Center for Justice

The Center's Housing Justice Program serves anywhere from 60 to 150 clients per year, promoting housing stability by advising tenants about their rights and responsibilities. One full-time staff attorney and one part-time staff attorney operate CFJ rental rights clinics 4-5 days per week, providing direct advice to clients about their rights and responsibilities. CFJ takes the clinic a step beyond by providing clients with forms and letters that help resolve their housing-related legal problems. The Center's Housing Justice Program achieves success in a variety of ways including negotiating settlements with landlords, securing "no dissemination" orders, and assisting clients in locating rental assistance that fits their individual situation. Housing justice attorneys also advocate before state and local legislative bodies, promoting changes to law and policy that are beneficial to tenants, such as supporting legislation requiring landlords to have "just cause" in terminating a tenancy. Housing justice advocacy also includes numerous collaborative efforts and projects working with government and community stakeholders to directly and indirectly influence housing laws.

The Center for Justice untangles complex relicensing cases. The Center's relicensing program specifically handles those relicensing cases that the City of Spokane Prosecutor's office does not handle. The Center's full-time relicensing director is supported by interns and by Center staff. The director assists approximately 330 clients each year with getting their licenses back, helping them address past infractions by working with courts around the state to put unpaid tickets on a payment plan so that clients can drive legally. A driver's license helps clients to obtain employment and stabilize their lives. The relicensing director also advocates for the decriminalization of regulatory licensing infractions, educating and informing legislators, government officials and other stakeholders about conditions that may have an adverse impact on clients' ability to address past infractions, including poverty, mental health, and more. The Center's relicensing director also develops and teaches result money management courses to relicensing clients, including unique women's relicensing programs held several times a year focused on the unique needs of women, especially single mothers, women of color, and survivors of domestic violence. The women's relicensing class is a safe space for these women, who receive a bag of groceries in order to address food insecurity that they may be experiencing.

The Spokane Riverkeeper is an environmental guardian and advocate with the goal of protecting the Spokane River and its watershed and ensuring it is fishable and swimmable. Riverkeeper utilizes science, law, and policy to educate, inform, and influence the government, policy makers, and the community. Daily water monitoring by Riverkeeper provides credible strategic litigation that is utilized to hold polluters accountable under federal, state, and local laws, including Clean Water Act lawsuits. Riverkeeper's partnerships with the City of Spokane and Spokane Community Court have resulted in the removal of approximately 1,500 points of garbage from and around the Spokane River each year. Other key Riverkeeper activities includes conducting outreach to homeless encampments and engaging in environmental conservation education with a local indigenous group. Riverkeeper employs approximately 2-3 full-time staff.

The Center's Smart Justice program advocates for improvements to our criminal justice system, educating and informing government and community stakeholders on evidence-based alternatives to incarceration and advocating for needed changes to laws and policy. Alternatives include measures such as electronic home monitoring, diversion programs such as therapeutic courts, and other measures that reduce recidivism rates, deter crime, and that are cost effective. The Center participates in the local criminal justice commission and in other stakeholder groups, focused on development and implementation of criminal justice reform. The Center's Smart Justice work is conducted in collaboration with other local service providers, faith-based community groups, and other justice advocates. The Center's Smart Justice staff attorney also oversees the Center's Community Empowerment and open government project, advocating for meaningful police oversight by a civilian ombudsman, and broadly, for police accountability.