Gregory Ching is Senior Staff Attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza. Mr. Ching received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. While in law school, Mr. Ching served as a law clerk in the Office of Mayor Edwin M. Lee. He earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining Centro Legal, Mr. Ching worked as a litigation associate, where he focused on intellectual property litigation and complex commercial disputes. He has also provided legal services in the areas of estate planning, and federal and state taxation. Before beginning his legal career, Mr. Ching worked in music supervision and as an audio engineer, performing technical work for major motion pictures and television shows. Mr. Ching enjoys golfing, craft beer, and playing with his dog.
Jasmine Rangel, Senior Housing Associate at PolicyLink, works closely with other members of the housing team to advance housing justice across the nation for the 100 million people struggling to make ends meet. Specifically, she conducts research, builds resources, and supports community leaders, organizers, and policymakers to advance their movement building efforts towards a more just housing system. From supporting the existing housing advocacy culture in Charlottesville, VA to conducting housing research with the Eviction Lab, Jasmine hopes to continue to build her passion and training in public policy to support communities achieve equitable and thriving communities. Jasmine holds a master of public policy from the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and a B.S. from Berry College in political science, with a minor in women and gender studies. In her free time, Jasmine enjoys reading, printmaking, and playing a myriad of fantasy table-top games with her partner and friends.
Desirée Nguyen Orth is Director of the Consumer Justice Clinic at East Bay Community Law Center. Desiree joined EBCLC’s Consumer Justice team as the Director in 2021. Prior to joining EBCLC, Desiree was the supervising attorney for the Consumer Advocacy Project at the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Desiree is passionate about this work because financial equity is a large part of social justice and race disparity. To many, money is also a source of freedom. Financial education, advocacy, and policy are ways to make significant strides towards equity and freedom from both an individual and systemic level.
Alexis Payne is Senior Staff Attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza in the Tenants’ Rights Legal Practice. Alexis holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Alexis is a first-generation college graduate, attended community college before completing her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Alejandra Ramirez is Senior Paralegal at the Tenant Rights Group at Centro Legal de le Raza. Alejandra joins Centro Legal as a Staff Paralegal on the Tenants’ Rights team, where she assists low-income tenants facing eviction, unlawful rent increases, uninhabitable conditions, and harassment. Alejandra has been at Centro for 5 years and is currently focusing on settling eviction cases. Alejandra graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Moderator: Henrissa Bassey is Co-directing attorney of Centro Legal de la Raza’s Tenants’ Rights practice. Ms. Bassey has represented historically marginalized and racialized clients in civil court, administrative hearings, HUD conciliations, and appeals. She has also litigated unlawful detainer actions for tenants facing eviction, illegal rent increases, retaliation, discrimination, harassment, and habitability violations. Prior to joining Centro Legal, Henrissa worked as a staff attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid and a policy research associate at PolicyLink. She has had the opportunity to work alongside systems-involved people from underserved communities in California, Washington, DC, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria to advance racial, social, and gender equity. Henrissa is passionate about using multi-faceted approaches to help tenants enforce their housing rights and remove barriers to the quality of life they’ve envisioned.
Our friends at Oil and Gas Action Network are excited to co-host a free screening of the forthcoming film How to Blow Up a Pipeline just for local climate activists! After the film there will be a short facilitated discussion and sharing of resources for people to get more involved in the local climate justice movement.
OGAN writes:
“This film adaptation of Andreas Malm’s incendiary nonfiction book is a stunning wake-up call on the imminent dangers of the climate crisis. Following a group of young environmental activists on a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline, this taut and timely thriller is part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of the existential threat we all face. The film opens in theaters April 7—so this is a chance for Bay Area activists to get a sneak peak at this groundbreaking film.
The science on climate change has been clear for a very long time now. Yet, despite decades of appeals, mass street protests, petition campaigns, and peaceful demonstrations, we are still facing a booming fossil fuel industry, rising seas, rising emission levels, and a rising temperature. With the stakes so high it’s vital that the climate movement look at the history of the Suffragettes, the American Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Apartheid movement, or Indian independence—to deflate the fallacy that historic, transformative change was accomplished by non-violent, state-sanctioned means alone.
OGAN is in no way advocating for violence or blowing up pipelines – and topics like this are serious issues not to be joked about. But we do hope this film will contribute to a vital strategic discussion for the climate justice movement, and encourage our efforts to be bolder and more effective.”