Centro Legal de la Raza

Centro Legal de la Raza, founded in 1969, provides free or low-cost, bilingual, culturally-sensitive legal aid, community education and advocacy for low-income residents of the Bay Area, including monolingual Spanish speaking immigrants. Founded by Latino law students from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley, and located in the Fruitvale/San Antonio District of Oakland, Centro Legal has been a cornerstone for justice for the Latino, immigrant, and low-income communities of the Bay Area for over 40 years.

Centro Legal provides advice and counsel, brief services in Immigration, employment (wage & hour disputes) and housing (primarily in the context of rent increases, habitability problem and eviction defense law).

Qualification for all services is based on household income and household size, and the income eligibility requirements vary depending on the nature of the legal problem. For example, the requirements for housing legal services needs differs from those of the employment program. Essentially, if a person/household qualifies as low-income per HUD guidelines they will likely meet our income qualifications. In terms of fees, all housing program services are free. Employment program service and immigration program service fees vary depending on the service, but they are all substantially lower than private attorneys, and most non-profit organizations.