California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.

CRLA is nationally recognized as a leader in farm worker and migrant service provision through community outreach, educational training and direct legal service. As an eligible client, you will have access to services from our team of premiere public interest attorneys and dedicated community workers at no cost to you. It is our firm belief that justice should not require a price tag but should be basic human right for all. We are proud to have the opportunity to represent you and your fight for justice!

CRLA represents low-income rural clients on a variety of cutting edge issues. The majority of our efforts can be classified in one of 7 major legal areas that we consider our organizational Priority Areas. While we do not necessarily preclude cases that do not fall into one of these categories, we prioritize these issue areas and offer particular expertise on these legal issues:

Civil Rights
Matters pertaining to rights for minorities, persons with disabilities and other constitutionally protected persons.

Community Development
Advocacy to ensure poor communities have adequate infrastructure and basic services, such as safe drinking water; transactional legal services to help low-income clients to achieve long-term financial success, including legal advice and support to clients to attend college, buy a home, or start a small business.

Education
Issues including securing students' rights; special education placement problems; suspensions and expulsions.

Health and Family Well-Being
Includes unemployment insurance benefits; state disability insurance (SDI); CalWORKs; General Assistance; food stamps; Medi-Cal; CAPI; Social Security and SSI and health related issues such as access to medical services.

Housing
Matters involving tenants' rights; sub-standard housing; lockouts and utility shut-offs by landlords; housing discrimination; farm worker housing; rent deposit refunds and limited eviction defense.

Labor and Employment
Issues including minimum wage and overtime claims; working conditions; retaliation; sexual harassment; and employees' rights.

Leadership Development
CRLA has established Community Committees in 15 regions, and provides training to the membership of these Committees to promote leadership and civic engagement, to help low-income communities engage in effective self-advocacy.