Civil Rights Community Outreach

On August 15, the Office provided two community outreach training sessions on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, also known as RLUIPA. The Civil Rights Section of the Office enforces this act in partnership with our colleagues from the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C.

The morning session was held at LAPD Olympic Division station and the evening session at Mount Saint Mary’s University. RLUIPA experts speaking included AUSA Acrivi Coromelas from the Civil Rights Section and Ryan Lee, a trial attorney in the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington D.C.

The events were intended to provide information regarding RLUIPA and to hear from community members about how land use regulations affect religious groups and how to effectively combat any barriers to places of worship in the Central District of California.

In June 2018, the Justice Department announced the RLUIPA initiative to protect the ability of houses of worship and other religious institutions to build, expand, buy, or rent facilities. The overall goal of the initiative is to increase the Department’s enforcement of the statute. The initiative also seeks to strengthen awareness of the land use provisions of RLUIPA through community outreach, such as this event.

As part of the initiative, the Department has further worked to identify barriers that religious organizations encounter in developing places to worship. Educational materials were provided to the attendees at the events informing them about their rights under RLUIPA. The engagement of religious leaders and organizations will help the Office and the Department as a whole be more effective in bringing federal resources to bear on this important issue.

For more information, see https://www.justice.gov/crt/religious-land-use-and-institutionalized-persons-act