Speaking Engagements

Budget Justice & Eradicating Fees and Fines Budget Justice Challenges and inequities in government and government budgets tend to disproportionally affect the most marginalized community members. Learn about participatory budgeting (PB), a model that hails from Brazil, centers equity and allows people to engage directly in deciding how public funds are spent. This session will include a review of what participatory budgeting is, how it works in the US and how you could win a PB process in your community. Many government-funded services are delivered and contracted at the county level, yet very few people understand how county budgets are funded and developed, who the key decision-makers are, and how community members can engage in and influence the county budgeting process and outcomes. This session will also highlight the work of a local budget justice coalition in Contra Costa that educates the community about how county budgets work, and advocates for community engagement in the county’s budgeting process and for a set of values-based budgeting principles that prioritizes services for those most in need. Shari Davis, Participatory Budgeting Center Dan Geiger, Contra Costa Budget Justice Coalition Debbi Lerman, San Francisco Budget Justice Coalition Eradicating Fees & Fines (40 minutes)Criminal Justice related fees and fines have a significant impact on the economic stability of individuals and families. These costs are even harder to pay due to systemic employment barriers and the high cost of living in the Bay Area. The average adult on probation in Alameda County is charged over $6,000 in probation fees alone, according to the East Bay Community Law Center. EBCLC’s report, Pay or Prey, finds that “because of long-standing and pervasive racial bias at every juncture of the criminal justice system, criminal justice fees fall disproportionately on residents of color.” While each jurisdiction has the purview to conduct ability to pay determinations, this is not regularly occurring. This session will highlight local reforms to end criminal justice fees and fines, including San Francisco and Alameda Counties, as well as the statewide work of Debt Free Justice California to build a movement to end the criminalization of poverty and assess and reform fines and fees across the state. Anne Stuhldreher, Financial Justice Project Lewis Brown, PolicyLink Brandon Greene, Civic Design Lab, City of Oakland

EBCLC Clinical Supervisor and Staff Attorney Brandon Greene on how we impact broad change through representation. Learn more about about Debt Free Justice California, and follow Brandon's efforts to stop the extraction of wealth from low-income communities of color, by visiting CADebtJustice.Org.

EBCLC Clinical Supervisor and Staff Attorney Brandon Greene on what it means to be a movement lawyer. Learn more about about Debt Free Justice California, and follow Brandon's efforts to stop the extraction of wealth from low-income communities of color, by visiting CADebtJustice.Org.

The Santa Clara Law School Black Law Student Association and the ACLU NorCal Club host and event with a panel of experts as they discuss the depth of racial bias in our criminal justice system and the potential impact of the recently enacted California Racial Justice Act (RJA). The CA RJA prohibits the state from seeking or obtaining a conviction or imposing a sentence "on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin." How successful should we expect the Act to be in its mission to address racial bias? Where does it fall short? What more can we do to work toward a truly equitable criminal justice system devoid of racial bias? Thank you to our Co-Sponsors: La Raza, APALSA, VALS, FALS, SALSA, MELSA, CLS, ACS, SJC, and Women & Law. Unfortunately, we started recording a bit late, so we missed Professor Armstrong's introduction and Jane Brown's first answer. Please see the bios of the panelists below. JANE BROWN Jane Brown obtained her law degree from UC Davis with honors in public interest law and has been with the Alameda County Public Defender's Office for 18 years. She has mentored and supervised law clerks and attorneys and tried all levels of criminal cases including serious felonies and capital cases. In addition to fighting for clients, Jane advocates for her colleagues as their union President. Jane is also currently the Co-Chair of her office's Racial Justice Committee as well as Co-Chair of Public Defenders for Racial Justice. She regularly conducts trainings on racial justice issues within the criminal system. BRANDON GREENE Brandon Greene is a graduate of Boston University Law School, where he was a public interest scholar and MLK Social Justice Fellow. He is the Director of the Racial and Economic Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California. In this capacity, Brandon provides programmatic vision and leadership for advancing racial and economic justice in the state. Previously, Brandon managed the Civic Design Lab in Oakland and was an attorney and clinical supervisor at the East Bay Community Law Center, where he helped create and lead the decriminalization of poverty clinic. Brandon has also worked as public defender in Contra Costa County and as a fellow at Public Advocates in San Francisco. ROLANDA PIERRE DIXON Rolanda Pierre Dixon was an Assistant District Attorney for Santa Clara County from 1981 through 2011. She established the county's first domestic violence unit in1991 and was the supervisor of the unit until January 2006 when she was promoted and became the first African American Assistant District Attorney in the history of the office. She was also the Human Trafficking liaison. Ms. Pierre Dixon is a graduate of San Jose State University with a BA degree in Political Science. She received her JD from the University of Santa Clara in 1980. Rolanda is the past chair of many organizations, including the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Council, Santa Clara County Women Lawyers, Santa Clara County Black Lawyers and the State Bar Women

Testimony for AB 2114

Black Future Series continues to elevate Black Voices and envision a new future of justice and action. “The Forwarding Address” is an inspirational series of brief presentations reflecting life experience and forward-looking actions of social justice work. With closing address by former ACLU of Ohio Board President and Ohio State Professor of History, Hasan Kwame Jeffries. Brandon Greene, Director, Racial & Economic Justice Program, ACLU of Northern CA Housing, a Racial Justice Issue | Examining the impact of laws that criminalize those without housing, and the innovative work ahead to make housing a protected class. Report: Outside the Law: The Legal War Against Unhoused People https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/outsidethelaw-aclufdnsca-report.pdf Micheal Golliet, Intern, Data, Development Corporate Responsibility to the Wealth Gap | Tackling the 1965 Civil Rights act, William H. Brown, a prominent Black attorney who helped enforce the decree against AT&T joined the board of UPS which eventually led to more equitable hiring practices. The case is made that responsibility to help fix the wealth gap requires new thought in advancing opportunities while facing enormous economic changes today. Lewis Conway Jr., Campaign Strategist, NPAD Running with Conviction | The future of participatory democracy will rely heavily on the engagement, politicization, and leadership of justice-impacted communities. As what we call 'Democracy' faces an existential threat from within, Americans that have been historically penalized, criminalized, and disenfranchised are ready, willing, and able to shoulder the burden of saving it. Texas Senate Bill “The Lewis Conway Bill” SB466: https://trackbill.com/bill/texas-senate-bill-466-relating-to-the-eligibility-of-persons-finally-convicted-of-a-felony-to-run-for-certain-public-offices/1654467/ Dillon Nettles, Policy & Advocacy Director, ACLU of AL The Southern Voting Right Project | The opportunities to continue to improve the political landscape rests with the South. The Southern Voting Rights Project at the ACLU affiliate level has many roads ahead to the midterms in 2022 and the 2024 election. Anderson Curtis, Senior Policy Organizer, ACLU of CT Pardon My Persistence | A triumphant story of overcoming policies and discrimination as a person formerly incarcerated while working to change these same policies in Connecticut. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ph.D., Author, Associate Professor, Ohio State University; President, Board of Directors, ACLU of Ohio 2019-2022, Vice president 2014-2019 The Forwarding Address | American Democracy is at its breaking point, under attack by those who seek to maintain the power structures of exclusionary policies. White Supremacy is a principle threat to the fabric of our democracy, requiring a shared understanding risk by all citizens. #BlackFuture #ACLU #BlackERG #policy #BlackMenERG #politics #leadership #organizers #grassroots #movement #diversity #inclusion #equity #equality #America #civil #liberties #rights #racism #justice #power #policy #law

Witness Panel #3: Gentrification and Homelessness – 1:50 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Houselessness, evictions, income inequality and the criminalization of poverty were escalating statewide long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown Californians. Join our ACLU staff and partners as we examine the historical and present discriminatory policies that shape the movement for racial and economic justice, consider commonly proposed solutions to houselessness, and discuss how you can get involved with these issues in your local community. Speakers: Eve Garrow (she/her) Senior Homelessness Policy Analyst & Advocate, ACLU SoCal Brandon Greene (he/him) Racial & Economic Justice Program Director, ACLU NorCal

The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is a Berkeley, California legal aid agency. Our mission is to promote justice and build a community that is more healthy, secure, productive and hopeful by providing: 1) legal services and policy advocacy that are responsive to the needs of low-income communities, and 2) law training that prepares future attorneys to be skilled and principled advocates that are committed to finding innovative solutions to the cause and conditions of poverty.