From Board members who bring extensive lived and professional expertise to support staff who are helping us all stay connected during our switch to remote services, these new additions to our team will play a key role in our community’s recovery. I hope you will join me in welcoming these new justice champions. Each one of them helps us meet this critical moment.
In reflecting on Fannie Lou Hamer’s vision to liberate us all at the ballot box and beyond, EBCLC would like to express gratitude to all people who power our country while remaining disenfranchised from voting.
Berkeley and Oakland are working on a policy to preserve affordable housing that would be the first of its kind in California.
Caltrans agreed in February to pay $5.5 million to settle claims that the agency illegally removed and destroyed the belongings of homeless residents camped on its land — including $1.3 million directly to the people affected. Since then, more than 720 people potentially eligible for payouts have contacted the lawyers on the case, and the legal team has completed at least 300 claims.
“We’re engaged in this monumental process trying to get compensation to all these homeless people,” said attorney Osha Neumann of the East Bay Community Law Center, who represents the homeless plaintiffs in Sanchez v. Caltrans. “I think it’s unprecedented. I’ve never heard of anything similar happening.”
Oscar Lopez, at the East Bay Community Law Center, in Berkeley, Calif., is another recipient. He has directed the Skadden grant money to make sure students get access to adequate education.
Legal issues sparked by Covid are layered on top of other educational problems such as students who have been unable to resolve pending disciplinary proceedings that could hinder attending school.
On Monday, September 28, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 2463 (Wicks), effectively stopping the unjust practice of forcing the sale of family homes over small, unsecured debts. East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) celebrates the passage of this long-overdue legislation, which will prevent a statewide foreclosure crisis by expanding consumer protections for all Californians.
The legislature’s budget action proposes to permanently repeal 23 fees, including various probation-related fees and public defender fees, across California, in AB 1869/SB 824!
EBCLC is grieving the loss of our beloved colleague and friend, Margy Wilkinson, who passed away on June 27, 2020. Our deepest condolences go out to Tony Wilkinson and family. While the loss of Margy pains our hearts, we find hope in her powerful life of compassion and justice. Margy’s legacy and unrelenting spirit will […]
Parking tickets have a disproportionate effect on people and communities of color. Black and Latinx communities are overpoliced and disproportionately plagued by ticketing and towing. Reporting on towing in the Bay Area reveals that Black and Latinx neighborhoods are consistently targeted for these poverty-related tows.
It’s been over a month since Juneteenth, and we witnessed a racial justice reckoning unlike any this country had seen before. Corporations, universities, media, philanthropy, and government officials made public commitments to implement Black Lives Matter in their hiring, grant making, teaching, business practices and internal structures. During this aftermath, EBCLC has been a racial justice accountability partner, pushing our network of gatekeepers and entities with discretionary power to value Black lives.
