Race-Based Advocacy: The Role and Responsibility of LSC-Funded Programs

By NLADA on January 29, 2020 • ( 0 )

By: Camille D. Holmes, Linda E. Perle, and Alan W. Houseman. Published by: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy. Published in June 2002.

Link to article

The authors define race-based advocacy as “that which actively challenges both current and historical barriers that impede equal access to opportunity and advancement by people of color” (p. 62-63). This might look like identifying and prioritizing the concerns of communities of color or prioritizing anti-discrimination work in areas like housing, lending, contracts, property, federally funded programs, and employment.

Highlights include:

“The intersection of race and poverty lies at the heart of much of the work that legal aid lawyers do, and addressing the problems of low-income communities of color requires going beyond traditional race and poverty strategies. It also calls for advocacy strategies that address the challenges that are unique to these communities.” (p. 61)
“The inability of welfare recipients of color to receive training and education as a part of welfare-to-work programs may be due to inadequate agency resources or misguided policies, or it may be due to race, ethnicity, or language discrimination. Race-based advocacy strategies may range from filing a discrimination complaint under Title VI, to training welfare office workers, to filing articles of incorporation and providing other transactional services to grass-roots welfare rights organizations.” (p. 63)
“Group representation is another effective way to address the concerns of members of low-income communities of color without filing a class action.” (p. 67)