The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area is Sponsoring Applicants for Fellowships
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR) is a civil rights and legal services organization that advances, protects and promotes the rights of communities of color, immigrants and refugees, with a specific focus on low-income communities, and a long-standing commitment to African Americans. LCCR – with the assistance of hundreds of pro bono attorneys — provides free legal assistance and representation to individuals in the areas of racial justice, immigrant justice, and voting rights. In addition, LCCR handles impact cases and policy advocacy that focus on important civil rights issues.
LCCR is interested in sponsoring applicants for fellowships including the Skadden and Equal Justice Works Fellowship Programs for the 2013-2015 cycle. LCCR is particularly interested in potentially sponsoring projects in the following areas:
- Immigrant Entrepreneur Services: This fellowship would address legal barriers faced by immigrant micro-entrepreneurs who are starting or developing for-profit businesses, including legal assistance on business law, health care, employment law, and language access issues.
- Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Entrepreneur Services: This fellowship would address legal barriers faced by formerly incarcerated individuals who are interested in starting or developing for-profit businesses, including legal assistance on business law, employment law, intellectual property, and licensing issues.
- Block by Block Economic Justice: This fellowship would look to creatively fill the legal gap left by the demise of redevelopment agencies. Building collaborations with successful business incubators and other community organizations, this fellowship would look to “adopt” one block at a time to revitalize impoverished Bay Area communities. Borrowing from our successful pro bono model, this fellowship would leverage the power of the private bar to provide volunteer legal counsel.
- Removing Housing Barriers for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals: This fellowship would seek to remove barriers that stand in the way of formerly incarcerated individuals seeking housing opportunities. Many landlords improperly screen prospective tenants based on past criminal records, which has a disparate impact on African-American and Latino communities. This fellowship would combat this trend through individual direct services, policy advocacy, and impact litigation.
- Addressing Educational Inequities in the Oakland Unified School District: This fellowship would partner with the NAACP-Oakland Chapter and other community groups to address issues of educational inequity in theOaklandUnifiedSchool District. Project proposals could focus on one or more specific areas, including disproportionate discipline of African-American and Latino students and inequitable distribution of class choices between different District schools. The fellowship would seek to bring together African-American and Latino community groups to work on addressing legal issues of shared concern.
- Other projects in the areas of racial justice and/or immigrant justice.
If you are interested in pursuing a fellowship with our organization, please email or send a resume, writing sample, a list of three references, and a cover letter that briefly describes your interest in a project by June 29, 2012 to Silvia Contreras.
For additional information, ask your CDO advisor or visit the website.