YELLOW SPRINGS — The Inclusive & Resilient Yellow Springs Coalition is offering a Tenant Rights & Responsibilities Webinar at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22.

The webinar is for community members interested in learning about and discussing fair housing policies. Pre-registration for the webinar is free and must be completed by end of day Friday, Feb. 18 via yshome.org/tenantwebinar.html.

Though the webinar is for renters only, the coalition does offer resources and information for landlords and current homeowners through Yellow Springs Home, Inc. at yshome.org/contact.

According to the coalition’s lead convener, Alexandra Scott, the webinar is the first of its kind to be offered for area renters and will be an inclusive safe space that will allow those participating to listen about issues crucial to their well-being and voice their own concerns, as well.

In addition to welcoming Debra Lavey of Advocates for Basic Legal Quality, Inc., and Angie Shockley of Greene Metropolitan Housing Authority to speak, topics of discussion will include: Housing assistance vouchers, conflict resolution, health and safety rights, fair housing and anti-discrimination, and frictionless strategies for acquiring one’s security deposit back from a landlord or building manager.

“When people don’t know what their rights are,” Scott said, “this can lead to some not-good things. Yellow Springs is a place people want to live in, and we want to be able to help them to do that.”

In order to assist renters who wish to take part in the webinar, pre-registration includes a query inquiring about which topics participants wish to have on the agenda. For those who are not able to attend this one-time online event, there is an opportunity through the pre-registration process to suggest other dates and times that may be more suitable for future webinars and, Scott hopes, eventually in-person events, once COVID-19 restrictions are further lifted.

“There are not a whole lot of safe spaces for tenants to talk freely and comfortably about a lot of these things,” Scott said. She added that her coalition is adamant about their webinar “focusing on what people want most to talk about in what will likely be a small but passionately engaged group gathering.”

A Columbus native, Scott said her personal passion for social justice, equality, equity, and tenant rights in Yellow Springs stems in large part from her being an area renter who cares deeply about her adopted home and those around her who choose to live within city limits.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I cared about fairness and justice,” Scott said. “We all have the power to change things and make life a little fairer. I want to do what I can to help get info out about tenant rights, which is why I’m very excited to be able to do so with our upcoming free webinar. Hopefully, this leads to further, cohesive conversations and safe spaces for more events such as this to come.”

For more information, email [email protected].