The ChangeMaker Magazine - March 2024

Welcome to the 2024 editions of The Change Maker — California ChangeLawyers digital magazine made specifically for our community of supporters and alumni.

The Change Maker is named after you, the readers, who help make change happen within the legal sector, legal professions and the lives of our ChangeLawyers scholars, fellows, alumni and extended family.

As a reminder, The Change Maker magazine is quarterly and features key updates, articles, news and information about the work and stories of California ChangeLawyers.

We hope you enjoy reading through this year's stories. Let us know if you have any feedback or want to hear other stories from us.

Welcome to The Change Maker.

CALIFORNIA CHANGELAWYERS STAFF (LEFT TO RIGHT): CARLOS AGUILAR, CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN, JASJIT SINGH, STACI L. YOUNG, BROOKE CANNELLA.

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A LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DEAR CHANGELAWYERS

COMMUNITY, F

or the first 12 years of my career, I worked in legal aid. I helped legal immigrants fight their deportations. I filed administrative claims on behalf of low-wage workers who were robbed of their wages. I won disability entitlements for clients who could not work due to HIV-related illness or psychiatric impairments. The common thread among all of the clients I have ever served is that none of them could

even come close to being able to afford an attorney.

At ChangeLawyers, I am so proud to be part of an organization that provides grants and fellowships to non-profit organizations whose collective work increases access to justice for low-income Californians.

Without our legal aid grantee partners, tens of thousands of Californians would not have their day in court. When our legal system is not accessible because of socio-

economic status, the promise of equal justice is only that, a promise.

The non-profit organizations we support are true heroes in our California legal community.

They take cases that no one else will take, and they win. Not all of us can be legal aid lawyers, but we can all do our part to ensure legal aid organizations are wellresourced and can serve their local communities with high-quality representation.

To learn more about our legal aid grantee partners for 2024, our 2023 annual report showing our statewide impact, and other winter highlights from ChangeLawyers, read on!

Gratefully yours,

Chris Punongbayan

CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & 2003 CHANGELAWYERS SCHOLAR

STAFF HIGHLIGHTS

JASJIT FEATURED IN THE SAC BEE

Last month, ChangeLawyers Director of Programs, Jasjit Singh, was selected and recognized as a Top 20 AAPI Change Maker by the Sacramento Bee in collaboration with Equity Labs and Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program. Jasjit is the first visible Sikh elected to any position in Sacramento, one of only a few Sikh elected officials in the

United States, and the only AAPI voice for Sacramento City Unified School District.

Jasjit was nominated by ChangeLawyers Executive Director, Chris Punongbayan, and selected for the impact his work has had on the community in his role as Program Director — impacting organizations and individuals through dynamic grantmaking, scholarship opportunities, and policy work.

MCBA UNITY BREAKFAST

On January 27th, ChangeLawyers was invited to the Multi-Cultural Bar Alliance of Southern California's Unity Breakfast. The MCBA is a coalition of more than 20 diverse minority bar associations in Southern California. The MCBA’s constituent Member Bar Associations have an aggregated total membership of over 3,000, consisting of California attorneys, judges and other legal professionals.1

MCBA invited ChangeLawyers to speak about our work; our community; and our programming, specifically the 3L Next Gen Scholarship program. Some MCBA members present were actually current co-sponsors of this year's 3L program, which culminates next month. Chris (Executive Director), Staci (Development Officer) and Rasha (Board President) were able to eat, network and socialize with MCBA members.

Thank you for the invite MCBA!

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from MCBA website

LEGAL SKILLS WORKSHOPS

Recently, we hosted a new series of Leaders Forum Legal Skills workshops, in a joint collaboration John Paul Stevens Foundation.

Over 100 people, primarily alumni, attended the workshops.

In the first workshop, Legal Writing

101 attendees learned strategies for persuasive and accessible legal writing, including writing for the busy reader, easy approaches for starting briefs, and how to write in a team.

“ChangeLawyers is the only organization that creates programs on topics I didn’t realize I needed to know more about.”

In Oral Advocacy 101, topics included the goals of oral argument (and what oral argument is not for), tips for preparing for oral argument, and strategies for effectively presenting an oral argument.

Be sure to check out all of the Leaders Forum events .

LEGAL AID GRANTS

ChangeLawyers made our latest round of grants to California front-line legal aid organizations.

Since beginning this grant program in 2019, we have provided nearly $2 million in awards to over 100 organizations serving all 58 counties in California.

For 2024, our legal aid grants totaled $406,122 to 73 different organizations. We are proud to support these essential programs that provide access to attorneys for those Californians who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Affordable Housing Advocates

Aids Legal Referral Panel

Alameda County Homeless Action Center

Alliance for Children's Rights

Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach

Bay Area Legal Aid

Bet Tzedek Legal Services

California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.

California Women's Law Center

Capital Pro Bono Inc.

Casa Cornelia Law Center

Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law

Central California Legal Services

Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations

Community Legal Aid SoCal

Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto

Dependency Advocacy Center

Disability Rights California

Disability Rights Legal Center

East Bay Community Law Center

Elder Law & Advocacy

Eviction Defense Collaborative

Family Violence Appellate Project

Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance

Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law

Housing and Economic Rights Advocates

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

Impact Fund

Inland Counties Legal Services

Inland Empire Latino Lawyers Association, Inc.

Inner City Law Center

Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco

La Raza Centro Legal LACBA Counsel for Justice

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights

Learning Rights Law Center

Legal Access Alameda

Legal Aid at Work

Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County

Legal Aid of Sonoma County

Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino

Legal Aid Society of San Diego

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

Legal Services for Seniors

Legal Services of Northern California

Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice

McGeorge Community Legal Services

Mental Health Advocacy Services

National Center for Youth Law

National Health Law Program

National Housing Law Project

OneJustice

Prison Law Office

Public Counsel

Public Interest Law Project

Public Law Center

Riverside Legal Aid

San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program

San Joaquin College of Law

San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance

Foundation

Santa Clara County Asian Law Alliance

Senior Adults Legal Assistance

Senior Advocacy Network

Social Justice Collaborative

UC Davis School of Law Legal Clinics

UnCommon Law

USD School of Law Legal Clinics

Veterans Legal Institute

Western Center on Law and Poverty

Worksafe, Inc.

Yuba-Sutter Legal Center for Seniors

73 Organizations received legal aid grants from ChangeLawyers in 2024

SEE THE FULL IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT

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