Build Power: Community Paralegals in Puerto Rico

So we are thrilled to share the good news: we are extending the Community Paralegal Program for another semester. Thanks to your support, this will be the third session of this space, where community leaders and lawyers convene to co-design and advance advocacy and legal strategies. The issues still revolve around housing and climate justice, with an emphasis on the right to stay and mitigate of communities burdened by racial discrimination and the impact of the climate crisis. Some of the participants have been with us for two years now, and we expect to grow our base of currently 18 leaders. Because of the socio-economic context, as well as love and trust relationships built over the years, we are glad to stay at Loíza during this new session. 

Your support is still needed. 

The Community Paralegal Program was inspired by international models of legal empowerment work directed to ensure self-determination, racial equity, and climate justice. We recruited community leaders from Loiza and enrolled them in a curriculum leading to the development of essential knowledge and capacities necessary to identify community legal issues and to navigate primary steps towards defense. The curriculum and tools used were codesigned with the community leaders.  The goal is to sustain this program during the time necessary to ensure capacity development and the possibility of community leaders using their training to advocate and defend their collective rights. That is well beyond this next semester.

The recent passage of hurricane Fiona and several flood events make the neglected impact of hurricane María even more present. The needs of transformation and legal empowerment of Loíza - and Puerto Rico in general- is urgent. 

Please stay tuned for a short clip about Community Paralegals that should be out very very soon.