About ECRA
The Education Civil Rights Alliance is a diverse and experienced group of organizers, educator organizations, community groups, professional associations, civil rights organizations, and government agencies that are committed to protecting the civil rights of marginalized students.
Steering Committee Members
American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities.
Communities for Just Schools Fund
The Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) is a new national donor collaborative that supports constituency-led organizing efforts to create positive and supportive school climates, which affirm and foster the success of all students.
Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline
Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline (Gwinnett SToPP), organizes parents, youth and community around reversing the school to prison pipeline trend by increasing public awareness and promoting policy changes through data accountability and fact-based incident reporting.
Jonathan Schorr LLC
Communications and strategy for causes that matter.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities.
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States.
Legal Aid Justice Center
The Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC) fights injustice in the lives of individual Virginians while rooting out exploitative policies and practices that keep people in poverty.
National Center for Youth Law
The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) has worked for more than four decades to improve the lives of marginalized children and youth. NCYL leads campaigns, weaving together research, public awareness, policy development, technical assistance and litigation to ensure governmental systems provide the support these children and youth need to thrive.
National Disability Rights Network
The National Disability Rights Network (“NDRN”) is the non-profit membership association of protection and advocacy and Client Assistance Program agencies located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the United States Territories, with a Native American Consortium affiliate located in the Four Corners region.
National Education Association
The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs.
National Women’s Law Center
The National Women's Law Center has worked for more than 40 years to protect and promote equality and opportunity for women and families. We champion policies and laws that help women and girls achieve their potential at every stage of their lives — at school, at work, at home, and in retirement.
Open Society Policy Center
The Open Society Policy Center (OSPC) is a non-partisan and non-profit 501(c)(4) organization that engages in advocacy aimed at influencing U.S. government policy on domestic and international issues, including civil rights and liberties, criminal justice reform, immigration, multilateralism, development assistance, health policy and promotion of human rights, transparency and accountability.
Children Law Center
Children’s Law Center, Inc. (CLC), established in 1989, is a non-profit legal service center protecting the rights of children and youth to help them overcome barriers and transition into adulthood, better advocate for their needs, and successfully contribute to society. It provides individual legal advocacy to children and youth, and through public policy work, training and education, impact litigation, and juvenile defender support services, seeks to improve the systems that serve them. CLC offers services in both Kentucky and Ohio, and collaborates with other organizations within the region and nationally on a variety of topics.
UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies
The Civil Rights Project’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies (CCRR) is dedicated to improving educational opportunities and outcomes for children from subgroups who have been discriminated against historically due to their race/ethnicity, and who are frequently subjected to exclusionary practices such as disciplinary removal, over-representation in special education, and reduced access to a college-bound curriculum.
NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation is a public charity founded by educators for educators to improve public education for all students.
Lambda Legal
Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we do not charge our clients for legal representation or advocacy, and we receive no government funding. We depend on contributions from supporters around the country.
NAACP LDF
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 75 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments. LDF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Youth on Board
Since 1994, Youth on Board (YOB) has been a leader in the field of youth organizing in the Boston area and beyond. YOB is a youth-led, adult supported program where young people have the space and tools to recognize and utilize the power they hold to dismantle political and economic structures that reinforce inequity. We believe in the power of students to transform their communities by recognizing that when young people are fully engaged—when their voices are heard, their opinions matter, and their unique perspective is respected—they commit themselves to making their schools, their communities, and their own lives better. In the past twenty years, we have worked in more than 5 countries, 27 states, and over 100 schools. We are a project of YouthBuild USA.
MALDEF
Founded in 1968, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) is the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Our commitment is to protect and defend the rights of all Latinos living in the United States and the constitutional rights of all Americans.
Kelisa Wing, Educator-Leader
Education Civil Rights Alliance Members
Advancement Project
Advocates for Children of New York
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of Teachers
The Arc of the United States
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Center for Law and Education
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s Law Center (KY)
Civitas ChildLaw Center, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Communities for Just Schools Fund
The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Delaware State Education Association
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
Disability Rights New Mexico
East Bay Community Law Center
Education Deans for Justice and Equity
Education Law Center
Education Law Center (PA)
Education Rights Network (PA)
Equal Justice Society
Equal Rights Advocates
Family Equality Council
Georgia Advocacy Office
Georgia Legal Services Program
GLSEN
Goodmark Law Firm
Gwinnett SToPP
Human Rights Campaign
Intercultural Development Research Association
Jonathan Schorr, LLC
Julius L. Chambers Center for Civil Rights
Juvenile Law Center
LAF Chicago
Lambda Legal
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley (Legal Advocates for Children and Youth)
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Legal Aid Justice Center (VA)
Learning Rights Law Center (CA)
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
NAACP
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
National Black Child Development Institute
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Center for Youth Law
National Disability Rights Network
National Education Association
National Education Association Foundation
National Women’s Law Center
Native American Disability Law Center
Open Society Policy Center
Oregon Education Association
Pegasus Legal Services for Children
The Praxis Project
Public Advocates
Public Counsel
Public Justice Center (MD)
Public Rights Project
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Schott Foundation for Public Education
School Justice Project
Southern Education Foundation
Southern Poverty Law Center
Steven Granberg Attorney at Law
Systems Change Consulting
Texas Appleseed
UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
YouthBuild USA/Youth on Board
Youth Justice Project, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
The National Center for Youth Law is the convener of the Education Civil Rights Alliance.