Reentry Legal Clinic
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the next five years

11/7/2013

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The very first clinic was in November 2007.  So the upcoming clinic on November 9th is its 5th year anniversary--and a fitting time for some reflection.  

From the beginning of the clinic, we had 3 goals: (1) provide direct service to individuals with criminal records; (2) change private and public policies that adversely affect them (policy advocacy); and (3) empower them to challenge widespread biases and barriers on their own (community organizing). While we've had a number of "victories" for the first two, we did not do so well with the third, despite our belief that the organizing and empowerment of this community is by far the most important of the three goals.  So, since the beginning of 2013, we've been engaged in a long internal discussion about how we can improve.

If you've been coming to the clinic, you may notice that we've begun to "pivot" the clinic's operation to do more community organizing.  Changes will continue over the coming months.  Hopefully, the next five years will see the clinic more actively supporting a growing movement against the regime of mass incarceration.
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Reentry Legal Clinic in Long Beach 

5/23/2012

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A New Way of Life Reentry Project--the host community-based organization for Reentry Legal Clinic--opened a new office in Long Beach recently, in partnership with Long Beach City Councilmember Dee Andrews.  As part of that collaboration, we are also starting a clinic down in Long Beach.  It will be hosted by Central C.H.A., Inc. in their Center for Working Families.  The first clinic is scheduled for September 15, 2012.  A follow-up clinic will be held 2 months later, on November 17, 2012.  This is a "pilot" project for the time being.  Depending on the turnout, we may make it (1) permanent and (2) monthly.  Stay tuned.
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congratulations, IELLA!

6/22/2011

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Inland Empire Latino Lawyers Association (IELLA), in partnership with San Bernardio Superior Court and Riverside Superior Court, recently started offering expungement services to people with conviction history in San Bernardino and Riverside.  Monica Mar, the executive director of IELLA, was with the Reentry Legal Clinic in our first year, and we are thrilled to see her pioneer offering reentry legal services to those in her service area.  So congratulations to everyone!

IELLA isn't the first public interest agency to offer reentry legal services, however, in the State of California.  We aren't either.  Other agencies responded to their community's need for these services much earlier.  And we take this opportunity to offer our gratitude to those who came before us--and those who will come after.  We acknowledge that this is a long struggle, something that will probably last our lifetime and beyond.  And we are so blessed to be in the company of so many good people on this journey.  You can find some of them on this (slightly-outdated) map of reentry legal services in Southern California.

In particular, at the Reentry Legal Clinic, we owe everything to the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLS-LA) and staff attorneys, Jose O. Tello and Josh Stehlik, without whose selfless assistance this clinic wouldn't have been possible.  And we also thank the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC).  Although they are in Berkeley, hundreds of miles away from us, their assistance too has been integral to our growth over the years.
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