Dear Berkeley Law Curriculum Committee:

Thank you for the invitation to provide comments on how Berkeley Law’s curriculum might “better explore the ways in which law and the legal profession shape and are shaped by race, racism, and other hierarchies of power.”(1) The East Bay Community Law Center supports the students’ call to Berkeley Law to institute a 1L critical race theory course requirement.

  Cristiana Baik, Director of Development & Communications  “While onboarding and working remotely has brought on its own set of challenges, I don’t feel distant or removed from our work. If anything, I feel the sheer urgency and importance of the services we provide. For example, seeing the inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines (with Black and Brown […]

Former EBCLC Staff Attorney and Clinical Supervisor, Anavictoria Avila, led the project from the early design stages to the final strokes. We sat down with her to learn more about her vision and the meaning behind the imagery on the mural: 1) Can you talk through each panel of the mural and why you made the […]

“It is EBCLC’s privilege and responsibility to center the dignity and power of Women of Color,” says EBCLC Executive Director, Zoë Polk. “Our vision, our leadership, our staff, and, now, our home represent this investment. I am particularly humbled to present this gift to the South Berkeley community. They have inspired our pursuit of justice and peace. Through this mural, I hope they recognize that their lives and their stories are bound up in EBCLC’s vision.”  

Photos by Bethanie Hines Photography Artwork by AnaVictoria Avila

On Tuesday, March 16, 2020, East Bay Community Law Center Executive Director, Zoë Polk, and fellow Berkeley Law Executive Directors and friends Rachel Johnson-Farias, Esq., Executive Director of the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice, and Savala Nolan Trepczynski, Executive Director of the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice and Lecturer at Berkeley Law, […]

The East Bay Community Law Center has deep respect for the history, culture, and lives of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. We know that the contributions of our Asian American staff, clients, students, Board members, alumni and community members are fundamental to our pursuit of justice.  Thus, we feel enormous grief and outrage for the loss of life in Atlanta and the on-going hate violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.  Much of […]

Dear Friends, As we transition from Black History Month to Women’s History Month, EBCLC offers Black Women’s History Week as an opportunity to honor the lives, strengths and stories of Black women. We celebrate our clients, board members, attorneys, legal workers and students whose courage is evident in our community victories. I hope you’ll join […]

As the largest free legal service provider and legal clinic to Black and Brown communities in the East Bay, The East Bay Community Law Center is committed to uplifting the special contributions of those who have led us in grassroots mobilization, social justice movements and politics. Black women have always been the center of racial […]

Today, we celebrate the start of EBCLC’s Inaugural Black Women’s History Week. Falling at the intersection of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, this week celebrates the lives, strength, and stories of all Black women, and specifically lifts up the contributions of those who have done so much for EBCLC. We pledge to put our gratitude into action every day through our stalwart commitment to impacting lasting change.