In 1993, CRLA launched the Indigenous Farmworker Project to meet the needs of California’s growing Indigenous Mexican farmworker communities.
Now known as the Indigenous Program, it provides legal advocacy and educational outreach and supports leadership development in California’s rural Indigenous Mexican and Central American communities.
Most of California’s Indigenous populations are from rural areas in southern Mexico, and their population has drastically increased over the past two decades. It is estimated that today, one fourth to one third of California farmworkers are Indigenous Mexicans.
Indigenous groups speak dozens of distinct languages; among the most widely spoken in California are Mixteco, Zapateco, and Triqui.
For more than 20years, the Indigenous Program has partnered with Indigenous clients, communities, and organizations throughout California in order to develop sustainable solutions to the challenges they face.
