Displaced Minority Businesses Call on City to Halt Roxbury Development →

Community Groups Call On City To Halt Roxbury Development That Is Displacing Small, Minority-Owned Businesses Developer Made Repeated “No Displacement” Promises When Seeking City Approval  African Community Development of New England (ACEDONE) and Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) formally called upon the City of Boston and the Boston Planning & Development Agency...

Applauding Boston’s Vaccine Mandate →

The Suffolk County Superior Court has allowed the City of Boston's COVID-19 vaccine mandate to take effect. Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the ruling. We stand with Mayor Michelle Wu in the implementation of the vaccine mandate. Through LCR’s Medical-Legal Partnership with MGH’s Community Health Center in Chelsea, we have seen firsthand how...

Boston’s Urgent Need to Diversify Public Contracts →

Almost a year ago, following the release of a comprehensive study showing that the City of Boston was spending less than 2% of its contracting dollars on minority-owned businesses, the City promised to implement “the most structural reform city contracting has had in over a generation.”  Then-Mayor Walsh issued an...

Statement on Boston’s Sheltered Market Program →

December 2, 2021 Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) commends Mayor Michelle Wu for this week’s launch of a sheltered market program aimed at creating a more inclusive city contract procurement process. While this concrete action so early in her mayoral term is encouraging, much more needs to be done to...

Supporting Local Vaccination Efforts Through Small Businesses →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and Point32Health are collaborating on a project to provide support to small businesses in Fall River and New Bedford that promote the COVID-19 vaccine. The program, open to diverse-owned small businesses in the two cities, will provide $1,000 grants that can be used in a...

Open Letter To Boston’s Mayoral Candidates On Civil Rights Priorities →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) sent an open letter to the mayoral candidates in the City of Boston identifying urgent legal and policy issues that are currently affecting people of color and immigrants across the city. The letter identifies five critical areas for immediate action, and urges the candidates to prioritize the following: Commit to...

Massachusetts Fails Minority Contractors (Again) →

STATEMENT ON BAKER ADMINISTRATION'S FAILURE TO MEANINGFULLY CONTRACT WITH MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES Lawyers for Civil Rights condemns the Baker Administration's blatant misrepresentation of state contracting numbers with minority-owned businesses in Massachusetts. Recent reporting by WGBH reveals that in 2020, the Commonwealth spent just $301 million in direct contracts with minority-owned businesses out of...

Summer Justice →

Injustice doesn't take a break during the summer. That's why our legal warriors have been busy fighting for equality and justice.   On the policing front, we're suing the Needham Police Department on behalf of Marvin Henry, a Black man who was arrested and falsely accused of shoplifting. We're also publicly calling for greater police transparency and fairness.In...

Over 300 Minority-Owned Businesses Attend BizGrow Conference →

Lawyers for Civil Rights and nearly two dozen Boston law firms and corporate sponsors will host the BizGrow Conference a free event providing hundreds of minority-owned, woman-owned, and immigrant-owned small businesses with free legal consultations and technical support. The BizGrow Conference will be held virtually on July 22, 2021 from...

BizGrow Conference Schedule →

We're excited to host our annual small business on July 22, 2021. Our conference schedule is available here: To access the live links, please click here and download the schedule to your computer.

Celebrating 20 Years of Economic Justice →

We're excited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of LCR | BizGrow, our economic justice project providing free legal support to small businesses. The virtual celebration will take place on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 5:30 PM. More event information is available here. To join the event, guests will just have to click...

BizGrow Highlights 20 Small Businesses →

We're proud to highlight 20 inspiring and uplifting small businesses for the 20th anniversary of our economic justice project, LCR | BizGrow! Learn more about BizGrow. Click here to download the small business list.

Welcome Letter to Mayor Janey with Racial Justice Blueprint →

AFTER DECADES OF INSUFFICIENT MUNICIPAL ACTION, LAWYERS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS GIVES MAYOR JANEY BLUEPRINT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AND IMMIGRATION REFORMLawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) congratulates and applauds Mayor Kim Janey for her historic leadership as Boston's first Black woman Mayor. For many years, LCR has tirelessly advocated for the City...

Response to Boston’s Executive Order on Minority Contractors →

On the heels of the federal civil rights complaint filed with the Department of Justice, Mayor Walsh released yet another vague executive order that is insufficient to address the racial crisis surrounding the City of Boston’s public contracting.  In light of the disparity study and the civil rights complaint, the...

Legal Action Supporting Small Businesses in Boston →

DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST THE CITY OF BOSTON ON BEHALF OF MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES UNLAWFULLY SHUT OUT FROM PUBLIC CONTRACTS Today, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), the Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN), and Amplify Latinx filed a civil rights complaint against the City of Boston in response to gross racial disparities in public...

Racial Disparities in Boston’s Municipal Contracts →

Lawyers for Civil Rights calls on the City of Boston to implement immediate corrective action to address the gross racial disparities in municipal contracts confirmed by the City’s recently released Disparity Study. LCR stands ready to take legal action against the City if race-conscious measures are not implemented to diversify municipal...

Opportunities for Small Businesses →

FORGIVABLE PPP LOANS  First time PPP borrowers:  Qualifications:Businesses and non-profits (including sole proprietors and independent contractors) in operation prior to February 2020 with less than 500 employees.There’s no revenue loss requirement. Amount: Can receive up to 2.5 times the businesses’ average monthly payroll costs and healthcare costs or $10 million -- whichever...

2020 Annual Report →

We are excited to share our 2020 annual report. The report is available here. Please click here to download the report.