorney on the Bronx Defenders’ Right to Counsel team. In that role, he supervised a team of attorneys representing tenants facing eviction in the Bronx through New York City’s Right to Counsel program. Before that position, Andrew represented tenants facing eviction in Manhattan at the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House from 2018 through 2021 and in Ohio at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus from 2015 through 2018. Andrew graduated from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2014, the John Glenn College of Public Affairs with an MA in Public Policy in 2014, and the Ohio State University in 2011.
Andrew enjoys reading, playing board games, and going on walks with his dog.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x252
Email
he/him
The PJC turns 40 in 2025, and we’ll kick off the planning for a fitting celebration soon. Be among the first to know about our plans and ways you can get involved. Sign up for periodic email updates exclusively about our 40th anniversary celebration.
Bring your love of the PJC and your creativity to the kickoff of our 40th anniversary celebration planning. Join us in person or via Zoom for one of two post-Valentine’s Day brainstorming sessions:
February 15, 2024
9:30 a.m. OR 5:30 p.m.
The PJC’s Conference Room, 201 N. Charles Street, Suite 1200, Baltimore, MD 21201
Light treats, sweets, and sips will be provided.
RSVP by February 13. Email Kathleen Gregory with any questions.
Devin Carpenter and her son were living in a home with unsafe conditions. The home had multiple violations cited by the City of Baltimore, but the landlord refused to make any repairs and somehow still had a valid rental license. Ms. Carpenter believed that this license was issued fradulently and asked that the City revoke the license until repairs were made. She displayed tremendous courage by testifying in front of the City Council and sharing her experience of unsafe living conditions. She advocated for safer housing and increased rental inspection accountability measures, not only for herself and her son, but for all the other Baltimore City tenants in similar situations.
Awura-Aduza Cummings-Martin suffered financially due to COVID, fell behind on rent, and relied on COVID-19 eviction prevention funds to become current on her rent. Then, she became an advocate for other renters: taking time out of her week to speak out in Annapolis to ask legislators to fund ongoing eviction prevention efforts beyond the pandemic-related rental assistance. As COVID-related eviction protections expired, Ms. Cummings-Martin was a voice for renters dealing with setbacks that put them at risk of eviction.
Antoine Hudnell, the father of two children, stood up to a landlord who refused to address serious health and safety conditions in the property. The landlord retailiated by filing for eviction. At trial, Mr. Hudnell was unrepresented, and the judge did not give him an opportunity to tell his story or properly present his defense. The PJC took his case on appeal and won in a preliminary motion to dismiss the case due to procedural defects (i.e., the legal procedures were not followed). We are still working with him to fight for repairs so that he and his kids can stay in their home and are not harmed by the unsafe conditions.
Sharnae Hunt was illegally evicted by her landlord two days before Thanksgiving 2022. Because of an “error” by her landlord, Ms. Hunt came home from work to find that all her belongings had been removed from her unit and thrown carelessly into the street. Her landlord acknowledged the error and returned her keys, but the damage had already been done; the landlord’s agents had damaged, broken, dirtied, and even stolen her belongings – including precious keepsakes her son had made, her Social Security card, and bank information. Her son’s pet turtle has been missing since the eviction. Ms. Hunt did not want such a traumatic event to happen to anyone else in Maryland. She joined Renters United Maryland in advocating for a proposed bill in the 2023 legislative session that would have given tenants the right to reclaim their property up to seven days after an eviction. Ms. Hunt testified passionately and effectively, telling every grisly detail and letting state legislators know that she is but one of many tenants who deal with this cruel process every year. Instead of simply allowing her landlord to make her whole and putting it behind her, she worked diligently to make housing more equitable for Maryland tenants. While the bill did not pass in 2023, Ms. Hunt has joined Renters United Maryland to bring this bill back in 2024.
The plaintiffs in Aguilar et al. v. David E. Harvey Builders, Inc. et al. deserve special recognition for their courage and persistence in fighting for their unpaid wages over the last five years. They bravely brought a lawsuit in 2018 after they worked for various weeks on a construction project without any compensation at all. Their pursuit of justice culminated in a week-long federal trial in May 2023, at which each of the plaintiffs – Angella Aguilar, Luis Baires, Carlos Chavarria, Blanca Ferrer, Jacinto Garcia, Fabricio Marroquin, Antonio Martinez, Wilson Panozo, Freddy Veizaga Prado, Jose Feliciano Revelo, and Jose Antonio Torres – provided compelling direct testimony and withstood cross-examination from two sets of defendants. The plaintiffs were able to share their stories on the stand and proved that workers can and will bring unscrupulous employers to court. In late October 2023, a federal judge ruled that both the general contractor and subcontractor were liable for paying the workers their unpaid wages, plus double damages, almost $95,000 in total. Read more here.
Darryl Evans and Andre Simmons were shocked when their food and cash assistance benefits were stolen from their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card accounts by an unknown individual or group through skimming theft. Their trauma was compounded when they learned that the Department of Human Services (DHS) was not replacing stolen benefits for thousands of Marylanders like themselves who were the victims of theft. This nationwide crisis has left the victims, including families with young children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, unable to afford food, rent, and utilities, driving them deeper into poverty. Mr. Evans and Mr. Simmons showed immense courage in advocating for state legislation to require DHS to replace stolen food and cash assistance benefits for victims of EBT card theft and enhance security protections for the cards. Further, they overcame numerous obstacles to testify virtually at the bill hearing before the legislative committee. As a result of Mr. Evans’ and Mr. Simmons’ tireless advocacy for justice and of sharing their personal experiences with benefits theft, the legislation is now law. More than 26,000 households have been reimbursed for more than $15 million in stolen benefits, and EBT cards now have new security features.
The North East Housing Initiative (NEHI) – under the leadership of Executive Director Garrick Good – has worked tirelessly to make the promise of community-controlled, permanently affordable housing a reality in Baltimore City. Since 2016, the PJC has partnered with NEHI and other members of Share Baltimore to ensure that community land trusts in Baltimore City receive the operational support and funding that they need to advance a mission rooted in housing justice, racial equity, and community control of land. Dozens of families have become community land trust homeowners through NEHI, and hundreds of additional opportunities are planned. We are proud to recognize NEHI’s vision and tenancity in achieving systemic change.
Partners for Dignity & Rights has been an invaluable resource to Baltimore City communities working to advance human rights and economic justice. Human Rights Development Program Director Peter Sabonis provides legal advice, policy expertise, and technical support to the movement advancing permanently affordable housing through community land trusts in Baltimore. The PJC is proud to partner with Partners in Dignity & Rights to advance housing justice in Baltimore.
“If you look across the nation, you will find few legal service programs that combine direct service, systemic litigation, and legal support to the organizing and mobilizing that builds power. The Public Justice Center is in that rarefied class. We are privileged to partner with them.” – Peter Sabonis.
Thank you for being a catalyst for life-changing action through your unwavering support of the Public Justice Center!
Together, we are changing laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate injustices; defeating laws that would have disproportionately harmed people and communities of color; and building a just society.
Read examples of our progress in the FY 2023 Annual Report or call 410.625.9409 for a printed copy.
Melanie Babb is honored to serve as the 2023-2024 Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow at the Public Justice Center. In this role, she represents parties and files amicus briefs in civil rights cases related to poverty law and racial equity issues in state and federal courts.
Prior to joining PJC, Melanie clerked for the Honorable Christopher B. Kehoe on the Appellate Court of Maryland and former Special Family Magistrate Andrea F. Kelly for Baltimore City Circuit Court. She earned her law degree from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she worked as a student attorney for the Consumer Protection Clinic and was the Articles Editor for the Journal of Health Care Law and Policy. During law school, Melanie drafted the Baltimore City Wage Commission’s first procedural bylaws. Prior to law school, Melanie graduated from the University of Rhode Island summa cum laude in 2017.
In her spare time, Melanie enjoys watching women’s soccer and attending games.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x222
Email
she / her
Brendan is originally from Rochester, NY, and graduated from Fordham University in 2023 with a B.A. in History and Economics. He is a voracious reader, and enjoys running, hiking, and visiting art galleries and museums in his spare time.
Brendan joined the PJC in August 2023 as a paralegal in the Human Right to Housing Project through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x235
Email
he / him
Nadrat Amos is a paralegal in the PJC’s Human Right to Housing Project.
Phone: (410) 625-9409 x230
Email
she/her