Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ)

In the mid-1980s, New York City faced a storm of challenges: crack and heroin epidemics, rampant police brutality, and racial inequities at the ballot box. Against this backdrop, a group of Black organizers, activists, attorneys, and elected officials came together with a bold vision: to create a legal advocacy organization staunchly dedicated to the rights and empowerment of New Yorkers of African descent. The Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) was born in 1986 at Medgar Evers College in Central Brooklyn.

“We needed a legal arm,” explained Executive Director Lurie Daniel Favors, “some sort of advocacy center that’s going to be able to use the law to fight on behalf of Black people—unapologetically and unabashedly.”

 

CLSJ has been a pillar for systemic change since its founding in 1986, addressing issues like equitable redistricting, voter protection, and community education. As Daniel Favors puts it, “We weren’t looking for band-aid solutions. We needed systemic change.” The organization’s commitment to bridging litigation with community empowerment has made it an essential resource in Brooklyn and beyond.

The organization historically operated with limited financial resources, originally seeded by a modest $500,000 allocation secured by Black elected officials who were on the scene in Albany in the 1980s. “We were quintessentially that teeny, tiny little engine punching well above our weight,” said Daniel Favors. Much of CLSJ’s funding came from government grants, which often restricted long-term planning and organizational growth.

This changed when CLSJ began to receive funding from Brooklyn Org; winning the Brooklyn Org Spark Prize in 2018 was a watershed moment for the organization.

“It was paradigm-shifting,” Daniel Favors reflected. “It’s not that our programs changed—our capacity to expand the work changed.” The $100,000 grant was unrestricted—as all of Brooklyn Org’s strategic grantmaking is—and so it gave CLSJ the flexibility to invest in its team, bringing on experts and interns to grow their programs and increase their impact.

Brooklyn Org’s partnership extended beyond critical funding into capacity support, and the Brooklyn Gives on GivingTuesday campaign that accompanied the prize opened new doors for CLSJ’s development strategy. “We’d been doing [fundraising] the old-school way for so long. Suddenly, we were learning about peer-to-peer fundraising, social media outreach, and creating campaigns that resonated with donors,” Daniel Favors shared. This knowledge didn’t just increase their funding; it redefined how CLSJ told its story and connected with its community.

Among CLSJ’s most impactful programs is the Advocacy Academy, an 11-week virtual course designed to teach community members how to advocate for the issues that matter most to them. The program trains participants in skills such as creating issue campaigns, lobbying elected officials, and building coalitions.

“It’s a course in how to organize around whatever you care about,” explained Daniel Favors. “So many of our community members have solutions burdened in their hearts that they want to put out into the universe. Advocacy Academy gives them the tools to do that.”

From fighting harmful legislation to organizing community resources, Advocacy Academy graduates have become leaders in their neighborhoods. One participant successfully blocked the construction of a gas station in their community and now sits on local municipal boards; another helped prevent harmful changes to natural hair licensing laws, forming a coalition to draft equitable legislation for Black hair stylists.

This program was brought to life with support from Brooklyn Org, whose unrestricted funding provided the financial stability to scale the Academy. “Years ago, I told Brooklyn Org that I wanted to build a people’s lobby,” Daniel Favors recalled, “I want to be able to build out a structure where the people can learn how to advocate on behalf of themselves.”

In a time when voter suppression and attacks on civil rights are rampant, CLSJ’s work is more critical than ever. Through their “Our Future, Our Vote” campaign, the organization has reached over 18,000 New Yorkers through phone calls and in-person events, distributing culturally responsive voter guides tailored to the Black community. “We use images that look like us and language that resonates with us,” Daniel Favors explained.

Programs like these not only mobilize voters but also foster civic engagement among young people. “If we win every lawsuit but our community doesn’t understand the nature of the rights we’ve won, what good are they?” asked Daniel Favors.

With dreams of expanding statewide and even nationally, CLSJ is poised to become a model for social justice legal centers across the country. “Can you imagine social justice centers that understand the importance of community and collaboration, fueled by empathy and truth-telling?” asked Daniel Favors. “That’s next level. That needs to happen.”

Brooklyn Org’s support has been instrumental in helping CLSJ build this foundation for the future. As Daniel Favors noted, “When we combine the legal prowess with empowered people, that’s a winning solution.”