Engagement & Belonging

Community Legal Aid (CLA) is committed to providing our staff, clients, and visitors with a welcoming and inclusive environment. We recognize and affirm that our organization’s success is tied to the different perspectives, backgrounds, and life experiences of our employees and we strive to create and maintain a workplace and board of diverse, talented individuals.

To further this goal, we have established a committee which is open to all staff and focuses on belonging, respect, fairness, and workplace culture. A steering committee composed of representatives from all of our offices and substantive units meets throughout the year to review trainings for staff, receive reports from our units on outreach and advocacy goals, and set the agenda for periodic meetings of the full committee. As part of the annual work planning process that each of our substantive units undertakes each year, community outreach and engagement plans are developed based on a review of census data and our internal client demographic data to ensure that we are adequately and appropriately serving the clients and communities most in need of legal aid. A group of our advocates also regularly meets to identify systemic barriers facing our clients and to craft creative, effective solutions.