Investing in People & Communities
The Kazan McClain Partners’ Foundation contributes an average of one-million dollars annually to nonprofit organizations that advance medical research into the causes of, treatment for, and prevention of occupational and environmental diseases; increase and improve public awareness about workplace health and safety, and public health; and enhance access to, participation in, and education about the legal system and governmental processes.
The Foundation supports legal services programs that provide assistance to those who cannot afford an attorney, supports programs that focus on educating young people, and also donates to community organizations that strengthen the community or assist the poor.
The Kazan McClain Partners’ Foundation and many Kazan Law clients make significant donations each year to organizations that research treatments for diseases, such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related cancers and diseases. Donations support cutting edge research being conducted by the University of California at San Francisco, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Creighton University Medical Center, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.
Highlighted examples of work we are proud to support.
Research into Treatment of Mesothelioma
Our university medical grantees across the country are pursuing a variety of strategies to treat and cure lung cancer and mesothelioma cancer.
Cancer treatment is quickly approaching an era of personalized medicine where treatment is based on the distinctive molecular characteristics of a patient’s tumor. This will allow patients to receive innovative combinations of therapies that will maximize clinical benefit, more accurately predict disease outcome, and allow patients at the highest risk of relapse to receive the most aggressive treatment.
Research includes the investigation of molecular pathways such as Wnt and Hedgehog, the role of inflammation in causing lung cancer, isolation of lung cancer stems cells, and the Lung Cancer Systems Genetics Project, An Approach to Individualized Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy. Eventually, these efforts will have a major impact on these diseases.
Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal)
BayLegal seeks to increase self-sufficiency, stability and quality of life of low-income residents. They provide free, linguistically and culturally competent information, advice and legal representation to help people understand and enforce their consumer rights; secure public benefits; avoid eviction or loss of housing subsidy; access mental and/or physical healthcare; escape domestic violence; and other vital benefits.
Working with thousands of individuals and families each year, BayLegal has intimate knowledge of root causes that harm poor people and impede their path to self-sufficiency.
With this knowledge, BayLegal focuses on systemic work to address the root causes. Some systemic solutions include legislative and administrative advocacy and training; and technical assistance and policy development for agencies administering housing, healthcare and benefits programs for low-income residents.
WORKSAFE!
Everyone has the right to work in a safe and healthy place of employment and to return home uninjured at the end of each workday. Yet, every year over 66,000 American workers are injured or die from preventable workplace hazards or exposure to toxic chemicals.
WORKSAFE is a California-based organization dedicated to eliminating all types of workplace hazards. It advocates for protective worker health and safety laws and effective remedies for injured workers.
WORKSAFE watchdogs government agencies to ensure they enforce these laws. And WORKSAFE engages in campaigns in coalition with unions, workers, community, environmental and legal organizations, and scientists to eliminate hazards and toxic chemicals from the workplace.
To protect the most vulnerable of California workers, WORKSAFE engages in impact litigation and provides legal training, technical assistance, and advocacy support to legal services programs who serve low wage and immigrant workers.
The Kazan McClain Partners’ Foundation is proud to contribute substantially to the worker occupational safety and health advocacy