Dolores Street Community Services
As a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization, Dolores Street has tremendous opportunities to both improve people’s lives on an individual level as well as affect broader social change by engaging in advocacy and community organizing efforts to address the root causes of suffering and injustice.
We work on a wide range of issues—from homelessness to housing to immigration to employment. We believe that by being involved in the multitude of issues that affect our communities, we are stronger and better able to do all of the work that we do. We believe deeply that these issues are interconnected, and that there are tremendous benefits to having a diversity of programs and services under one roof. Not only can community members meet multiple needs through different programs, but we all have the opportunity to learn about current issues in our different areas of work and to reflect upon how programs or constituencies can support one another in their struggles.
Solidarity and the linking of issues is core to our work because we understand that none of us live in a world in which we need housing but not a job or legal services but not education. Our communities, and we as a part of them, need all of these things, and Dolores Street recognizes this interconnection.
Dolores Street Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program
Since 2008, the City of San Francisco and other generous supporters have funded Dolores Street’s attorneys to provide pro bono legal defense for individuals facing deportation from the United States. We use legal and creative advocacy strategies to directly challenge prolonged detention, constitutional violations, and other injustices in the immigration legal system. We also collaborate with base building and civil rights organizations, and play a leading role in advocacy efforts on the local and state level. Learn more about DDLAP here.