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NEWS RELEASE

April 7, 2008

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40th Anniversary of Fair Housing Act Celebrated

Howard County Fair Housing Month Poster Showcase Opens

ELLICOTT CITY, MD – County Executive Ken Ulman will join the Office of Human Rights, the Human Rights Commission and the Department of Housing and Community Development to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Fair Housing Act. The grand opening of the Fair Housing Month Poster Showcase Exhibit will take place on Friday, April 18 at 6 p.m. in the Lord & Taylor Court, lower level at The Mall in Columbia. The exhibit will remain on display until Sunday, April 27.

The event will be co-hosted by student artists, their teachers, families and friends; the exhibit includes 26 posters from twelve schools: Centennial Lane, Forest Ridge, Manor Woods, and Waverly Elementary Schools; Burleigh Manor, Ellicott Mills, Elkridge Landing, Harper’s Choice, Lime Kiln and Murray Hill Middle Schools; and Marriotts Ridge and Reservoir High Schools.

The Fair Housing Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 and prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and handicap (disability). The poster exhibit highlights the fact that housing discrimination still exists today and showcases the artistic rendering by school students of this year’s fair housing poster theme, “Building Strong Communities through Fair Housing.”

For more information contact Charlotte Beckenstein in the Office of Human Rights at 410-313-6430.