Request For Proposals For Two-Year Special Grant 2013–2015

The Berkeley Law Foundation (BLF) is now soliciting proposals for a two- year special fellowship to commemorate the founding of the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), beginning in Fall 2013. To be considered, proposals must be received electronically by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, February 18, 2013.

BLF traditionally awards one to two grants per year to individuals undertaking public interest law projects that will serve legally disadvantaged or politically under-represented groups and promote systemic change. However, this year BLF will direct the fellowship towards a project hosted by EBCLC, to celebrate BLF’s significant contributions to launching EBCLC 25 years ago. The 2013–2015 BLF-EBCLC Joint Fellowship will be awarded to a graduating member of the UC Berkeley Law Class of 2013, to undertake a project hosted by EBCLC.

The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1988 with seed money from BLF to provide high quality legal services to low-income clients and educational opportunities for law students and community volunteers. As UC Berkeley Law School's community-based legal services clinic, EBCLC is currently the largest provider of legal services for low-income residents in the East Bay. EBCLC has practice areas that include: housing, health, welfare, economic development, homeless rights, immigration, reentry, consumer, education, and youth defense. More information on EBCLC’s practice areas. EBCLC’s multi-modal and multidisciplinary approach—including education and outreach, limited-scope assistance, holistic representation, and community-driven policy advocacy—is designed to provide high quality legal training and services while addressing the underlying causes and conditions of poverty.

This information consists of a request for proposals and grant application instructions. For a list of BLF’s previous grantees, their project titles and their sponsoring organizations, please visit the BLF website. Proposals received by February 18, 2013 will be reviewed over several weeks. Finalists will be selected in March 2013 and interviewed in April 2013. EBCLC and BLF representatives will select the 2013–2015 grantee by approximately May 1, 2013.

Below is contact information for queries and instructions on how to submit your proposal, which we look forward to receiving. You may also want to review our Frequently Asked Questions.

Mission Statements

Berkeley Law Foundation: The mission of the Berkeley Law Foundation (BLF) is to fund new lawyers and innovative public interest law projects that serve disadvantaged people. BLF members invest directly in the public interest work of our peers, emphasizing a shared-income approach to social change. We make this choice because we recognize that lawyers have a personal and professional responsibility to dismantle inequalities and to improve access to justice. Recognizing that the responsibility to challenge systemic inequality applies equally to the structure of our organization, BLF incorporates diversity as a core value.

Our approach to funding public interest law, first established by BLF in 1976, empowers lawyers to pursue careers in the public interest, launches creative public interest projects and organizations, provides legal services to thousands of disadvantaged people, and deploys the power of the law in the service of social justice.

East Bay Community Law Center: To promote justice and build a community that is more healthy, secure, productive and hopeful by providing: (1) legal services and policy advocacy that are responsive to the needs of low-income communities, and (2) law training that prepares future attorneys to be skilled and principled advocates committed to finding innovative solutions to the cause and conditions of poverty.

Format For Grant Proposals

Applications shall be submitted electronically. Please send a single email before 11:59 p.m. on Monday, February 18, 2013 to blf.ebclc.grants@gmail.com, attaching the various documents described below.

The proposal shall include the following components:

1. The cover or title page, including the applicant’s name, address, phone number, and email address, the title of the project, and the amount of funding requested.

2. A one-page summary of the application (on an 8.5 x 11” page, one side only), giving:

• name of the applicant
• project title
• brief description of the applicant and how project fits with and expands EBCLC’s existing programs, including dual teaching and service goals
• summary of the need or problem the project addresses
• overall objectives
• the steps the project proposes to take to address the problem

NOTE: Your one-page summary should be able to stand on its own and give a complete description of you and your project.

3. A description of the project (2 to 4 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font) should address the following points:

• (a) The need or problem the project addresses. Include a discussion of what, if any, has already been done in the area of need and by whom, why past efforts have been inadequate, the target group, the geographical focus of the project, and other problems shared by the target group.
• (b) Project Goals. Define and discuss the goals of your project, including a discussion of the intended impact of the project on the identified problem.
• (c) Proposed Action Steps. Discuss how the project will meet the goals identified above. Please include a timetable for the accomplishment of these steps.

4. A description of how this project fits into EBCLC’s mission and the goals of the particular practice area(s) (up to 2 double spaced pages). Please discuss how your proposed project fits into the work of EBCLC’s practice area(s). Note that projects may bridge more than one EBCLC practice area. Please also describe how law student interns would be incorporated into the proposed project.

5. A description of the applicant (up to 2 double spaced pages). Please describe your prior community service experience, your connection to the community that you propose to serve, how you would contribute to the diversity of the public interest legal profession, and any other reasons you are qualified to undertake your proposed project.

One shared goal of both BLF and EBCLC is to diversify the legal profession. This portion of the application offers you the opportunity to describe how you would contribute to BLF and EBCLC’s mission of diversifying the legal profession. By “diversity” we mean individuals who are: people of color; gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer; economically disadvantaged; mentally, developmentally or physically disabled; immigrants; non-native English speakers; and members of other disadvantaged groups.

According to the State Bar of California in its Report & Recommendations from the Diversity Pipeline Task Force (August 2006), in 2001, racial minority individuals constituted 17% of the bar and 53.3% of the populace, with Caucasians constituting the other 83% of the bar and 46.7% of the populace. (African Americans were 2.4% and 6.7% respectively; Asian Pacific islanders were 6% and 11.2%; Latinas/os were 3.7% and 32.4%; other minorities were 4.9% and 3%.) LGBT individuals were 2.4% of the bar and 2.1% of the populace, and people with disabilities were 4% of the bar and 17.4% of the populace.

6. A list of the people involved in the project, including respective roles and relevant experience.

7. The applicant’s resume.

You should also provide the following material supporting your proposal:

1. Two letters of recommendation. Submit letters only from those who either know your work well or are very familiar with the proposed project. Letters from persons involved in the proposed project’s area would be particularly helpful. Do not ask persons currently serving on the BLF Board of Directors or EBCLC staff to write letters of recommendation.

2. Additional information. You may also provide any other materials which you believe will support your proposal.

Email Instructions

Please send your application documents in one email to . If you wish, you may combine the proposal and all supporting materials in a single PDF. If you are not able to combine all of the application materials into a single PDF, you may send your proposal as a single DOC or PDF file, and then any supporting documents (including the letter of support, letters of recommendation, budget, and other funding information) may be sent in separate files.

If you include the supporting materials as separate documents, please use the following file naming convention: last name, first name, document type, and number. For example:

González, Marc-Tizoc Proposal;
González, Marc-Tizoc Recommendation 1;
González, Marc-Tizoc Recommendation 2;
González, Marc-Tizoc Other Information.

The subject of your email should include your name and the name of your project, e.g., “Marc-Tizoc González, Multidimensional Social Justice Advocacy: Transformative Community Lawyering in Oakland, CA.”

Deadline

Your complete proposal, including all letters of support and other supporting materials, must be received at by 11:59 p.m. on Monday February 18, 2013. Late proposals will not be considered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Good luck! We look forward to reviewing your proposals.