Welcome to your East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) Alumni Newsletter. I am excited to share this exclusive content with you. We move into the second year of bringing you this newsletter, intent on growing and improving our alumni programming.

I want to thank everyone who supported our End of Year Fundraiser. Our alumni community makes up a significant segment of EBCLC donors, and alumni generosity accounted for over $35,000 raised through this campaign. Your partnership is crucial to helping us sustain quality clinical programs for our students and critical services for our East Bay clients. I hope that EBCLC remains a priority for your future donations.

Please continue reading to find updates on our Community Economic Justice Program, learn how your fellow alumni are carrying on the spirit of EBCLC in their current projects and careers, and review highlights of our recent clinical class experiences. As always, I hope this newsletter provides a sense of connection with our staff, students, and EBCLC's critical work. 
In Community,

Tiffany R. Thomas
Chair
EBCLC Board of Directors 
Program Update
Community Economic Justice

CEJ empowers low-income communities of color to build long-term solutions to poverty by supporting movements for land, housing, and economic justice. In 2022, we continued to push for the Berkeley Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) while supporting a regional movement for similar policies. TOPA is an essential tool for preventing displacement and creating wealth-building opportunities for low-income tenants. Through the Yes 2 TOPA Coalition, CEJ advanced the policy to a City Council hearing in 2022 and supported the successful passage of Berkeley’s Measure M, a vacancy tax that could become an important source of funding for TOPA. CEJ student interns built support for TOPA, going door-to-door over several weekends last Fall. We are energized to pass TOPA in 2023 after hosting a region-wide rally this past December!

CEJ also continues to support local small businesses, nonprofits, and cooperatives through our transactional legal services and workshops. We are grateful to Mandela Partners and Oakland Bloom for hosting CEJ this past year to present to groups of local food-based entrepreneurs and are excited to grow this area of our practice in 2023.

— Michael Trujillo, Staff Attorney/Clinical Supervisor, CEJ
Events & Opportunities
Job Openings
Have you thought about working at EBCLC? We strongly encourage alumni to apply!

  • Staff Attorney - Clean Slate/Homelessness

  • Staff Attorney - Community Economic Justice

  • Staff Attorney - Housing

  • Program Director - Community Economic Justice

Visit EBCLC.org for more information.
Alumni Spotlight

"I was in the Education Defense & Justice for Youth (EDJY) clinic in 2018. Although I had been a teacher prior to law school, EDJY was invaluable to realizing the inequitable distribution of power and resources between districts/schools and parents/students. It also helped me understand the power our law degrees can have in tipping the scales.

I currently work at Benchling in SF, where we work towards powering biotechnology research for academics and companies. My time at ECBLC also inspired me to continue to be proactive in uniting in community to help those in need, which is why I’ve joined the Boards of the SF LGBT Center, Black Owned Project 365 in Oakland, and the LGBT National Hotline. I also couldn’t stay too far away from education, working part-time as a DEI facilitator for Teach for America – Bay Area."

— Travis Mitchell, Berkeley School of Law, Class of 2019
In The News
Latest News and Community Updates


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Student Highlights
"I have absolutely loved diving into Housing Clinic this semester. From day one, I've been meeting clients, learning about their stories, and working closely with the Housing Unit attorneys. It has been such an eye-opening experience and is reminding me of the reasons I wanted to become a lawyer in the first place! I can't wait to continue to learn and grow and I look forward to applying these skills on behalf of all of my clients moving forward in my career, in Housing Clinic, and beyond.”

— Paula Gonzalez, Housing Clinic, Spring 2023
EBCLC's Executive Director, Zoë Polk, digs into legal ethics and professionalism during our spring seminar, including a review of Leah Goodridge’s Professionalism as a Racial Construct.
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