Philip Tegeler

Philip Tegeler "is the Executive Director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), a not-for-profit civil rights policy organization based in Washington, D.C. (see www.prrac.org). PRRAC’s current focus areas include regional housing opportunity, educational equity, and developing advocacy responses to minority health disparities. PRRAC also publishes the bimonthly Poverty & Race, and is co-publisher of the award winning civil rights curriculum guide, Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching. Mr. Tegeler is a civil rights lawyer with more than 20 years experience in fair housing, educational equity, land use, and institutional reform litigation."

"Before coming to PRRAC, Tegeler was with the Connecticut ACLU, where he served as Legal Director from 1997-2003. He has also worked as Legal Projects Director at the Metropolitan Action Institute in New York City, and taught at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Mr. Tegeler's significant cases at the Connecticut ACLU included Sheff v. O'Neill (1996) (interdistrict school desegregation case); Rivera v. Rowland (1999) (class action challenge to high caseloads in statewide public defender system); NAACP of Greater New Haven v. Milford Housing Authority (1998) (challenging suburban town’s rejection of federal funds for scattered site public housing); Pitt v. Hartford Housing Authority (1998) (class action on behalf of families displaced from public housing demolition); and Christian Community Action v. Kemp (1995) (class action challenging segregated public housing site selection). Mr. Tegeler was also involved in a variety of prisoners’ rights, First Amendment, gay rights, and exclusionary zoning cases. He has published many articles on housing segregation and other issues. Mr. Tegeler was co-founder and the first board president of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, served as a member of the Connecticut Housing Coalition Board for nine years, and was an appointed member of the Connecticut Blue Ribbon Commission on Affordable Housing in 1999-2000. He is an active member of the Housing Justice Network."