LISA HOLDER PRESIDENT
Impact Report
Equal Justice Society 2024 Contents
Message from EJS President Lisa Holder
Reparations
Education Equity
Health Equity
Implicit Bias
DEI Protection & Expansion
Amicus Brief Sign-Ons
Events & Campaigns
Our Impact: Statistics
2024 Financials
Our Staff
Our Board of Directors
Our Advisory Board
Our Funders
EJS Contact Info
About EJS
The Equal Justice Society is transforming the nation’s consciousness on race through law, social science, and the arts.
Our legal strategy aims to broaden conceptions of presentday discrimination to include unconscious and structural bias by using social science, structural analysis, and real-life experience.
Currently, EJS targets its advocacy efforts on school discipline, special education, and the school-to-prison pipeline, race-conscious remedies, and inequities in the criminal justice system.
The Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit also engages the arts and artists in creating work and performances that allow wider audiences to understand social justice issues and struggles.
Message from Lisa Holder, EJS President
Twenty-five years ago, visionary civil rights leaders founded EJS to challenge the false narrative of a post-racial America and to defend equity policies vital for true equality. Today, as opposition resurges and the goalposts shift, we remain resolute—equitable access is still within reach.
EJS was built for this fight. With the tools, infrastructure, and alliances necessary to drive change, we continue bending the moral arc toward justice. We are committed to advancing evidence-based policies that level the playing field and foster a truly inclusive and multiracial democracy.
Our guiding principle, Harm Repair, recognizes that America cannot achieve inclusion without addressing 400 years of injustice toward Black and Indigenous communities. Reparations must go beyond financial compensation to dismantle systemic racism and build new, equitable structures that center marginalized people. Only then can true reconciliation and healing begin.
Our strategy champions reparations as a unifying force, protecting policies along the harm repair continuum—from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to multicultural education to reparations—while prioritizing Black Women’s health equity and education equity.
Despite rising challenges at home, we continue to be proactive and draw inspiration and allyship from global movements and activate diasporic people in the U.S.to leverage their lived experience of colonization and marginalization in America to inform the international discourse on decolonization, transitional justice, and global democracy.
EJS is committed to repairing the nation—advancing Black Women’s health equity, eliminating implicit bias, addressing racial inequities in the criminallegal system, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and fixing school discipline, and ensuring fair access to housing, education, and employment. Through truth telling , we will continue to dismantle white supremacy and build a truly inclusive and multiracial democracy.
Thank you for joining us in this fight,
Reparations
Repairing the Harm is the Highest Order Value for EJS and informs all of our work. EJS developed this framework, and it is now being adopted by educators and lawmakers across the country to advocate for reparations.
2024 was a pivotal year for reparations awareness, and EJS played a key role in advancing the movement in California. Repairing the harm inflicted on Black communities over centuries is essential for reconciliation, healing, and a truly inclusive democracy. Yet, many misunderstand reparations as financial payments alone. True reparations require systemic change to address deeprooted inequities in education, housing, employment, healthcare, and environmental justice—areas profoundly affected by enslavement, racism, and discrimination.
EJS has worked to shift this narrative, emphasizing that reparations must include structural reforms. In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed EJS President Lisa Holder to the California Reparations Task Force, which released a report with 115 recommendations for reparatory initiatives in 2023. In 2024, EJS, as a co-convenor of the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT), led advocacy efforts that resulted in the passage of eight reparations bills in the California Legislature. These included a historic state apology for its role in enabling Black enslavement—an essential step toward healing—along with initiatives addressing discrimination, education, healthcare, and access to resources.
In 2024, EJS also published its Reparations Funders Newsletter to send to our partners engaged in reparations advocacy. This newsletter contains news stories and updates about reparations at the local, state, national, and international levels.
In 2025, EJS will continue leading the fight for reparations in California by working with the state Legislature to pass more bills addressing harm repair. Lisa Holder will continue to advise jurisdictions such as Evanston, Illinois, and New York State on reparations implementation, and EJS will continue to publish our Reparations Funders Newsletter to keep our supporters informed.
For up-to-date information on California reparations, visit the ARRT website: https://alliancefor.org.
Education Equity
In 2024, EJS litigated several education equity cases in California. Additionally, in partnership with UC Berkeley, EJS President Lisa Holder served as an Advisory Board member to begin the development of the California Black Studies Curriculum. EJS takes a holistic approach to address education equity in California.
Litigation - Black Parallel School Board v. Sacramento City Unified School District: To address disproportionate discipline/maltreatment and physical segregation of Black students with disabilities and all students with disabilities. The plaintiffs, District, and independent monitor worked together to implement the May 2023 settlement, holding frequent meetings with community members. The agreement aims to reduce disproportionate discipline and segregation of students with disabilities by requiring evidence-based alternatives to punishment and greater classroom integration. Key policies include improving data systems to track progress, hiring reading specialists to boost academic success and reduce disruptions, and providing bias-check tools to ensure fair disciplinary decisions.
2025 outlook: The fight for fairness and equity for students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities will continue throughout the five-year settlement enforcement period, which began in September 2024.
Litigation - Cancel the Contract v. Antelope Valley Union High School District: To address disproportionate discipline and mistreatment of Black students and all students with disabilities.
2025 outlook: Following a major victory in 2024, where the court ordered the school district to stop using an unlawful discipline matrix and transfer instrument that disproportionately pushes Black and Latinx students out of school or into continuation schools, community education efforts will continue as we prepare for the trial in the fall.
Litigation - R.W. v. Thurmond: Students/parents and a community organization sued the State Superintendent and CA Department of Education, who oversee all CA local school districts, for failure to address racially discriminatory discipline practices that disproportionally harm Black and Latinx students.
2025 outlook: Through this case, EJS is working on statewide remedies and collaborating with civil rights groups to protect students, families, and educators and to ensure equal and fair access to education for all students.
The California Black Studies Curriculum: The CABSC focuses on developing a Californiacentric Black studies curriculum to support educators, researchers, and students in codeveloping a cohesive and modular curriculum that advances the aims of the 2023 CA
Health Equity
In 2024, EJS worked to address racial health inequities—specifically, Black Women’s health inequities—via litigation and community education.
Litigation: In a historic and first-of-its-kind lawsuit, EJS, co-counsel Lieff Cabraser, and other partners sued L’Oreal, Revlon, and other hair relaxer manufacturers for marketing their toxic products to Black Women, causing an increase in reproductive system cancer rates in Black Women who used their products by up to 600%. There are thousands of individual cases in this class-action litigation, In RE: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, And Products Liability Litigation, et al. v. L’Oreal USA, Inc., et al.
In a major win for the 11,000 plaintiffs in the Illinois federal court multidistrict litigation, the court largely denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss in September 2024, allowing claims of economic harm from cancer-inducing hair relaxers to proceed. The case is now in the discovery phase, with EJS and other plaintiffs’ counsel working to uncover what companies knew about the product’s risks while helping plaintiffs document their experiences and health impacts.
2025 outlook: The court will soon determine which cases will go to trial first, with bellwether trials expected in 2026 after extensive preparation, including medical expert testimony on the link between hair relaxers and cancer. The outcomes of these bellwether cases in 2026 will be critical to assessing how the multidistrict litigation will fare in the coming years.
Health Equity Newsletter: In collaboration with Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein LLP, EJS publishes a monthly Health Equity Newsletter. This publication features articles by EJS, Lieff Cabraser staff, and guest contributors on critical health equity issues like reproductive choice, maternal health, and environmental justice. Additionally, the newsletter highlights significant national news related to health equity. EJS will continue to co-publish this important and impactful newsletter in 2025.
In 2024, EJS began co-developing a plan with Howard University School of Law to create a first-of-its-kind probono bar panel to serve as a guide for movement lawyers across the country involved in litigation to protect and expand Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Implicit Bias, DEI Protection
Implicit Bias
In 2024, EJS continued to offer the California MCLE Self-Study Video for attorneys, “Becoming an Anti-Racist Lawyer: Intro to Implicit Bias”. The course counts as 1.25 Credit Hours for Recognition and Elimination of Bias for the California Bar Association. We will continue to offer this MCLE course in 2025.
Additionally, we published the weekly periodical This Week in White Supremacy, which included links to national news stories that were about discrimination due to race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability; fascism and tyranny; anti-democracy and anti-immigration measures; anti-DEI programs; and other threats to marginalized communities. This served as an important news source for many readers.
DEI Protection & Expansion
In 2024, EJS began co-developing a plan with Howard University School of Law to create a first-of-its-kind pro-bono bar panel to serve as a guide for movement lawyers across the country involved in litigation to protect and expand Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
In 2025, we are excited to announce that we are partnering with Howard University School of Law’s Thurgood Marshall Center for Civil Rights to establish the Charles J. Ogletree Bar Association. This Bar Association will provide best practices for movement lawyers who are not only looking to advocate for reparations, but also protecting and expanding other DEI initiatives, like implementing black studies curriculums, supporting affirmative action in education, and eliminating book bans. DEI and Reparations are part of a continuum; at the heart of all of these programs is race-conscious policy. When one is attacked, all of the race-forward policies and initiatives on the continuum are under attack. This Bar Association will be essential to continue to expand race-conscious programming under a hostile presidential administration.
2024 Amicus Brief Sign-Ons
San Diego Housing Commission et al. v San Diego Tenant Union et al.: protecting the catalyst theory of claiming attorney fees critical to civil rights and legal aid organizations’ ability to collect fees for the successful cases they bring to promote the public interest.
Mae M. v. Temecula Valley Unified School District: challenging school district policies that force the outing of LGBTQ students. (education equity)
Perea v. California Department of Health Care Services: preserving disparate impact [seemingly neutral laws that have a discriminatory impact] as a method for proving race and other discrimination in California. (health equity)
Events and Campaigns
In 2024, EJS developed a Juneteenth fundraising campaign and hosted a sold-out Juneteenth Brunch focused on reparations education. Six members of the California Reparations Task Force discussed their report recommendations and next steps for implementation. EJS Poet-InResidence Michael Tyler delivered a powerful poem linking the paths of hurricanes to the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans, while Black scuba diver and historian Kamau Sadiki shared a presentation on his deep-water dives to sunken ships involved in the trade. This impactful event provided a space for community, reflection, and education on the legacy of enslavement in America and the necessity of reparations today.
EJS is excited to be hosting two major events in 2025. Our annual Juneteenth gathering on June 21 in Los Angeles will feature an art exhibition focused on Black Women’s health equity, highlighting issues of Black maternal health, Black reproductive choice, Black Women’s bodily autonomy, and decolonizing and reclaiming the narrative of Black femininity.
Later, in December, we will host our Gala in San Francisco, celebrating EJS’ 25th Anniversary. This milestone event will bring together long-time supporters to honor our achievements since civil rights icon Eva Paterson cofounded EJS in 2000. We will recognize three Champions of Justice whose work advances racial equity and feature a special video commemoration and poetry reading by Michael Tyler.
These events will be powerful opportunities to reflect, celebrate, and continue the fight for justice. To sponsor these events, scan here:
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In 2024, EJS launched the Democracy Defense Fund in response to the presidential election. As our core general/annual fund, it supports the fight for a just, inclusive democracy—one that requires reconciliation, healing, and reparations across all facets of life. To donate, scan here:
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Our Impact
3,562,410
Number of Black and Latinx students in CA public schools that are impacted by EJS litigation
$12,000,000
637
Funding for reparations implementation in California by Gov. Gavin Newsom
Number of endorsers of the California Reparations Task Force Report or generally of the study of reparations. To learn more or add your own endorsement, scan
11,000
21,130
Number of women plaintiffs seeking justice in the EJS hair relaxer litigation against L’Oreal and Revlon
3,092
Number of EJS supporters signed up for our mailing list. To subscribe, scan here: (Insert QR code)
Number of subscribers to EJS newsletters. To subscribe, scan here:
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2024 FINANCIALS
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2024 FINANCIALS
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Sub-Total
Subtotal : Due Balance : Taxes : Adjustment :
546,026
1,546,026
4,546,026
6,546,026
8,546,026
6,546,026
6,546,026
3,546,026
6,546,026
5,546,026 $65,453,630
Total Balance : Years end Balance: $ 65,854,602 $ 65,854,602 $ 65,854,602 $ 65,854,602 $ 65,854,602 $ 65,854,602
1,546,026
4,546,026
6,546,026
8,546,026
6,546,026
6,546,026
3,546,026
6,546,026
5,546,026 $65,453,630
546,026
1,546,026
4,546,026
6,546,026
8,546,026
6,546,026
6,546,026
3,546,026
6,546,026
546,026
1,546,026
4,546,026
6,546,026
8,546,026
6,546,026
6,546,026 $ 3,546,026 $ 6,546,026 $ 5,546,026 $65,453,630
Years end Balance: $ 65,854,602
The Report Presented & Checked by:
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Mary Smith / Managing Director
STAFF
Christina Alvernaz, Staff Attorney
Anna Basallaje, Chief Operating Officer
Amalee Beattie, 2023-2024 Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellow
LaRita Y. Gibson-Smith, Legal Assistant
Lisa Holder, President
Vanessa Holman, 2024-2025 Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellow
Ginger Johnson, Administrative Assistant
Keith Kamisugi, Director of Communications
Tyler Kyser, Civil Rights Organizer/Program Manager
Avithej Reddy, Summer Legal Intern
Alexandra Santa Ana, Senior Attorney
Heather Snedeker, Director of Development
Mona Tawatao, Legal Director
Eliza Thorpe, Summer Legal Intern
Michael Tyler, Poet-in-Residence
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kelly Dermody, Managing Partner of San Francisco office, Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Fernando Gaytan (Board Chair) – Senior Attorney, Earthjustice
Michael Harris – Retired, former Senior Attorney, Juvenile Justice, National Center for Youth Law
Lisa Holder – EJS President
Raymond C. Marshall – Partner, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Pamela Perkins-Dwyer (Board Secretary) – Major Gifts Officer, Los Angeles Master Chorale
Donald K. Tamaki – Senior Counsel, Minami Tamaki LLP
Sheila Warren – CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation
ADVISORY BOARD
Ellen Barry, founder of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
John Bonifaz, President of Free Speech For People
Ernest Crim III, social justice influencer, advocate, and educator
Eric Gibbs, Founders, Gibbs Law Group LLP
Kim Kruckel – retired executive director of the Child Care Law Center
Seith Mann, award-winning TV and film director
Nate Smith, Partner at Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan LLP
OUR FUNDERS
Thank you to the following 2024 EJS funders for your generous support of our work. We look forward to continuing our impactful partnerships in 2025.
Grant-Making Partners:
California Black Freedom Fund
California Community Foundation
California Endowment
California Wellness Foundation
ChangeLawyers Legal Empowerment Fund
Common Counsel Foundation
Crankstart Fund
Decolonizing Wealth Project Fund for Nonviolence
James Irvine Foundation
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation
Liberation Ventures
San Francisco Foundation
Stupski Foundation
Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation
Weingart Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Corporate Sponsors:
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann, & Bernstein LLP
Gibbs Law Group Minami Tamaki LLP
J. Bernard Alexander III
Kim O. Anderson
Debra Bagley
Ellen M. Barry
Diana Becton
John Bonifaz
Paula Brantner
Leslie Brian
Dale Brodsky
Betsy Brody
Funmilayo Brown
Elizabeth J. Cabraser
Bob Demmons
Kelly Dermody
Ryan Devine
Dorothy Ehrlich
Jonas Feinberg
Fernando Gaytan
Eric Gibbs
Mary Gilg
Martha C. Grubb
Elizabeth Guillen
Stephanie Haffner
Shawn Halbert
Joell Hallowell
Michael Harris
Pixie Hayward-Schickele
Henry L. Hecht
Gladys Hernandez
DONORS
Vanessa Holton
Brandi Howard
Alan Jay Rom
Eden Jequinto
Marilyn Jo Rafkin
Carolyn Kameya
Joshua Karlin-Resnick
Anna Katz
Paula Katz
Raquiba LaBrie
Elizabeth Landsberg
Robert Lawson
Jenny Linton
Huasha Liu
Anne Lundy
Shauna I. Marshall
Arlene Mayerson
Doug McLean
Betty Medsger
Nicole Middleton Holloway
Stacey Miller
Robin Miller
Shaffy Moeel
Anthony Monroe
Melissa Morris
Lindsay Nako
Eva Paterson
Marc Philpart
Ellis H. Pines
Victoria Plaut
Christopher Punongbayan
Linda Purkiss
Nina Raff
Michael Rawson
Jeff Rice
Jennifer Richeson
Sherrie Rosenberg
Jay Rosner
Kamau Sadiki
Emily Scott
Ibiere Seck
Claudia D. Seligman
Elisabeth Semel
Theodore G. Smith
Gary Smith
Nathan Smith
Abdi Soltani
Jason Sutton
Donald Tamaki
Haya Tawatao
Asaad Traina
Georgia Tunioli
William Webster
Catherine Whitcomb
Lei-Chala I. Wilson
Ronnie Wong
Karen Yelverton Zamarripa
Richard Zitrin