Our work starts at home
From the beginning, we knew the power of combining legal advocacy with community empowerment to deliver change.
When we set up practice in a small storefront in Oakland, our staff consisted of one attorney and a handful of dedicated community activists and law clerks. As our movements for justice grew, our team also grew.
Today, our community advocates work directly with families and residents in the Bay Area and across the state. We distribute know-your-rights materials in dozens of languages, forge relationships with partner organizations to build shared power, and engage in coalitions that sustain social movement infrastructure and strength. Across our issue areas, we also build and center the leadership of directly impacted community members. Through our Yuri Kochiyama fellowship, for example, formerly incarcerated community members work with organizations, lawmakers and communities to advance and implement legislation at the intersection of criminal justice and immigrant enforcement systems.
When the needs of immigrants, refugees, their families, and communities are put first, our movements win. Through our work with community, we have helped workers win back stolen wages, led successful campaigns to reduce mass incarceration and free refugees from state prison, increased access to translated materials for immigrant voters, and helped reunite families who were separated because of the Muslim Ban and other policies targeting Muslim communities.
Community Lawyering & My Journey to Self-Love, Healing, and Justice
Eileen Kim vulnerably shares experiences and insights she garnered over the years that have made her the community lawyer she is today.
Learn moreCommunity Education Resources: Workers' Rights
Learn about your rights rights as a worker in California. Below are educational resources on issues including unpaid wages, overtime, unemployment insurance benefits, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination/harassment, health and safety, and more.
Learn moreLearning from Civil Rights Legacies: A Trip to Alabama Steeped in History & Reflection
The injustices we seek to dismantle at ALC, from attacks on free speech and voting rights to anti-immigrant laws to unsafe and unaffordable housing, can all trace their roots to how U.S. government has pathologized, surveilled, and discriminated against Black American leaders, workers, and community members.
Learn moreNews & Recent Cases
Learn more about our work in community movement building and advocacy.
Community Safety Resources for Bay Area Residents
July 1, 2024
The No Fly List and its Alarming Civil Rights Concerns
June 27, 2024
Immigrant Workers Win $60K Settlement from Lee’s Deli Restaurants
June 6, 2024