About ESO:

In Alameda County, nearly one in five people live at or below the poverty line, and the gap between the “haves and have nots” is widening each year, according to the county’s Health Department. The East Bay Community Law Center provides legal assistance to intervene in legal crises, remove barriers to education and employment, and provide pathways to greater economic opportunity and independence. EBCLC’s holistic approach to economic justice, the Economic Security & Opportunity (ESO) Program, includes:

1. Consumer Justice and General Clinic, a project that assists people facing unfair or predatory debt collection practices;
2. Clean Slate Clinic, a Reentry Legal Services Project that helps people who have had contact with the criminal justice system overcome barriers to employment, housing, education, and civic participation; and
3. Community Economic Justice Clinic, a community economic development program that assists low-income workers and entrepreneurs create environmentally sustainable and worker-owned businesses.

All three ESO projects provide vital legal services aimed at improving the economic independence and sustainability of Alameda County families and individuals.