Executive Director’s Blog, March 2020

| By BayLegal
Categories: eNewsletter Story, Homepage, News
Genevieve Richardson, Executive Director
“History will judge societies and governments and their institutions, not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.”  Cesar Chavez Dear friend of BayLegal, I hope this note finds you and your loved …

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BayLegal Interview Series: Our Social Work Team

| By BayLegal
Categories: eNewsletter Story
At BayLegal, our holistic advocacy model—one that accounts for the legal, medical, civil, and behavioral services necessary to secure safety and stability—demands that we view each client as a whole human, beyond the reductive scope of a legal problem. Given the importance of this approach, our firm has incorporated a team of social workers to …

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Executive Director’s blog, February 2020

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, eNewsletter Story, Executive Director blog, Homepage, News
Genevieve Richardson, Executive Director
Sixty years ago, on February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina A & T College led a carefully organized peaceful protest at a Woolworth lunch counter. Their courage and actions helped to force the nation to confront the injustice of segregation and helped spark a powerful student-led civil rights movement. The students remained …

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Remembering Charlotte E. Ray

| By BayLegal
Categories: eNewsletter Story, Homepage, News
As we mark the close of Black History Month this year, we share with our readers this timely reminder that for our clients, but also for the practitioners within our field, the history of intersectional discrimination is both long and unfinished, as is the story of the many struggles against it. Charlotte E. Ray was …

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Racial Injustice and Our Work

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, eNewsletter Story, Homepage, News
Through our partnerships, individual legal representation, impact litigation, and policy advocacy, we work to break down the barriers that prevent members of our communities from accessing basic necessities of life—healthcare, housing, food, employment—in order to increase their opportunities to lead safe and stable lives. Looming large over our work is the knowledge that many of …

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Three Questions for the Mosaic Collaborative

| By BayLegal
Categories: eNewsletter Story, Homepage, News
2020 marks an important year for our commitment to our client communities. This month, we kick off our collective discussions about the link between racism and antipoverty practice, and how we can better partner with our clients to combat racism and truly effectuate social justice. We are excited for the work to come, and for …

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Pro Bono Spotlight: The Roots of Partnership Between Private Practice and Civil Legal Aid

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Timeline, eNewsletter Story
The 1980s marked a tumultuous period for civil legal aid, given the Reagan Administration’s antipathy toward legal services programs and the resultant policies intended to curtail the work of legal aid agencies across the nation. Indeed, the historical literature describes the Reagan era as “a tremendous roller coaster ride” and a “struggle for survival” for …

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BayLegal Interview Series: Bob Capistrano Reflects on 43 Years of Service

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Interview Series, Attorneys, eNewsletter Story

In this series, we will be sharing the recollections of BayLegal staff and stakeholders (current and former) about their involvement with our work: our fight against poverty and for social justice. It is a collective story involving many people who have played a part in our history. There is no single way to tell our …

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Announcing BayLegal’s 20th Anniversary Storytelling Project!

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Events and Announcements, eNewsletter Story, Executive Director blog, Homepage, News
Genevieve Richardson, Executive Director
Dear friend of Bay Area Legal Aid, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal): twenty years as the largest regional civil legal services firm serving low-income individuals and families in the San Francisco Bay Area; twenty years of building upon the hallowed words and actions of our founders, and our anti-poverty …

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Rooted in the Civil Rights Movement: How BayLegal Became the Largest Regional Law Firm Serving the Poor in the SF Bay Area

| By BayLegal
Categories: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Timeline, eNewsletter Story

This article is the first draft of BayLegal’s origin story: the story of our starting point, and the ways in which we remain connected to it. It is the story of how we and our sister legal services agencies began, the opposition and challenges we faced in our early years, and how that foundation has …

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