Education is a fundamental human right. Our work supports equal access to educational opportunities for all students, regardless of location, socioeconomic status, race, gender, ethnicity, citizenship status, etc. High quality, culturally relevant, and holistic education is critical to society to offer real opportunities and to achieve justice.

We understand that the achievement gap in education is a larger issue of racial justice. It is directly related to housing policies, criminal justice policies, access to jobs for parents, and racial and economic inequality in society.

SCSJ believes that fair, healthy, safe housing is a human right. We work with tenants associations as well as individuals to ensure that this right is respected.

Heirs’ property is the term used for land owned by numerous family members who received it as an inheritance, after their ancestor has died without a will. Most common amongst African Americans living in the South, heirs’ property results in part from inadequate access to estate planning resources and tools including sound legal advice and well-drafted wills.

After generations of land transfer through intestacy, numerous descendants may have a fractional interest in the property. These multiple interests result in tenancies in common. Tenancies in common provide each owner an undivided interest with the right to use and possess the property. A tenant in common, however, may sell or transfer their interest any time during their life or at death without consulting their fellow tenants. This is true regardless of how small or large the interest held.

When a tenant transfers their interest to someone outside the family it is likely a partition action will soon follow.

Our work on immigrant rights has both a legal and an advocacy component. We represent individual clients in immigration cases, and we also work with coalitions to address immigration policy.

We are particularly concerned about local law enforcement agency cooperation with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through 287(g) agreements and "Secure Communities" programs. We believe that these programs inevitably lead to racial profiling and targeting of immigrants and have a severely detrimental effect on public safety and community well-being.