COMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES IN EAST PALO ALTO INC

Our mission is to provide transformative legal services that enable diverse communities in East Palo Alto and beyond to achieve a secure and thriving future. Our goal is to support individuals and communities in effecting significant, positive changes. In order to have a transformative impact, our direct services are coupled with community education, policy advocacy, and impact litigation. Our staff has legal expertise in immigration, employment, housing, and consumer law. We train clients to navigate their way through the legal system and exercise their rights, seeking to facilitate lasting social change in disadvantaged neighborhoods through grassroots knowledge-building. We also reach community members on a broad scale by recruiting, training, and mentoring volunteers throughout Silicon Valley to assist with cases. In 2013, 442 volunteers donated over 16,000 hours of legal services (with a market value of $3.9 million) to local community members. We operate in two locations in East Palo Alto, an ethnically diverse community with a sizable immigrant population. Over 90% of East Palo Alto's residents are Latino, African-American, and/or Pacific Islander. Despite the infusion of wealth to Silicon Valley, many working class & immigrant communities have been left behind. East Palo Alto's poverty rate is more than triple that of surrounding San Mateo County, which is now among the top thee most expensive counties in the country. The consequences of such regional inequality are severe for the client population that we proudly serve. We are an organization that is both rooted in East Palo Alto and that serves diverse communities outside of East Palo Alto, particularly where the challenges facing these communities are interrelated. Our ultimate goal is to empower individuals to attain a thriving future and to have a transformative impact on the broader community.