Race + Place
Race shapes where people live, the resources they access, the harms they suffer, and the opportunities made available to them. Racial inequality is embedded into the laws, institutions, and land use decisions that structure daily life. These are not artifacts of a distant past. They are the ongoing and compounding consequences of deliberate choices that demand immediate action and repair.
CRIL examines and challenges the ways structural racism shapes how communities are built and governed. We protect civil rights, foster community power, and confront the cumulative harms created by discriminatory policies and systems. We work for a future where race no longer determines who bears society’s burdens or has access to its benefits, and where all communities are able to live with dignity, health, safety, and self-determination.
Videos
Watch: How Crime-free Housing Ordinances Reinforce Racism with Professor Deborah Archer
Watch: The Enduring Problem of School Segregation
Environmental and Climate Justice Initiative
The Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative advances environmental and climate justice in partnership with community-based organizations across New York and the United States, using litigation, policy advocacy, research, and public education to protect people's rights to clean air, clean water, and safe communities. A joint effort of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law and the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law, the Initiative is currently focused on defending environmental justice groups facing federal funding termination, strengthening civil rights law as a tool for environmental justice, and representing communities fighting for their health and future. In 2025, the Initiative launched the Environmental and Climate Justice Lab, an experiential learning program giving students hands-on experience representing community organizations on the frontlines of the climate and environmental justice movement.