Every donation to CLSEPA helps us reach out to individuals and families in the communities around us. Since we opened our doors in 2002, we have provided assistance in nearly 10,000 cases. In the coming years, we anticipate the demand for legal services will only increase.
Your gift is an investment in the future of our community, helping to protect the rights of the most vulnerable, thereby guaranteeing those rights for all of us.
Please join us by making a donation today.
To schedule an appointment, please call our office at 650-326-6440. To volunteer, please send an email to volunteer@clsepa.org.
Online. To donate with a debit or credit card, please click here.
By mail. Please send a check or money order payable to CLSEPA to:
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
2117-B University Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
By phone. Call (650) 326-6440.
For planned giving information, please call our office Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Your donation is tax-deductible.
To schedule an appointment, please call our office at 650-326-6440. To volunteer, please send an email to volunteer@clsepa.org.
Help Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
Realize Goal of New Office
JP Morgan Chase (Chase Bank) donated to Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA) a 1/4 acre property at 1861 Bay Road in East Palo Alto. A gift from Chase's REO Community Revitalization Program, we will transform these dilapidated structures into a permanent home for CLSEPA. This Capital Campaign will secure the future for CLSEPA and legal services for the community for years to come.

We will be demolishing the present structures and creating a permanent, larger office space for CLSEPA, enabling the agency to use more volunteer attorneys, expand programs, and help more low income clients. CLSEPA needs to raise $394,049 to realize this goal, and already has $365,650 committed from individual donors and organizations. Contributing to CLSEPA's capital campaign is an important way to ensure access to justice for low income people in East Palo Alto and on the Peninsula. Every gift, no matter the size, will make a difference in our ability to reach our goal within the next 8 months. I hope that you will consider being a part of this exciting project.

Site Plan
by volunteer architect Dave Lee
(Click to download full-sized PDF)

Floor Plan
by volunteer architect Dave Lee
(Click to download full-sized PDF)
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto (CLSEPA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that provides free and low-cost legal services to low-income and under-served individuals and families in East Palo Alto, eastern Menlo Park, and the surrounding areas. We provide legal assistance with housing and family-based immigration (especially for victims of domestic violence) issues, and refer other civil claims to local volunteer attorneys. In 2009, we handled nearly 2,400 legal matters for our clients.
We have been in our current 972-square-foot space since 2002. Over the last 8 years, we have grown from a staff of 4 to 11 employees with dozens of part-time volunteers. Now there are not enough work areas for all of us and too few areas for private conversations with clients. We regularly turn away volunteer attorneys due to lack of space.
Our new office will be a modular building of approximately 2,000 square feet. More than doubling our current space will enable us to expand our programs, help more clients, and use more volunteer attorneys. These drawings of our new office created by our volunteer architect, Dave Lee.
To realize our goal of a permanent home for CLSEPA, we still need to raise $28,799. Every gift, no matter the size, will help ensure equal access to justice for low-income people in our community. In-kind contributions are also appreciated. All contributions are tax-deductible.
Naming Opportunities
$50,000 - Library or conference room named after the donor
$5,000 - Outdoor bench named after the donor (4 available)
The following giving levels will be recognized on a prominent plaque in the new building lobby:
$25,000+ - Visionaries
$10,000 - $24,999 - Benefactors
$5,000 - $9,999 - Supporters
$2,500 - $4,999 - Friends
Please do not hesitate to contact Phil Hwang, CLSEPA's Executive Director with your questions at 650-326-6440 x308 or email phil@clsepa.org.