Our work starts at home
From the beginning, we knew the power of combining legal advocacy with community empowerment to deliver change.
When we set up practice in a small storefront in Oakland, our staff consisted of one attorney and a handful of dedicated community activists and law clerks. As our movements for justice grew, our team also grew.
Today, our community advocates work directly with families and residents in the Bay Area and across the state. We distribute know-your-rights materials in dozens of languages, forge relationships with partner organizations to build shared power, and engage in coalitions that sustain social movement infrastructure and strength. Across our issue areas, we also build and center the leadership of directly impacted community members. Through our Yuri Kochiyama fellowship, for example, formerly incarcerated community members work with organizations, lawmakers and communities to advance and implement legislation at the intersection of criminal justice and immigrant enforcement systems.
When the needs of immigrants, refugees, their families, and communities are put first, our movements win. Through our work with community, we have helped workers win back stolen wages, led successful campaigns to reduce mass incarceration and free refugees from state prison, increased access to translated materials for immigrant voters, and helped reunite families who were separated because of the Muslim Ban and other policies targeting Muslim communities.
Breaking Patterns and Meeting Needs: A Q&A on Community Safety
The Criminal Justice Reform program's six member-team is helping people recover from harm, feel safer, and prevent the harm from happening again, including through a new free legal clinic that provides culturally-sensitive services for victims and survivors of violence in the languages they use.
Learn moreCommunity Education Resources: Workers' Rights
Learn about your rights rights as a worker in California. Below are educational resources on issues including unpaid wages, overtime, unemployment insurance benefits, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination/harassment, health and safety, and more.
Learn moreSallie Lin, ALC Community Advocacy Manager: ‘The work is not easy, but they make it possible.’
Sallie aids the team of community advocates in their collective work towards equitable housing, fair workplaces, and safe communities, and providing knowledge and resources to those we serve.
Learn moreNews & Recent Cases
Learn more about our work in community movement building and advocacy.
Broken Stems: A Story of How California Prisons and ICE Tear Families Apart
March 20, 2024
Learning from Civil Rights Legacies: A Trip to Alabama Steeped in History & Reflection
March 18, 2024
Community Lawyering & My Journey to Self-Love, Healing, and Justice
March 12, 2024