Community Law Center’s staff and Board of Directors have been working to better understand our role in furthering the goals of the neighborhood-led organizations and small nonprofits in Maryland. Since January 2019, we have been evaluating our work with a race equity lens. We determined that it was time to redefine our mission, vision, and values. These are not statements to be put on a shelf. We know that we must continuously revisit and intentionally hold ourselves accountable to them.
While the Board formally adopted these statements at our December 2020 annual meeting, we know we have a lot of work to do to live up to them. We hope you will join us!
Mission
Community Law Center’s mission is to be the legal partner to neighborhoods and nonprofits in pursuit of more just and vibrant communities.
Vision
We envision strong communities and nonprofits thriving in a compassionate, collaborative, and equitable society.
Values
Community Law Center is a nonprofit law firm that partners with neighborhood-led organizations and small nonprofits in Maryland, with a focus on Baltimore neighborhoods that have been historically disinvested. We are an anti-racist organization actively engaged in anti-oppressive social justice work. In providing accessible legal expertise and support, the following describe the values we hold to:
Equity
We understand that anti-racist work must be intentional. It is a process of continuous evolution and growth. We strive to be aware of our individual and collective privilege. We are committed to examining our role and the role of our clients in perpetuating structural racism. We prioritize our services in communities that have experienced intentional disinvestment and planned inequity, with the goal of furthering the equitable redistribution of power and wealth. Throughout our representation we consider how well the client group, or its Board, represents and reflects the community and takes the potential impact of their action on historically oppressed populations into account. We believe sustainable change must be driven by directly impacted people who have a shared vision and decision-making process and that those who have privilege and power have an obligation to support those efforts.
Effectiveness
Social change is often achieved incrementally. We support groups in identifying their legal needs, understanding their legal options, and achieving their goals to make a sustainable difference. We are flexible and open to new ideas. We move at the speed of our clients. We use a variety of tools including capacity building, policy advocacy, research, education, and litigation.
Communication
We recognize that laws and the legal system can be opaque and inaccessible. We are open, consistent, comprehensive, and transparent with our advice. We share our legal expertise to expand our clients’ knowledge base and their ability to actualize their power. We explain all options available within the law, and we work to change the law if necessary to further justice. We seek reciprocal communication in our client relationships to ensure that everyone’s roles are understood, and goals are thoughtfully addressed.
Collaboration
Community Law Center recognizes that legal representation and advocacy must be in collaboration with directly impacted groups. Our work is a reciprocal relationship in which staff and volunteer lawyers learn from the expertise and experience of our clients. We share our knowledge with community organizations to support collective action. We use our relationships to create access and collaboration among our clients, elected officials, government agencies, institutions, and others.
Learning
We seek reciprocity in our relationships to learn and grow as effective advocates. We lead by example through transparency in our operations, by admitting our mistakes, and sharing what we learn. We are committed to a mutually beneficial relationship with the legal profession to provide pro bono legal services and to use the law to further social and economic justice. We seek to learn from, amplify, and make space for, client voices and power. We do this through partnerships and collaborations that inform the legal system, elected officials, government agencies, and private institutions about the goals of our clients and communities.