One of our stalwarts here in Dane County gets a Statewide Fair Housing Award. Well deserved! And more!
Our new County Board Supervisor for District 2 has this to say about it:
She’s so modest she probably won’t like that I’m sharing this, but I thought you would want to know that our dear friend Connie was the recipient of the Wisconsin Fair Housing Network’s Fair Housing Individual Professional Award. Connie has been an excellent mentor to me, always generous with her time and expertise and going above and beyond the call of duty for many challenging clients in challenging situations. I could not agree more with the praise given by Access to Independence when nominating her for this award.
I agree, Connie probably doesn’t want to be recognized, but she deserves it and so much more for the many, many years of quiet, steady work she has done for the community.
STATEWIDE FAIR HOUSING AWARDS PRESENTED
Fair Housing Awards were presented on Friday, April 13, 2012 during the statewide Fair Housing Update and Awards Luncheon of the Wisconsin Fair Housing Network, held at the Italian Community and Conference Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Three fair housing awards were presented in various categories from among nominations submitted in response to a statewide solicitation to over 400 organizations.
A Fair Housing Individual Professional Award was presented to attorney Connie Deer from Legal Action of Wisconsin in Madison. Ms. Deer’s work, primarily involved in the area of landlord-tenant law, was recognized for being a readily available resource to Access to Independence, a Madison-based independent living agency, whenever individuals with disabilities need an advocate for their housing rights. Her expertise in negotiating reasonable accommodations and her straightforward no-nonsense approach to working with people in some of the most difficult circumstances have resulted in hundreds of individuals with disabilities being able to remain in their dwellings, many who otherwise would have become homeless. Ms. Deer has also served on a number of Boards including the Mental Health Center of Dane County, the Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia, and the Wisconsin ACLU, an organization that has undertaken fair housing cases to broaden the reach of the law. In 2008, she was presented with the Dan Tucscherer Outstanding Public Interest Law Attorney Award by the State Bar of Wisconsin. The award recognized an attorney who has demonstrated a selfless, lifetime commitment to working in the public interest, both inside and outside the field of law.
We need more like her! Thank you Connie!
