CREEC is proud to announce that Senior Staff Attorney Pilar Gonzalez Morales will become Director of the Accessibility Project beginning September 27.
Pilar focuses on decarceration work at all levels, from jails to detention centers to mental health hospitals. Her background is in disability justice, and she strongly advocates for lawyering in an intersectional framework.
CREEC’s Accessibility Project was established to fight for the promises of the ADA through legal action, advocacy, and education. The Project has been led by Martie Lafferty since 2019, focusing largely on physical accessibility, access to programs and services, and equal and effective communication in myriad settings.
The Accessibility Project recognizes that disability justice is interconnected with the fights for racial, immigrant, economic, gender, and queer justice and liberation. Drawing on CREEC’s recent work to hold the Portland Police accountable for their abuse of protestors with disabilities, the Accessibility Project will continue to hone its strategies to dismantle interlocking systems of oppression and defend the most marginalized within those systems.
Pilar also looks forward to keeping a close partnership between the Accessibility Project and the Immigration Detention Accountability Project, where she has worked as an attorney on Fraihat v. ICE, E.A.R.R. v. DHS, and more since January 2020. “I am so thankful for the trust CREEC has placed in me and excited for the personal and organizational growth that this new opportunity holds.”
Says soon-to-be Executive Director (and current Accessibility Project Director) Martie Lafferty, “I’m delighted that Pilar is taking on this new challenge. I’m confident she will not only continue our existing accessibility and anti-discrimination work but also expand these initiatives to increase the breadth of CREEC’s impact.”
Please join us in celebrating Pilar’s new position and this new chapter for CREEC!