Outstanding Achievement in Fair Housing Award
2007 Recipients

Individual: Robert Jefferson

• Was a member of the Human Rights Commission from 1969- 1986 where he left after being elected to the Urban County Council.
• He along with the Human Rights Commission advocated efforts to Join HUD’s enforcement program, becoming only one of two such local civil rights enforcement agencies in the commonwealth to do so.
• Attendance to many National HUD training programs and included attendance and graduation from the Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.
• Through his work with the Human Rights Commission’s housing program, he led the Commission to be awarded the HUD grant to investigate the performance of local banks and mortgages lending institutions and the level of their activity in predominately black neighborhoods under the Community Reinvestment Act.
• As a result of this project and the partnership with two local banks, $20 million in credit was made available to low-to-moderate income and minority areas of the city over a five (5) year period.
• One lasting tribute to his grant was the creating on the Community Reinvestment Alliance Inc to carry on his work.
• He has tirelessly worked for this organization that even today continues to assist low to moderate income resident work toward the goal of homeownership.

Business: Heritage and Canterbury Apartments

• They strive for having diverse members of their apartment community and currently have residents from Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Bosnia, Russia, the Ivory Coast, South Africa, and India. There are also residents from Asian, Hispanic and American Indian descent.
• The staff frequently attend fair housing seminars on a regular basis
• They are members of the Lexington Apartment Association as well as the National Apartment Association
• They are continually educating themselves on housing laws including those laws pertaining to the ever increasing Hispanic population
• They are active members in the Annual Fair Housing T-shirt contest with Harrison Elementary.
• Active members of the community by participating in food drives, coat drives, flip flops for the hope center, blood drives, Red and Blue Hero Day, school drives for Arlington Elementary and adopt a family for Christmas. As a plus, the staff has actively gotten the residents involved in these events as well. Their involvement thus furthering the impact and success of the programs. 
• One of the initiatives they have created to overcome language barriers is a picture board. On this board there are pictures of everything in an apartment, so that when residents need to communicate something and cannot do it in words they can point to the board and help the staff help them. 

Organization: Greater Lexington Apartment Association

• They provide training for owners, managers and staff of multi-family housing in Lexington and the surrounding areas of Kentucky on fair housing issues.
• They advocate safe and affordable housing fir all persons regardless of their race, creed, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or handicap.
• They foster good relationships with officials at all levels of government in matters affecting the rental housing industry.
• They provide arenas for networking within the membership and other related organizations to increase enthusiasm and involvement.
• They have encouraged open communication with the Human Rights Commission to encourage education.
• For many years they have been co-sponsors of the LFUCHRC Fair Housing Luncheon, co-sponsors of the Harrison Elementary School on the Martin Luther King Day t-shirt painting contest, participated with the Human Rights Commission and the Lexington Fair Housing Council in their annual trade show and their continual support for Equal Housing Opportunity by providing materials to their residents.