NC Justice Center: Countering the Right
Updated February 17, 2009
The North Carolina Justice Center describes itself as North Carolina’s “leading private, nonprofit anti-poverty organization.” In political circles, they are considered the state’s top left-leaning think tank, addressing a wide range of issues from tax policy to health care.
Mission
The mission of the NC Justice Center is to “reduce and eliminate poverty in North Carolina by helping to ensure that every North Carolina household gains access to the resources, services and fair treatment that it needs in order to enjoy economic security.”
History
The Justice Center was created in 1996 with the merging of two legal services organizations. Since that time, it has established itself as home to a number of organizations that it calls “specialized projects,” including:
- The NC Budget and Tax Center
- Health Access Coalition
- Immigrants Legal Assistance Project
- Education & Law Project
- Consumer Action Network
Programs
The Justice Center seeks to be the premier influential voice for “progressive change” in North Carolina through four main strategies:
Litigation - Justice Center lawyers become involved in selected, high-impact lawsuits that are designed to protect and expand the rights of low-income people. The Center provides legal assistance to low-income people that is aimed at reducing poverty by protecting or expanding their rights. Lawsuits have involved consumer rights, housing policy, immigrant rights, access to health care, public education, and worker rights. The Center claims not to be “a traditional legal aid program.” It develops most of its cases internally or through referrals from other lawyers.
Research & Analysis – Staff members research and analyze public policies affecting low-income people, developing strategies for improving these policies and publish their findings and recommendations in a variety of reports, newsletters and issue briefs. The Budget and Tax Center publishes BTC Briefs and BTC Reports to provide analyses of fiscal policy issues. Fact Sheets and Issue Briefs deal with other important public policy issues. Additional publications include the Justice Center Legislative Update (monitors state legislative debates), NC Justice News (Justice Center reports, updates, press releases, opinion pieces and fact sheets), NC Policy Brief (examines issues impacting low-income people), NC Health Reports (a newsletter of the Health Access Coalition), Community News (a quarterly newspaper). Facts for Action & Change (a newsletter that aimed at community-based activists), From the Ground Up (a newsletter of the Education & Law Project), and Living Income Standard (outlines the cost for families to live in each of the state’s 100 counties).
Public Policy Advocacy - The Center sees itself as the premier advocate of low-income people and works to implement changes in policy and law that benefit this group. The Center acts as a lobbyist before the state legislature and the state Congressional delegation, and staff members appear before state agencies and speak out at public events and in the news media. Expenditures associated with lobbying are duly reported on the Justice Center's IRS Form 990.
Grassroots Action - The Center seeks to build coalitions with groups and individuals at the grassroots level to achieve its goals of educating and empowering local groups. Working with “community-based activists,” the Center develops and implements initiatives to enable low-income persons and community-based organizations to take the lead in solving their problems by providing the training and resources needed to build a capacity for low-income individuals “to organize and become their own advocates.” As a part of its grassroots activities, the Justice Center has developed the NC Community Advocates for Revitalizing Education (NCCARE), a statewide network of parents and education activists promoting education policy reforms at the state level.
Another affiliated project of the NC Justice Center is NC Policy Watch, a public policy organization which seeks “to change the way our elected officials debate the important issues facing North Carolina and, ultimately, to improve the quality of life in the state by convincing state leaders to make the kinds of investments in people and institutions that allow us to address our most pressing problems.” NC Policy Watch is directed by Chris Fitzsimon through a special grant by the A. J. Fletcher Foundation. Fitzsimon and his staff provide commentary and analysis of hot button state policy issues through editorials, newsletters, public appearances, and their staff blog, the Progressive Pulse.
Assets
The NC Justice Center is a 501-C(3) tax-exempt organization. According to the IRS Form 990 for the 2006 calendar year filed by the Center, revenues for the calendar year were $3,172,083, including several government grants totaling $644,254. Other income is derived from private grants, the largest coming from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation; attorney fees; contract services; membership dues; event registrations; and other fees.
The Center reported expenses of $2,801,687 for the fiscal year 2006, with net or fund balances at the end of the year at $3,183,575.
Staff & Governance
The NC Justice Center has been headed up by Melinda Lawrence since 2007. She leads a team of 40 staff members, including attorneys and specialized project managers.
The Center is proud of its diverse Board of Directors, which is co-chaired by Jean Cary, a professor of law at Campbell University; and Raquel Lynch, a community outreach director at the International House in Charlotte. Other notable members of the Board include Reverend William Barber, head of the state chapter of the NAACP; and Orage Quarles III, publisher of the Raleigh News & Observer.
Grant-Making
The 2006 tax filing shows that the NC Justice Center awarded grants to five organizations during the reporting year:
| Legal Services of Southern Piedmont | Charlotte | $44,445 |
| Land Loss Prevention | Durham | $44,445 |
| Legal Aid Society of Northeast NC | Winston-Salem | $44,445 |
| Pisgah Legal Services | Asheville | $44,445 |
| Financial Protection Law Center | Wilmington | $22,220 |
Summary
The NC Justice Center is the most prominent liberal/progressive think tank in North Carolina. As such, it matches up nicely with the most prominent conservative/libertarian think tank in the state, the John Locke Foundation. Regardless of the public policy question, the Justice Center can be relied on to approach the issue from a liberal perspective, just as the Locke Foundation will come at those issues from a conservative point-of-view. Public officials in North Carolina wishing to examine both sides of a particular public policy concern need look no farther than these two organizations.
It is often said that the clash of ideas is the sound of freedom. This freedom to debate public policy issues before a decision is made is the way human progress is made. It’s a good thing.
Let the debate continue.
