Racial Justice

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Welcome to the Racial Justice Practice Area! This practice area strives to strengthen civil legal aid’s capacity and skills to advance racial justice. In this section, you can access materials related to racial justice across multiple substantive areas. You will find articles, toolkits, webinars, slides, videos, and other resources to enhance your knowledge about racial justice and to provide guidance on how to apply a racial equity lens to your work. 

Join the Race Equity Coalition! The REC promotes racial justice advocacy in Massachusetts legal service programs by:

  • sharing ideas, tools and local initiatives
  • collaborating to recognize and eliminate systemic barriers to the advancement and inclusion of Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American people from low-income households
  • engaging in work that advances racial justice. 

The Race Equity Coalition meets approximately once a month and sends out a bimonthly newsletter. You can join the mailing group by logging into Mass Legal Services, clicking “Join Email Groups” and requesting group membership to the Race Equity Coalition. 

Latest Content

Getting to Know Afghan Newcomers: Considerations for Culturally Aware Communication

Farid Saydee
In the last year, over 80,000 Afghan newcomers have arrived in the United States. As with most populations, there is a lot of diversity and complexity among Afghans, and knowledge of these nuances helps us better serve newcomers. Culturally aware communication is especially essential for strong…

Shifting the Harmful Narratives and Practices of Work Requirements

Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Anne Priceand Saadia Van Winkle
Work requirements for public assistance programs come from a long history of racism in the United States, are ineffective, and are bad for the economy. So, what keeps them alive today?  Means-tested forms of structural racism, such as requiring a person to work to receive public benefits,…

Proposals for Legal Organizations and Law Departments to Improve the Well-Being of Lawyers from Underrepresented and Historically Excluded Populations

Working Group - SJC Committee on Well-Being
In response to a call for concrete actions, Working Groups were formed comprised of Massachusetts lawyers working in different types of legal organizations and settings, including members from the Affinity Bar Associations of Massachusetts and members of the Standing Committee. Over 50 lawyers…

Race Class Narrative: A Toolkit for Opportunity to Purchase Campaigns

PolicyLink
Effective communications and messaging are a key collective challenge in advancing Opportunity to Purchase campaigns. Faced with monied opposition in communities across the nation, advocates need more tools to combat disinformation about what some see as a complex policy solution while also…

Systems Thinking & The Iceberg Model

Just Lead Washington and Washington Race Equity & Justice Initiative
The Iceberg Model is useful to unpack the underlying causes that lead to an acute event or issue. Events, trends, and patterns are above the waterline; what we see the most and are most familiar with. Structures are below the surface – they give shape to how everything is arranged, situated, and…