Lawyer Works Nationally to Prove That Factual Information Can Be Valuable To Local Communities

Areva Martin is an attorney who is the host of The Special Report with Areva Martin and the founder of the Special Needs Network. DIAMOND DUST PHOTOGRAPHY
Areva Martin is an attorney who is the host of The Special Report with Areva Martin and the founder of the Special Needs Network. DIAMOND DUST PHOTOGRAPHY

Lawyer Works Nationally to Prove That Factual Information Can Be Valuable To Local Communities


By Tia Carol Jones

Areva Martin is a Harvard-educated lawyer who has appeared on CNN and Good Morning America. Growing up, Martin saw inequities and injustices and wanted to become a lawyer to address them.

Recently, Martin secured a $5.9 million settlement with the City of Palm Springs for families who were forcibly removed from their homes on a section of land in the 1950s and 1960s. Martin said the Palm Springs case is even more significant given the incoming administration. 

“Palm Springs, given that it was a local action taken at the municipality level can be a model for cities around the country to pattern themselves after and to continue to do this work, even in light of what is going to be, a hostile, presidency, Senate and Congress,” Martin said.

As Martin became lead counsel for the families in Palm Spring that were displaced, she brought elected officials from Palm Springs to a reparations conference in Evanston, Ill. So they could meet other elected officials who were doing work around reparations. She spoke at the 4th Annual First Repair Reparations Symposium in Evanston, Ill., in December. She was able to give an update on the Palm Springs case, as well as share the process and strategies with conference attendees. She commended Robin Rue Simmons and First Repair for their work around reparations.

While she said that she is not hopeful that reparations on a National level will happen during this upcoming administration, the work does not stop.

“It’s in this moment that we continue to strategize, continue to be creative, continue to be focused on local initiatives, while we prepare,” she said. “Those of us, justice warriors, reparations movement warriors, we call ourselves, won’t stop doing the work, won’t stop agitating at the National level and continuing to press those representatives, those Democratic progressive representatives, to continue to be creative and to find ways, even in a hostile administration, to advance this work,” Martin said. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin began an online talk show, The Special Report with Areva Martin, because she wanted to provide accurate information about Covid. She shared the inside information she received from local elected officials, as well as experts in the medical and scientific communities. She said her show became a source of trusted information in a time when there was conflicting information spreading just as rapidly as the virus itself.

The show also tackled social justice issues, including Black Maternal Health and the 2020 election. Her shows about Black Maternal Health received Telly and Anthem awards. During the 2024 Presidential Election, Martin took the show on the road to seven battleground states hosting live events to connect with predominantly Black voters to provide trusted information.

Martin is the founder of the Special Needs Network, which began in 2005. Martin’s son Marty was diagnosed with autism at two years old and she was looking for factual information around autism and how it impacted Black families. She decided to dig deeper to understand how it was going to impact her son and their family. She wrote the book, The Everyday Advocate, about her personal and professional experiences around autism. She started a practice area in her law firm, representing families who had children who were on the spectrum who had been discriminated against. It is now a statewide organization providing services, from direct intervention services to legislative advocacy, to families throughout the state of California who have children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

For more information about Areva Martin, visit www.arevamartin.com and for more information about the Special Needs Network, visit snnla.org. To watch episodes of the Special Report with Areva Martin, visit www.youtube.com/user/ArevaMartin.


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