Health Program Recognized as Behavioral Health Community Hero

The Law Foundation’s Health program is honored to be recognized by the County of Santa Clara’s Behavioral Health Services at the 10th Annual Behavioral Health Community Heroes Awards. The awards will be hosted on Wednesday, May 5. We invite you to attend by registering here.

Every year, the County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Board hosts the Behavioral Health Community Heroes Awards to recognize those individuals and organizations within the county who have demonstrated exemplary service to county residents suffering the effects of mental illness. In the face of a global pandemic, Heroes have continued their mission to improve the lives of those they serve. 

The Law Foundation’s Health Program serves communities who are historically excluded from health systems including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI, other people of color, LGBTQIA individuals and people experiencing homelessness. Founded nearly five decades ago, the Health Program provides free legal advice and representation to individuals residing in Santa Clara County and to people who identify as having mental health or developmental disabilities and/or individuals who live with HIV or AIDS.

The Health Program provides direct services legal work while incorporating community and movement lawyering and grassroots advocacy. This includes public education and legislative campaigns, legal advocacy on behalf of unhoused individuals and people with mental health disabilities. Our advocacy is centered within grassroots community groups. We believe that our legal and policy advocacy should support and advance health equity for all. Thus, in our Behavioral Health work, we always put our client’s needs first.

The Law Foundation’s pro bono program, which engages attorneys from law firm and corporations as volunteers, has worked extensively with Behavioral Health in developing and promoting our Gender Marker and Name Change program. In this program, volunteer attorneys are paired with individuals from our clinic at the Gender Health Center, as well as other community referrals, to prepare and file court paperwork for legal name and gender marker changes. The volunteer training piece was developed with the assistance of Behavioral Health, and we have continued to work together in outreach efforts.

Our team of attorneys, advocates, and specialists are deeply ingrained in the communities we serve and ground our work in the principles of this program.

Law Foundation Statement on Chauvin Verdict

George Floyd should be alive today. We know that his death was preventable. 

The jury’s decision to hold former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin accountable for Floyd’s murder will hopefully send a message to law enforcement everywhere that police violence is intolerable and inhumane. 

The movement to end police violence does not end today. The Law Foundation stands with Black Lives Matter in calling for federal legislation that would have prevented George Floyd’s death and protected others who have been either killed, hurt, or traumatized by police violence. 

As a social justice organization, we are committed to racial equity. As lawyers and advocates, we see how our clients and the communities we serve are impacted on a daily basis by systemic racism within U.S. institutions, including in policing. 

Our country needs federal legislation that re-imagines community safety and addresses the structural racism that is central to policing. We call on President Biden and federal, state and local legislators to work directly with people impacted by police violence and their families to enact real policies that hold police officers accountable, divest from racist policing practices, and invest in community-led anti-poverty programs and social safety net services. 

The status quo will no longer be accepted. As a country, we must face a reckoning of the past, acknowledge policing’s racist history, and dismantle the myth of white supremacy and anti-Blackness entrenched deep in our society. 

Since March 29, at least 64 people have died at the hands of law enforcement in the United States with Black and Latino people representing the majority of those killed. They join too many more Black and Brown community members disproportionately affected by police violence. 

We say their names. George Floyd. Daunte Wright. Adam Toledo. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery.Tony McDade. Rayshard Brooks. Daniel Prude. Atatiana Jefferson. Aura Rosser. Stephon Clark. Botham Jean. Philando Castile. Alton Sterling. Freddie Gray. Janisha Fonville. Eric Garner. Michelle Cusseaux. Akai Gurley. Gabriella Nevarez. Tamir Rice. Michael Brown Jr. Tanisha Anderson. Elijah McClain. Korryn Gaines. Sandra Bland. Walter Scott. John Crawford III. Rekia Boyd. Oscar Grant III. There are many more. 

They should still be alive today.

Community Stabilization Fund Established to Combat Displacement & Homelessness

Community Stabilization Fund Established to Combat Displacement & Homelessness

Everyone, no matter who they are, should have an opportunity to live and thrive in San Jose. That is why we stand in support of the Community Stabilization Fund that was announced today as part of the Development Agreement between Google and the City of San Jose.  

After Google announced that it would develop a campus in Silicon Valley, the Law Foundation joined the Station Area Advisory Group, comprised of 38 member organizations appointed by city council to provide input on the impact of the project on local communities, land use, development and transportation. Alongside community partners such as Silicon Valley Rising, Somos Mayfair, Latinos United for a New America, and Working Partnerships, we successfully advocated for protections for residents at risk of being displaced by the development and called for the creation of good, fair-wage jobs.  

The Community Stabilization Fund will ensure that as Google builds properties and hires new employees to live and work in San Jose, those most acutely at risk of displacement will benefit, specifically Latinx and AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) communities in East San Jose and Downtown San Jose. The Fund sets aside dollars to prevent displacement, as well as to support economic opportunity for all people in San Jose. We are especially proud that the Fund will be governed by community members, including those with lived experience from East San Jose and Downtown. This will ensure that race equity issues are central to how the Fund is managed. We hope that this Fund serves as a model for future development projects, and inspires companies to take a deeper look at their social responsibility programs to ensure that communities of color are able to live and thrive in Silicon Valley.