BRHP Board of Directors Emeritus
Iris Bradford is a Baltimore Housing Mobility Program participant and active member of her community. Her volunteerism efforts include supporting the ACLU with fair housing initiatives, serving as president of the tenant council at Somerset Homes in Baltimore, and advocating for the homeless. Iris is also the recipient of funding from the Associated Black Charities and Annie E. Casey Foundation to manage afterschool and summer camp programs at Somerset Homes.
As an attorney at the Civil Rights Corps, Ryan Downer engages in advocacy and public education and specializes in innovative, systemic civil rights litigation with the goal of challenging systemic injustice in the American legal system. Ryan’s work focuses on fair housing, employment and public accommodations matters. Prior to joining Civil Rights Corps, he worked for over a decade litigating civil rights cases at both Reiman, Dane & Colfax and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
At Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Andrew Freeman’s practice focuses on civil litigation, including fair housing and other civil rights cases. Andy was co-lead counsel in the remedies phase of Thompson v. HUD. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he has been recognized by Best Lawyers as Baltimore “Lawyer of the Year” in five different categories, by the Maryland Association for Justice as the Maryland Trial Lawyer of the Year, and by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading lawyers in America. He has won numerous verdicts, judgments, and settlements of millions and tens of millions of dollars, as well as precedent-setting appellate decisions, in cases regarding wrongful convictions, housing discrimination, tenants’ rights, underpayment of workers, child sexual abuse, serious personal injuries and wrongful deaths, and business disputes. Andy was BRHP’s board president from its founding in 2012 until 2020.
Anne Perkins is a social justice advocate with several years of work in Baltimore City and the global community. During Thompson v. HUD, she worked as a special master overseeing the implementation of the Partial Consent Decree. Anne also served Baltimore’s 44th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1979 to 1992. Her work internationally includes teaching and directing English as a Second Language programs in China and consulting for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in southern Africa and Liberia. Anne is a member of the Baltimore Arts Commission and serves on the board of the Baltimore Curriculum Project and Maryland Institute College of Arts.
Barbara Samuels worked as lead counsel on Thompson v. HUD with the Maryland branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Throughout her career she has worked on cases challenging discriminatory government housing policies. Barbara is affiliated with the NAACP, Maryland Legal Services Corporation and Legal Aid Bureau. She retired as the managing attorney of the ACLU of Maryland’s housing program.
Margaret Williams is a former executive director and current advocate for the Maryland Family Network. She advocates for policies and initiatives that support education, childcare, and families. For over 27 years, she led the development of the state-sanctioned plan in Maryland to create a system of services for young children and their families, including high quality childcare, parenting education, connection to adult education, job training, mental health, medical care, and more. She is an expert in gaining support from private and public childcare providers, parents and the greater community for legislation focused on eliminating barriers to education for children from low-income families. Margaret also served as executive director of Friends of the Family, Inc. for 17 years.