Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

About the PCC Legal Resource Center

Welcome to the PCC Legal Resource Center! The PCC Legal Resource Center is a free legal center at PCC Cascade in North Portland, providing the following free legal services to Oregonians:

• Criminal record and eviction expungements;
• Eviction legal defense for Portland residents;
• DACA renewals and immigration legal screenings;
• Limited scope deportation defense;
• Legal name and gender-marker changes; and
• Other advice and referrals for legal services, PCC resources, and community-based resources.

The PCC Legal Resource Center aims to help PCC community members reduce barriers to employment, housing, education and well-being. We are dedicated to increasing access to justice and addressing the lasting impact of disproportionate law enforcement on people of color and low-income communities.

Additionally, the PCC Legal Resource Center offers a seamless transition to education and career training at PCC by partnering with credit and non-credit academic programs and wrap-around supports like Workforce Development, Adult Basic Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, and the Dreamers Resource Center. The Center also partners with a variety of community-based organizations to holistically support participants.

All of our legal services are free and accessible to everyone in the community (though filing fees may apply).

Purpose

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The purpose of the PCC Legal Resource Center is to tear down the legal barriers that keep our community from enjoying the benefit of each members’ full participation.

Vision

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We acknowledge our state and nation’s devastating history of white supremacy both within and outside the legal system; our vision is to clear our community members’ legal obstacles that arise from oppressive systems, and to work toward ending those systems entirely.

Mission

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The PCC Legal Resource Center creates and fosters a PCC community that values all of its members and allows each person to shine their brightest, without being held back by legal issues. We help our community clear their records, clear up their housing and immigration issues, and clear their paths forward through free legal services and advocacy.

Values

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• Every human being has inherent value. We strive to treat everyone who comes through our doors with dignity and respect, and provide legal services that help promote the value of each person.
• Legal advocacy is critical for social and racial justice. We focus on reducing barriers to success and well-being and addressing historical injustice by providing access to essential legal services.
• Charging clients for legal services is an inherent barrier to accessing justice. Eliminating fees for our work increases equity and accessibility of legal services that support our community’s basic needs.
• Community resilience is possible through collaboration. We believe that our responsibility to the community goes beyond the college’s doors. We carry this responsibility through, among other things, the hands-on legal work we do in the Center and our community partnerships that provide wraparound support and community care.
• Fostering curiosity and growth provides opportunities for student leadership development. We are honored to provide experiential learning opportunities for PCC students through legal services leadership programs.
• Responding to harm or violations of the law does not require us to rely on incarceration and punishment. We work towards a society where immigration is not criminalized, and our response to harm or legal violations is repair not punishment.