Public Advocates Inc.

Public Advocates is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that has been fighting for racial and economic justice since 1971. Working hand-in-hand with grassroots organizations, we have won millions of dollars of funding for affordable housing, reliable transportation, and equitable schools for all along with progressive policies that break down segregation, create just and sustainable communities, and give low-income communities and people of color the power to make their voices heard.

Through strategic partnerships, policy development and advocacy, legal and policy research and analysis, and litigation, Public Advocates increases the capacity of grassroots organizations representing low-income communities and people of color to elevate their voices and shape public policies that are responsive to their needs. We form long-term, authentic partnerships with base-building organizations, and together we positively influence public opinion, the media, policy makers, and courts in order to hold business and government accountable, expand civil rights and equitable public investments, and win tangible benefits that build strong and resilient communities.

Public Advocates combines unique, cross-cutting legal and advocacy expertise in education, housing, transportation, regional planning, and climate justice with a nationally recognized model for community lawyering. This model flows from our dual mission to win tangible policy outcomes that benefit low-income people of color and strengthen the voices of these communities in policy making. Our community partnership model is effective because we build authentic relationships as we engage in long-term fights; we devise integrated campaigns that build broad support and avoid the trap of single-issue advocacy; we craft policy proposals that respond to community needs while expanding public participation and accountability; we combine inside and outside strategies to win change; and we work with our community partners to ensure our policy victories are faithfully implemented.

For nearly 50 years, Public Advocates has been one of California's most effective advocates for racial and economic justice in education, housing, transportation, and climate investments.

Our legal victories include Williams v. California, which established state standards for adequate instructional materials, qualified teachers for English learners, and school facilities in good repair, along with new accountability mechanisms. Our actions to enforcem the Local Control Funding Formula in the Los Angeles and Long Beach Unified School Districts have recovered millions of dollars for programs and services to support low-income students, English learners, and foster youth. Public Advocates has also playing a leading role in addressing California's chronic teacher shortage and fighting to ensure the equitable assignment of fully-credentialed and prepared teachers. A new teacher data system that we advocated for will identify the disproportionate assignment of unprepared teachers in schools with high-need students. In 2020, we led efforts to ensure that emergency pandemic funds were distributed equitably to support students with the greatest needs and to establish standards for distance learning, addressing learning loss, and providing students social-emotional support.

We were lead council in Urban Habitat v. City of Pleasanton, which established that opportunity-rich suburbs cannot exclude affordable housing, while our federal civil rights challenge to Bay Area Rapid Transit redirected $70 million to safety-net transit services and catalyzed a movement for transit equity nationwide. We have helped win hundreds of millions of dollars of cap-and-trade revenues to support affordable transit-oriented housing and transit operations, along with major legislative victories for affordable housing, displacement protections, and equitable transportation funding. In 2016, we helped win a $20 million community benefits agreement from Facebook, which will provide new affordable housing and other benefits for low-income residents in East Palo Alto. In 2017, we co-led efforts resulting in $400 million in new funding for transit operations and a package of legislation addressing California's affordable housing crisis. The Renter Protection Act of 2019, which we co-sponsored, provides 8 million California renters basic protections from rent gouging and unjust evictions. Following the COVID-19 state of emergency, we pressed for a statewide moratorium on evictions to protect renters impacted by the epidemic and co-sponsored legislation to extend those protections when the moratorium expired. With the Voices for Public Transit Coalition, we pushed Bay Area transit agencies to adopt safety protections for transit workers and riders. Our national initiative, the Alliance for Housing Justice, brings together housing organizing networks across the country to coordinate and align affordable housing advocacy.