Dear Friends,
For some of us, this summer at least started with a much-needed respite from the pandemic stress and fear that has shaped our lives for the past year and a half. But for our clients, not much has changed as we head into the reality of a longer pandemic. The new COVID variants emerging still threaten and disproportionately impact our unhoused neighbors, communities of color, and working-class families, many of whom have carried us through this pandemic as essential workers
Last year underscored the effects systemic racism and inequality have on our collective health and safety. Every day our team of lawyers and advocates are working to protect the rights of our hardest-hit neighbors who are struggling to stay afloat, even now, after the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis so far.
As we continue to recover and rebuild amid another surge, we cannot forget that there are people in our community who still need our help. The pandemic has only exacerbated the inequities we’ve lived in for decades, we must keep working towards building a more inclusive community where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive.
Thank you for your continued support.
In gratitude,
Alison Brunner, Esq.
CEO
Keeping People Housed During COVID
Marcelo Morales packing his apartment via SF Chronicle
Millions of people across the state are on the verge of eviction or even homelessness as California’s emergency eviction moratorium draws to an end on September 30th of this year. We’re urging anyone who has been impacted by COVID and may be facing eviction to:
1. Stay in their homes;
2. Submit a declaration of “COVID-19 financial related distress”; and
3. Apply for rental assistance as soon as possible.
As part of the community response to the eviction crisis, the Law Foundation Housing team will be helping tenants at the City of San José’s new eviction help center to be located in East San José where low-income residents and families of color were among the hardest hit by the pandemic.
We’ve also compiled a list of frequently asked questions renters may have about their rights during the eviction moratorium, available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. If you or someone you know has been impacted by COVID-19 and is facing eviction, or even a rent increase, call us at (408) 280-2424 or visit www.lawfoundation.org/housing.
Stopping an Unconstitutional RV Ban
RV Ban Press Conference, Mountain View City Hall
Rising housing costs have driven countless families and individuals from the region, unequally impacting communities of color, people with disabilities, and low-income working families. For residents fighting to stay in the communities they’ve always called home, moving into an RV has provided a safe and stable place to live that might not otherwise be attainable. However, cities across the Bay Area are threatening to further displace RV dwellers by passing restrictive parking ordinances that effectively ban RVs across city streets.
In Mountain View, residents passed Measure C meant to restrict oversized vehicles from parking overnight on 444 of the city’s 525 streets. Though enforcement is set to begin this summer, the ordinance is unconstitutional, inhumane, and disproportionately impacts people with disabilities, in violation of federal and state law. That’s why we’ve sued the City of Mountain View – along with ACLU of Northern California, Disability Rights Advocates, and pro bono partners Hewlett Packard Enterprise and King & Spalding – on behalf of Mountain View residents who live in RVs, some having lived there for decades with strong ties to the community, like our client Celerina Navarro.
Celerina is raising two school-aged children and has lived in Mountain View for over 20 years. “I was priced out of my apartment 6 years ago because of rent increases and I have lived in an RV since then. It’s hard to live every day knowing your home can be ticketed or towed. Every day you live in fear about your safety,” says Celerina.
The City will put up a legal defense to our lawsuit but we and community advocates are undeterred. Join us in taking action and contact the Mountain View City Council to ask them to stop their unconstitutional RV ban.
ADVOCACY
LFSV Joins Coalition in Advocating for SJUSD to End SJPD Contract
SJ Equity Coalition Press Conference
Last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests across the world, sparked by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, led many in our community to renew the call for police-free campuses across our schools. Police in schools disproportionately affects the most vulnerable students – Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and those with disabilities, with students of color receiving more suspensions and arrests than their peers. Discriminatory discipline further contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline by pushing these students into the juvenile justice system instead of offering more constructive behavioral interventions that keep kids in school.
We joined students, teachers, parents, and community advocates as part of the San José Unified Equity Coalition in urging the San José Unified School District to end its contract with the San Jose Police Department and instead invest funds in student support programs like mental health services and restorative justice initiatives.
After a year of advocacy led by members of the San José Unified Equity Coalition, SJUSD board members, Teresa Castellanos, Carla Collins, and José Magaña voted to end the district’s contract with SJPD for the upcoming school year. However, just this month the board voted to reinstate SJPD on campus as security for school events.
Our work alongside students, teachers, and parents continues as we urge the district to fulfill its commitment to building a safer school environment that better serves all students by investing in student support programs, not more student policing.
Community Lawyering In Practice: Google Development
Community Rally organized by Silicon Valley Rising
San José City Council unanimously approved Google’s proposed Downtown West transit-oriented neighborhood development plan this past May. Spanning 80 acres near Diridon Station, the development will be comprised of office space, parkland, housing – including 1,000 affordable units - and more. In a huge victory for the community, the deal also includes a monumental $150 million in community benefits to preserve affordable housing in the area, provide tenant protection services, and increased support programs for unhoused residents. The funds will be overseen by a community oversight board composed of residents from East San José, people with lived experience of homelessness, and residents primarily affected by the development.
This kind of robust community benefits package with strong community oversight is not common and was a hard-fought deal made possible by the tireless years of advocacy from the residents who will be most impacted by Google’s influence on the City’s future. Our team of lawyers and advocates worked alongside residents and other nonprofit groups, including Working Partnerships, PACT, LUNA, SV Rising, Sacred Heart, and Somos Mayfair, to develop demands and negotiate key parts of the fund with the City and Google.
Although completion of the project could take 10 to 30 years, Google will be paying the City nearly $8 million for immediate community stabilization before the end of the year, ahead of their $150 million community benefits commitment. We continue to work in coalition with neighborhood advocates and local nonprofits to ensure that community voice is prioritized through all parts of this development so that families and individuals most impacted are able to have a say in shaping the future of their community.
Organizing for Humane Conditions at County Jails
As news of the pandemic began to spread throughout our region, inmates at the Santa Clara County Jail were left with few protections against COVID-19. Our team of lawyers and advocates joined local advocacy organization Silicon Valley De-Bug and began to speak with people inside the jails, as well as family members, to get a better picture of the conditions inmates were facing.
What we learned immediately was that the situation was dire. People incarcerated inside both Elmwood Correctional Facility and the Santa Clara County Main Jail were given a single cloth or disposable paper masks expected to last for months and social-distancing practices were non-existent with crammed shared spaces, forcing many into unsanitary and life-threatening living conditions. Moreover, it disproportionately impacted Black and Latinx people, who make up most of the jails’ population due to pervasive racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
Individuals throughout the jails began to organize and demand adequate protections against CCOVID-19. We joined them along with family members of those incarcerated, and our local partners at Silicon Valley De-Bug, in calling for urgent improvements to the inhumane conditions within the jails, including medical-grade masks provided daily, vaccines for incarcerated people living in congregate spaces, and more.
Our team continues to monitor conditions at the jails and supports additional calls for transparency and accountability from the County and the Sherriff’s office.
Read the full letter: www.lawfoundation.org/news/covidjailconditions
Law Foundation in the News
The Bay Area battle over COVID-19 evictions has arrived (San Francisco Chronicle)
Advocates Sue Mountain View, Calling its RV Parking Ban ‘Inhumane’ (SF Public Press)
Santa Clara County faces legal threat over jail conditions (San Jose Spotlight)
How does the eviction ban protect Silicon Valley tenants? (San Jose Spotlight)
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
2021 Unsung Heroes Award
Neha Marathe
Our Senior Attorney, Neha Marathe, in the Children & Youth Program was honored as Volunteer of the Year by the Santa Clara County Bar Association (SCCBA). Neha co-chairs the Minors’ Counsel Sub-Committee of the Family Law Section of the SCCBA.
Among her duties as a volunteer, Neha offers her expertise to other attorneys who work with minors in family court and mentors those new to representing children.
Congratulations to Neha on this wonderful honor, a true testament to her unwavering commitment to youth and families across our county.
Behavioral Health Community Hero Awards
Health Program Team
The Law Foundation Health Program is honored to have been recognized as a Behavioral Health Community Hero this year!
Founded nearly five decades ago, the Health Program serves people living with mental health and/or developmental disabilities and those historically excluded from health systems such as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color, to help clients achieve long-term health and stability and promote health equity for all.
The team has been dedicated to our community experiencing health issues throughout the pandemic. Thank you to the Santa Clara Behavioral Health Board for this incredible honor in recognition of our devoted Health team!
Directing Attorney Named ABA Young Lawyers Division Assembly Speaker
Abre’ Connor
Congratulations to Law Foundation Directing Attorney, Abre' Conner, Esq. on being elected Assembly Speaker of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division!
As the ABA Young Lawyers Division Assembly Speaker, Abre’ is the Chief Policy Officer for the Division and oversees the Division’s policy meetings, called Assembly. As the Speaker, she chairs the Resolutions Team and the Elections Committee. This year, she will continue addressing more accessibility to policy decisions, an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and increased technology and social media communication.
We’re grateful to have Abre’ on our leadership team and proud of her service in support of the next generation of leaders throughout the legal community and beyond.
PRO BONO
Support Life-Changing Programs
There are numerous opportunities to get involved in our work through pro bono. Although the format has changed during the pandemic, there are several programs open for volunteers, like our Foster Youth Financial Stability & Empowerment Pro Bono Project, formerly known as the Foster Youth Identity Theft Project.
For several years, the Law Foundation has been at the forefront of addressing foster youth credit identity theft by helping current and former foster youth obtain credit reports and resolve credit identity theft with the help of pro bono attorneys.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, identity theft has increased dramatically, and our clients are experiencing other forms of identity theft. To meet this community need, we expanded our services to assist clients with tax, unemployment, and public benefits identity theft, in addition to credit ID theft. Not only have we expanded our remediation services but also have increased youth-focused financial education and trainings with the help of our pro bono partners.
Watch the video above to get an idea of the kind of work we used to do at community centers with foster youth and our pro bono volunteers through our previous Foster Youth Identity Theft Program. You can also keep up with current and upcoming pro bono opportunities on our website: www.lawfoundation.org/volunteer or send us an email if you have any questions at probono.info@lawfoundation.org
2021 ANNUAL PARTNERS
Platinum Partners ($110,000+)
Gold Partners ($75,000)
Palladium Partners ($50,000)
Silver Partners ($35,000)
Covington & Burling LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Macrae Inc.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
NetApp
Ropes & Gray LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Venable
Copper Partners ($25,000)
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
KLA-Tencor Foundation
Littler Mendelson
NVIDIA Corporation
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Silicon Partners ($15,000)
Adobe
Ankura Consulting Group
Applied Materials, Inc.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
eBay, Inc.
Foley & Lardner LLP
Freitas & Weinberg LLP
Intel Corporation
PayPal, Inc.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Sheppard Mullin
VMware, Inc.
White & Case LLP
Iron Partners ($10,000)
AON
Bartlit Beck LLP
Cadence Design Systems
Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP
Elevate
Facebook, Inc.
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Fish & Richardson
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
JAMS
Hanson Bridgett LLP
Lowenstein Sandler
Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP