Feel Good Friday - Centro Legal de la Raza

It's National Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration through October 15 of the histories, cultures and contributions of Americans with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Today I'm spotlighting Centro Legal de la Raza, right here in the Bay Area.

Founded in 1969 and headquartered in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, California, Centro Legal de la Raza was started by Latino law students from UC Berkeley to provide legal aid to low-income Latino residents of Oakland. Since then, it has grown to serve thousands of people across Northern and Central California. Their mission is "to protect and advance the rights of low-income, immigrant, Latinx, Black, and communities of color." Their vision grounds the work in "three core pillars: leadership, empowerment, and equity."

Centro Legal's Immigrants' Rights practice represents families living in poverty, long-residing undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and people facing deportation, including those in detention. Through the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, Centro Legal also helps ensure people facing detention, deportation or immigration emergencies have access to legal services and community education. The Tenants' Rights team fights displacement through eviction defense, drop-in legal clinics and rent board hearings across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Workers' Rights program helps low-wage immigrant workers facing wage theft, unsafe conditions and retaliation, including immigration-related threats.

Two more programs round out the work. Impact Litigation has taken cases before the U.S. and California Supreme Courts, and the Youth Law Academy is a three-year program that gives Oakland high school students a clear pathway to college, part of Centro Legal's effort to mentor the next generation of attorneys and judges of color.

Centro Legal has had a big impact in the community. Its work helps protect the rights of more than 10,000 people every year!

Volunteering as an interpreter is one way you can support Centro Legal, and there are many others. Attorneys can explore pro bono opportunities and all of us can make a donation and amplify their message on social media. Follow Centro Legal on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and share their work with your network.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

Feel Good Friday - International Refugee Assistance Project

No matter your thoughts on the situation in Afghanistan, there are thousands of Afghan refugees who can use some help. That’s why today’s Feel Good Friday is focused on the International Refugee Assistance Project. 

Founded in 2010, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) is “the legal advocacy organization for refugees and displaced people in need of a safe place to call home.” 

From offices in New York, Washington D.C., Amman, Lebanon, and Berlin, IRAP organizes both lawyers and law students to “develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. Mobilizing direct legal aid, litigation, and systemic advocacy, IRAP serves the world’s most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders.” 

Work focused on the people of Afghanistan is being prioritized and includes providing legal resources for Afghans, petitioning the State Department for the immediate evacuation of Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants, and encouraging people to take action such as signing this petition and contacting your elected officials to encourage them to bring as many people to safety as possible.

The other areas of focus for IRAP include: family reunification, helping clients navigate private sponsorshippathways for refugees, protecting the integrity of the US asylum system, expanding legal protections for climate displaced people, and protecting and expanding U.S. refugee resettlement.

 As they explain in their 2020 Annual Report, in the last 11 years, IRAP has:

• Provided legal aid to more than 30,000 individuals
• Assisted more than 14,000 people through our artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot, which helps individuals navigate refugee resettlement and visa options
• Led the passage of 12 provisions of bipartisan U.S. congressional legislation, opening and improving pathways to safety for over 173,620 people
• Leveraged the courts in cases that could maintain pathways to safety for more than 339,000 individuals 

If you’d like to support IRAP and the people they support, there are several ways to do so. In addition to the actions listed for Afghan refugees, you can also make a donation and help other people learn about IRAP by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @IRAP and Instagram @refugeeassistance.

If you’re looking for more organizations that support refugees. Check out these previous Feel Good Friday blogs on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Rescue Committee.

Feel Good Friday - Legal Services for Children

A friend of mine sits on the Board of Directors for the organization Legal Services for Children. When I learned more about their work, I decided they were a perfect candidate for Feel Good Friday.

Established in 1975 and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the mission of Legal Services for Children (LSC) is to provide "free representation to children and youth who require legal assistance to stabilize their lives and realize their full potential."

They take a client-oriented, holistic approach that uses both legal advocacy and social work services to help children and youth (up to 21 years old) in three major areas:

• Safety and stability at home - assistance with the guardianship process and representing children in foster care cases
• Success in school - help with enrollments for students that are homeless, undocumented or in foster care; representation at expulsion hearings; and assistance filing complaints
• Freedom from deportation and detention - free legal screenings and advice about legal options, as well as representation in immigration cases

The impact of LSC is impressive. In 2017 they served 1,443 youth in 25 different languages and held 100 outreach and training community events. Victories included helping their clients secure permanent residence, asylum, employment authorization and legal guardianship as well as getting deportation proceedings terminated and school expulsions cancelled. You can read more metrics and watch stories about individual clients here.

If you're an attorney who wants to help and has time to volunteer, you can apply to become an LSC Pro Bono Attorney. You'll receive training, support and access to an online resource library. The rest of us can make a donation and show our support on social media by liking the Legal Services for Children Facebook page.