By Tiny Gray POOR Magazine

At this point Terry’s family is literally on the street. We are trying to raise money to get them into a motel. And an attorney to get them some rights in that completely unjust, arbitrary Probate court system where the well-funded parties always take legal precedence over any kind of so-called justice. The liberation lawyers at Sustainable Economies Law Center are also working to support them and we are planning a press conference soon. 

Read full article here.

(Originally published January 8, 2024)

By Nicole Wires, Non Profit Quarterly

Can movement nonprofits create and sustain liberatory and resilient structures, cultures, and practices—and still be effective and efficient in their operations?
This question was at the center of an experiment led by the Nonprofit Democracy Network, a fiscally sponsored project of the Sustainable Economies Law Center. The experiment, called Collaborate to Co-Liberate, brought together over 200 practitioners from nearly 90 organizations across the country (and beyond) for 15 months to co-develop ways to build accountable, self-governing, and radically democratic organizations that embody liberatory visions while preserving overall effectiveness.

Read full article here.

(Originally published November 28, 2023)

By Tia Katrina Taruc-Myers, Nonprofit Quarterly

Excerpt: The Sustainable Economies Law Center is a nonprofit organization democratically run by staff co-stewards who are caring, trusting, and radical. Still, the proposal for a 40-week paid parental leave policy proposal was controversial. Along with my two co-workers, I helped draft an organizational policy proposal to support pregnant people and new parents.

By Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle

By Niloufar Khonsari, Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine

Also we don't have an ED anymore either!

Excerpt: "We researched other democratically governed nonprofits and political organizations. Although we didn’t find any that had no executive director, we learned about various ways that organizations distributed authority. Our key role models were AORTA, Sustainable Economies Law Center, and Fortify Community Health. Our work was also informed by Frederic Laloux’s book, Reinventing Organizations, which deconstructs the myth that collectively managed organizations have no structure, organization, or leadership."

By Rachel Gertz, Yes! Magazine

Excerpt: If you’re converting into a coop, you’ll need to valuate the company, then sell it to the workers. This can be a complicated process depending on a ton of factors (especially if the current owners will continue on as employees of the new cooperative). So you will need to urge everyone, including your lawyer, accountant, and the workers, to make a fair conversion plan for everyone. The Sustainable Economies Law Center’s “Legal Guide to Cooperative Conversions” is a great place to start.

By: by Vrinda Manglik, TheKneeDeep Times 

Excerpt:

"We believe that transforming the way we relate to and made decisions with land is at the heart of a just transition away from an extractive economy and toward a more just and life-affirming one."-Chris Tittle, Sustainable Economies Law Center

Read full article here.

(Originally published March 17, 2022.)

By: Marisa Kendall, The Mercury News

From our friends at Poor Magazine

Excerpt:

“We have people on the street in this city, and they still refuse to open four beautiful, multi-family townhouses,” said Gray-Garcia, who goes by “Tiny.” Gray-Garcia used to be homeless herself. She planned to sleep in a tent in Frank Ogawa Plaza until the city grants the occupancy permit, but ended up leaving Tuesday night after the police showed up.

Read full article here.

(Originally published March 2, 2022.)

By: Carey L. Biron, Thomson Reuters Foundation News

Excerpt:

Over the next five years, Hernandez and her family went through a period of unstable housing, including nearly three years squatting. Then, last year, the landlord of the multi-unit house they were living in tried to push tenants out.

As Hernandez researched ways to fight back, she found the Radical Real Estate Law School, a new initiative helping people become housing lawyers by having them apprentice with practicing attorneys and eventually take the bar exam, bypassing traditional, expensive law programs.

Started by the nonprofit Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) last year, the initiative aims to create lawyers versed in nontraditional tools such as land trusts and cooperatives to help address the country's affordable housing crisis.

Read full article here.

(Originally published December 14, 2021.)

By: Mwende Hinojosa, Nonprofit Quarterly

Excerpt:

Tired of ongoing black disenfranchisement and gentrification, this community group came together in the spirit of Black and Brown power. They were made up of members from groups that were already trying to make an impact in Deep East Oakland—Repaired Nations, Black Cultural Zone, The Deep Grocery Coop, Feed the Village, Sustainable Economies Law Center—as well as unaffiliated community members who were artists, healers, organizers, activists, and entrepreneurs. At the tail end of a second Black out-migration from the Bay, the group felt the name of their collective needed to send a clear message to their families, neighbors, and future collective members: Oaxxanda.

Read full article here.

(Originally published November 11, 2021.)