2019 NLADA Annual Conference-Innovative Justice

The built urban environment is the product of policy decisions that have intentionally discriminated, and have had the effect of discriminating, against African Americans, immigrants, the working class, and other “undesirables.” While more than 50 years have passed since the passage of civil rights legislation, low-income individuals throughout the country continue to live out this discriminatory legacy. ABLE continues to rethink its housing and community economic development practice to bring innovative legal tools to support our client community. The result is a community lawyering service delivery model attempting to ensure our legal practice is responsive to client needs. This panel will discuss community-driven work to open a worker- and community-owned grocery store in a neighborhood facing food apartheid and how the Community Reinvestment Act was used as a tool to assist our client negotiate with a large area bank to obtain funding to support the neighborhood's revitalization plan.