Community Outreach

Interacting with the Community

As court professionals, a major part of our role is to create trust with the people that interact with the court system. Here, explore ways to create positive and meaningful interactions with the public and your local community. 

Public Interactions at the Court

Find out what some courts already have in place for potential public interactions via townhalls, self-help centers and jury services. 

Responding to Public Concerns

How to establish programs to respond to questions from the public about equity and inclusion within your court

Potential Justice Partners

There may be non-profits, community organizations, and/or accredited educational institutions in your area active in racial justice initiatives. This list provides a noncomprehensive list, organized by region, to help get you started in your own research and outreach to potential justice partners.

Northern California
  • East Bay Community Law Center - A non-profit in Berkeley, CA that is partnered with Berkeley School of Law. They follow a Social Indicators of Justice framework that seeks to address the underlying causes of poverty and economic and racial inequality to increase justice and improve opportunities in the areas of economic security, education, health and welfare, housing, and immigration.
  • Capitol Collaborative on Race & Equity (CCORE) - CCORE (formerly the GARE Capitol Cohort) is a community of California State government entities working together since 2018, to learn about, plan for, and implement activities that embed racial equity approaches into institutional culture, policies, and practices.
  • The Center on Race, Immigration and Social Justice (CRISJ) - CRISJ addresses social and educational inequities facing the university and the larger community. It seeks to transform the educational culture into an exciting and empowering one that reflects the strengths and needs of our local and diversified communities.
  • California Partnership to End Domestic Violence-Working Toward Racial Justice - The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence promotes the collective voice of a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals, working to eliminate all forms of domestic violence.
  • CalATJ- Racial Justice & Intersectionality Committee  - The Racial Justice & Intersectionality Committee works to ensure that the Access Commission’s membership, values, goals, and work plans fully reflect the call to divest from white supremacy, using an intersectional framework that acknowledges and seeks to dismantle overlapping and interdependent forms of discrimination and disadvantage based on categorizations such as race, class, religious affiliation, and gender.
Southern California 
  • California Women's Law Center (CWLC) - For more than thirty years, CWLC has advanced justice for women and girls in California and across the country. They seek to eliminate gender discrimination in schools, homes, workplaces, and other environments so that all women can access their full potential.
  • USC Race and Equity Center - The University of Southern California is home to a dynamic research, professional learning, and organizational improvement center that serves educational institutions, corporations, government agencies, and other organizations that span a multitude of industries across the United States and in other countries. While race and ethnicity are at the epicenter of their work, they also value their intersectionality with other identities, and therefore aim to advance equity for all persons experiencing marginalization.
  • San Bernardino County Equity Element Group - On June 23, 2020, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors declared racism a public health crisis and tasked the County Administrative Office with forming an Equity group that would represent the 11th element of the Countywide Vision.
Statewide

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)  - The ACLU defends the fundamental rights outlined in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These include the right to freedom of speech and assembly, the right to religious freedom, due process of law, equality before the law, and the right to privacy. The ACLU also relies on state constitutional provisions and federal and state laws that further these and similar rights. California is unique in that it has three affiliates: ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California, and the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Often, the three affiliates work in collaboration on statewide initiatives under the "ACLU of California."

California Judges Association  - A voluntary association dedicated to promoting judicial excellence to achieve far, impartial, and equal justice for all through education, ethics, inclusivity, outreach, and advocacy. Offers professional conferences and educational opportunities, as well as ethics opinions and updates, periodic publications, and various other resources.

Nationwide
  • Asian Americans Advancing Racial Justice - Asian Americans Advancing Racial Justice – A clearinghouse of articles, reports and issues impacting systemic bias and discrimination against Asian Americans.
  • Project Implicit - Project Implicit is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and international collaborative of researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition. The mission of Project Implicit is to educate the public about bias and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the internet. Project Implicit scientists produce high-impact research that forms the basis of our scientific knowledge about bias and disparities. Project Implicit was founded in 1998 by three scientists – Dr. Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), Dr. Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Dr. Brian Nosek (University of Virginia). Project Implicit Health (formerly Project Implicit Mental Health) launched in 2011 and is led by Dr. Bethany Teachman (University of Virginia) and Dr. Matt Nock (Harvard University).
Bar Associations 
  • California Lawyers Association Racial Justice Committee - California Lawyers Association Racial Justice Committee – An invitation to join a 21 day Equity Racial Equity Challenge.  Each day, a short challenge will be included to increase awareness of racial injustice in the legal system.
  • Multicultural Bar Alliance of Southern California - The MCBA is a coalition of more than 20 diverse minority bar associations in Southern California. The MCBA’s constituent Member Bar Associations have an aggregated total membership of over 3,000, consisting of California attorneys, judges, and other legal professionals.