Law Center Statement to Mayor Thao: Stop the Sweeps in Oakland

SELC Statement Condemning Sweeps

We, at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, condemn Sheng Thao’s recent enthusiastic response to Governor Newsom’s cruel and unconscionable Executive Order N-1-24, from July 25, 2024, justifying the escalated and aggressive sweep of our unhoused Oakland neighbors in the wake of the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson decision by the Supreme Court. At the Law Center, our work focuses on building an inclusive and democratic grassroots social ecosystem by supporting land and housing justice and solidarity economy movements.

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The Sustainable Economies Law Center joins Global Strike for Rafah

Global Strike for Rafah

The Sustainable Economies Law Center will be closed on Friday, May 10, 2024, joining the Global Strike for Rafah (#AllEyesOnRafah, #RiseForRafah) and supporting the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire. Today we join the call: No work! No school! No banking! No buying!  We are closing our offices and encouraging all staff to engage in local actions that advocate for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.  

By striking today, we aim to exercise our power to disrupt “business as usual.”  Our work centers on building systems based on solidarity economies and interdependence, and we recognize that our economic practices, including where we invest our time and resources, play a significant role in either perpetuating or challenging violence and injustice. 

We commend the student activists who are calling out their colleges and universities for their complicity in this genocide. As alumni of many of these institutions ourselves, we call for disclosure and divestment of their endowments from weapons manufacturers and other targets of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as well as support for Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, staff, and faculty, and amnesty for students, staff, and faculty who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests and encampments.

We are also taking this opportunity to better understand the role of the nonprofit industrial complex in perpetuating human rights violations against poor and oppressed people both at home and abroad. We aim to build a principled movement with other nonprofit workers who share our vision of dismantling the structures of power that contribute to these injustices.

#AllEyesOnRafah #RiseForRafah

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Urgent Call for an Immediate Ceasefire

The Sustainable Economies Law Center will be closed on December 11, 2023, joining the Global Strike for Palestine (#GlobalStrike4Palestine) and supporting the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire. Today we join the call: No work! No school! No banking! No buying!  We are closing our offices and encouraging all staff to engage in local actions that advocate for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.  

By striking today, we aim to exercise our power to disrupt “business as usual.”  Our work centers on building systems based on solidarity economies and interdependence, and we recognize that our economic practices, including where we invest our time and resources, play a significant role in either perpetuating or challenging violence and injustice. 

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Announcing The Oakland People’s Plan

Announcing The Oakland People’s Plan:

29 Oakland Groups Ask the City to Rethink the General Plan Process

June 29, 2021

On June 25, 2021, a newly formed coalition of Oakland organizations called The Oakland People’s Plan, submitted a community-centered proposal to the City of Oakland in response to Oakland’s Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a prime consultant to manage the City’s General Plan update. The Oakland People’s Plan (TOPP) formed instantaneously – in the space of one week – in response to feelings that the City’s approach to the Plan update would prevent meaningful community participation. 

Staff and interns of the Sustainable Economies Law Center helped convene the group after conversations with several community organizations, planning professionals, and the City’s Planning Department. “The City says it wants to engage the community in this process, but their approach shows the opposite,” said Tia Taruc-Myers, an attorney with the Law Center who helped lead the effort. “We asked the City to extend the RFP deadline so that community groups could come up to speed and get involved, but the City refused. It appeared that only for-profit planning firms were planning to submit proposals.”

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Statement About Coronavirus Prep & Prevention at the Law Center

May 2020 UPDATE: Due to ongoing shelter-in-place orders, the Law Center has extended our practice of moving all our events online until further notice.


In light of developments around the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) here in California, as of March 10, 2020, the Law Center will be suspending all public in-person events and moving them online for the next two weeks. 

We are also recommending that all Law Center staff work from home and use their best judgement in determining whether or how to participate in outside events, including following recommended prevention practices as they conduct their work. 

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Policy Advocates for Sustainable Economies supports Oakland Participatory Budget Campaign

Oakland, CA – Policy Advocates for Sustainable Economies, a 501(c)(4) arm of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, partnered with Cooperative 4 the Community to support a participatory budget ballot initiative campaign in Oakland.

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Berkeley Just Made its Small Business Revolving Loan Fund Work for Worker Cooperatives

From the Office of Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin

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BERKELEY, CA (September 25, 2019) Businesses that are at risk of closure because their owner is retiring or putting the business up for sale are now eligible for the City’s Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) for the purpose of converting them into worker cooperatives, thanks to a unanimous vote of the Berkeley City Council last night revising the RLF policy. This will help the workers acquire and democratically own and operate the business, keeping it rooted in Berkeley and elevating the jobs and wealth-building opportunities provided to its employees.

“Worker cooperatives are an essential part of our city’s economy and by helping lift them up we can develop new opportunities to promote these unique Berkeley institutions” said Mayor Jesse Arreguín. Arreguín has long championed worker cooperatives, introducing a package of reforms in 2016 as a Councilmember to promote and support worker cooperatives.

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City of Berkeley Commits $100,000 to Worker Cooperative Development

BERKELEY, CA (June 26, 2019) — Last night, Berkeley City Council adopted a two-year budget committing $100,000 to local worker cooperative development programs and services. The funds will go toward vastly expanding a worker cooperative development pilot program that was launched by the City's Office of Economic Development earlier this year. 

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Almost 30 worker cooperative members and advocates attended the City Council meeting to demonstrate their support. 

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Berkeley City Council Adopts Budget Referral for Worker Coop Development

BERKELEY, CA (May 29, 2019) — Last night, Berkeley City Council approved a budget referral that would commit $80,000 per year for two years to worker cooperative development services. The final number is still subject to change until the budget process draws to a close on June 25th. If adopted, this will be the City’s biggest investment in worker cooperatives to-date.

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Sustainable Economies Law Center and partners preparing for public comment. Left to right: Yassi Eskandari (Policy Director at the Law Center), Foresta Sieck-Hill (Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives), Laura Smoot (US Federation of Worker Cooperatives), Alison Lingane (Project Equity). 

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Berkeley Sets the Bar for Municipal Support of Worker Cooperatives

BERKELEY, CA (February 27, 2019) — Last night, Berkeley City Council unanimously adopted a set of recommendations provided by the Sustainable Economies Law Center (Law Center) and a coalition of worker coop members and advocates. In doing so, Berkeley became a national leader in supporting worker cooperative businesses.

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Supporters wore the color green to signify how worker cooperatives put people and planet above profit. (Represented: Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Councilmembers Kate Harrison and Sophie Hahn, and members of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, Project Equity, Network of Bay Area Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and worker cooperative members and advocates.)

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Thanks to our Partners and Collaborators: