If you’re a lawyer who often volunteers at our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe, you must have encountered a group of amazing people trying to start an eco-village, or low-income housing, or an Indigenous land return fund. We’ve found that one of the most common barriers to successfully establishing a Radical Real Estate Project is the enormous cost of owning land. One way to reduce that cost is by obtaining property tax welfare exemption.

This activity has been approved by the the California Bar for 1.0 hour of MCLE credit. In order to receive MCLE credit, you must make a payment below, and watch the video. In the receipt email you will receive a quiz and a link to the attendance certificate.

Can't afford $25 for CLE credit? That's OK! If you sign up to be a Community Member here, or if you sign up for three volunteer shifts at our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe here, you can access all of our videos and obtain participatory credit for free! Email [email protected] if you have any questions.

PRESENTERS

Lauren Tarpey

Lauren Tarpey is an attorney at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. She joined the firm in 2018 after clerking for the Honorable R. Brooke Jackson of the District Court for the District of Colorado. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, and also received an MS in environment and resources from the Stanford Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. Since joining the Firm, Ms. Tarpey has represented cities, counties, joint powers authorities, and environmental and community groups in litigation and counseling capacities involving CEQA, regulatory takings, and land use law. Ms. Tarpey has also advised a number of local jurisdictions throughout California on measures to reduce or eliminate the use of natural gas in their building stock.

Tia Taruc-Myers

Tia Taruc-Myers is Director of Legal Education and Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center. She mostly represents Indigenous land return groups and radical real estate projects, and sometimes provides legal advice to nonprofits who want to adopt the worker self-directed model. Tia helps organize the Law Center's teach-ins, webinars, legal cafes, MCLE seminars, online resources, and more! Passionate about redistributing power and wealth, Tia spends her time promoting participatory budgeting and community control of everything. 

Tobias Damm-Luhr

Tobias Damm-Luhr is a Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, focusing on community-owned real estate and worker-cooperatives. Tobias is passionate about racial and economic justice and working with immigrant communities. Through his work at the Law Center, Tobias aims to strengthen anti-displacement efforts, particularly for communities of color, and to help facilitate democratic ownership of workplaces to enable workers to gain the full benefit of their labor. In addition, Tobias is excited to be part of a worker self-directed non-profit. 

Previously, Tobias worked as an attorney managing a small business pro bono legal services program, serving primarily low-income people of color in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to leading pro bono service provision, Tobias directly advised many small business clients about commercial lease negotiations. Tobias’ experience also includes volunteer work on asylum applications, help with community organizing against luxury condo development as a summer intern in Boston Chinatown, and research on European Union and UK law for an immigrants’ rights guide in Northern Ireland. Before law school, Tobias worked as a translator in Berlin, Germany and volunteered with the local Amnesty International chapter’s Asylum Group.

Tenants Without Landlords Sponsors