Jason is a 12-year-old Black student who has a learning disability in addition to generalized anxiety disorder and depression. For years, his mother, Jennifer, who is herself an educator, pleaded with Jason’s school district to provide him with therapeutic counseling, but the district repeatedly denied her request.

This year, in the continued absence of any meaningful support, Jason’s social-emotional needs escalated; as a result, he was involved in multiple physical conflicts with peers. However, rather than finally acknowledging that Jason needed more support and amending his Individualized Education Program (IEP), Jason’s school instead recommended him for expulsion. His mom called the East Bay Community Law Center, which immediately requested a copy of Jason’s school records. But then schools shut down due to COVID-19.

A study of forced home sales by the East Bay Community Law Center revealed a stark pattern of small, zombie debts brought to life by debt purchasers and inflated by years of interest and fees; lack of adequate notice; mistaken identity; and disproportionate harm to low-income communities of color. It also chronicled the courage of Californians like Ingrid, who fought her mother Laura’s case after she suffered a stroke, and Julio, an immigrant driver who battled for three years to defeat a mistaken claim based on medical debt.

For more than 30 years, the East Bay Community Law Center has been a lifeline for Alameda County residents who need critical legal services. As the COVID-19 crisis grips the region, the center’s staffers are finding new angles for advocacy—and seizing the chance to shape the post-coronavirus landscape.

4.23.20

Listen in here 1:08 to learn more about the new Alameda County eviction protections.

“’It is incredible and unprecedented, and a profound act of both racial justice and pure kindness that the Franchise Tax Board did what it did,’ agrees Asher Waite-Jones ’16, supervising attorney in the East Bay Community Law Center’s Clean Slate Clinic, which works to keep people out of the criminal system and help people with criminal records reenter society.”

“Next are private debt collectors who have won a debt collection lawsuit in court. With a court judgment, they can ask the county sheriff’s department to file a lien on a person’s house, garnish their wages or order a bank to freeze all non-exempt funds in a person’s bank account on a certain day.

Knowing that the stimulus checks have started to arrive, debt collectors may opt to levy bank accounts over the coming weeks, said Sharon Djemal, director of the Consumer Justice Practice at the East Bay Community Law Center.

Each year, approximately 110,000 bank levies are served in California, according to the centers estimate based on 2014-2016 county data.”

EBCLC and partner organizations are requesting a moratorium on school expulsions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) advocated for extending the moratorium to cover all evictions via a letter. “Landlords will preserve their right to sue on these issues after the state of emergency passes and the moratorium is lifted,” the letter stated.

Their letter recommended that renters be excused if back rent is accrued during the state of emergency. “Any and all rent accrued during this moratorium should only be recoverable via small claims or regular civil action (Not unlawful detainer) after the landlord has attempted a reasonable repayment plan and provided tenant written notice of this ordinance,” the letter further stated.

Debt Free Justice California Coalition Ushers in Sweeping Protections for Vulnerable Community Members During COVID-19:

FRANCHISE TAX BOARD SUSPENDS COLLECTION OF DEBTS OWED TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related health and economic impacts of this crisis, the California State Controller has temporarily suspended the collection of all debts to government agencies until July 15, 2020, or a date to be determined based on the evolving nature of this unprecedented event. Read more about the impact of this decision here…

In order to limit the risk of spreading the virus, Henson is the only member of the coalition who goes into the camps and interacts directly with residents, nearly all of whom she knows by name. She says she tries to observe hygiene and social distancing rules as much as possible.