The Public Interest Law Center

Created in 1969, the Public Interest Law Center uses high-impact legal strategies to advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in the Philadelphia region facing discrimination, inequality, and poverty. We use litigation, community education, advocacy, and organizing to secure access to fundamental resources and services. Our work is high impact. The cases we take and the models we use are designed to make large-scale changes in the policies and practices which affect the under resourced communities of Philadelphia. We focus on six practice areas including: environmental justice, housing, employment, public education, healthcare and voting. For the purposes of this application we will be focusing on our environmental justice work which we see enormous need for in the city. The goal of this project area is to help under-resourced and marginalized communities have a voice in determining equitable and sustainable development in their neighborhoods, and work to alleviate the negative effects of historic disinvestment. We envision growth as we focus on the intersection of environmental justice with our other practice areas such as housing.