2021 Access to Justice Conference

Crisis and Reckoning: A Call to Dismantle Unjust Systems

The conference took place virtually August 11-13, 2021. The majority of the conference was recorded and we will be posting most of the sessions on the Access to Justice Board’s YouTube channel for free public access. The videos will be posted by early September 2021.

View the full conference agenda and session descriptions here.

We come together against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, which has revealed and deepened existing inequalities, and a growing national conversation about systemic racism. To meet the demands of this moment, the conference highlights the work of non-legal community-based organizations, and provides the opportunity for community advocates and legal professionals to build partnerships to advance justice.
The conference will focus on six tracks; participants are welcome to move between and combine tracks.

• Racial Justice: Community movements to advance racial justice, combatting anti-Asian hate, building coalition to advance racial equity, intersectional impacts of race and disability and other topics, community engagement, land acknowledgements, and other topics.
• Youth: Racism in schools, combatting the school to prison pipeline, the child welfare system, and holistic representation for youth with disabilities, and other topics
• Immigrant’s Rights: Mutual aid in immigrant communities, grassroots advocacy and access to legal services, and other topics.
• Criminal Justice and Reentry: Reentry after long periods of incarceration, alternatives to the criminal legal system, legal financial obligations, restorative justice, healing families impacted by incarceration, and other topics
• Gender Justice: Serving criminalized survivors, self-represented litigants in family court, tech-enabled abuse, gender inequities in Washington’s legal system, LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, and other topics.
• Housing and Homelessness: Housing law post-eviction moratorium and right to counsel, community-based services for homeless people, and other topics.

The conference will feature keynote speakers Chief Justice Steve Gonzalez of the Washington Supreme Court, Senator Rebecca Saldana, Justice Helen Whitener, and Michele Storms, Executive Director of the ACLU of Washington. It will also feature presentations from the Monroe Black Prisoner’s Caucus, NAACP Youth Council, Spokane Coalition Against Racism, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, and 10 other community-based organizations and activists directly impacted by the justice system.

 

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Access to Justice

Presenting

Champion for Justice

Leader for Justice

Partner for Justice

Supporter of Justice

Barron Smith Daugert, PLLC
Empire Health Foundation
Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission
Washington State Supreme Court Minority and Justice Commission

Friend of Justice

Gonzaga University School of Law
Gordon Thomas Honeywell
Judicial Dispute Resolution, LLC
Peterson Wampold Rosato Feldman Luna PWRFL
Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala
Eastern Washington University Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Larry Jefferson

---

2019 Access to Justice Conference

Read on to learn about our 2019 conference, Amplifying the Power of Community, held in Spokane, WA.

View the full program agenda here.

The 2019 conference featured an outstanding line-up of advocates, activists, and community leaders from Spokane and across the state. Attendees participated in focused conference-tracks about mass incarceration and justice-involved individuals; trauma-informed advocacy and self-care; race equity and leadership skill building; and community lawyering.  The Conference also offered stand-alone sessions about the intersectional barriers faced by LGBTQ and trans communities, combatting islamophobia, building community-centered technology, strengthening volunteer engagement, learning to use a reproductive justice framework, and more.  The conference also featured dedicated time and space for facilitated affinity groups, an equity-themed book discussion, a re-entry simulation, and ample opportunities to connect with colleagues.