California Rural Legal Assistance

California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal and political advocacy group that promotes the interests of migrant laborers and the rural poor. The organization provides legal assistance in the areas of housing and eviction, public benefits, and educational access. It also sponsors legislation.

Based in San Francisco, the organization operates 24 regional offices throughout California. CRLA has an annual operating budget of $10 million, and employs 138 staff, 51 of which are attorneys. [Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley [http://www.law.berkeley.edu/centers/csj/programs/padilla.html "Practitioner-in-Residence José R. Padilla"] ] José R. Padilla, a lawyer and activist, has been the executive director since 1984.

History

California Rural Legal Assistance was founded in 1965 as part of the Johnson administration's War on Poverty. From 1965 until 1981, it was funded by the federal Community Services Agency (CSA). When the Reagan Administration defunded the CSA, it came under the auspices of the government's Legal Services Corporation (LSC). It also receives funding from non-profit organizations such as Carlos Santana's Milagro Foundation and businesses such as the Union Bank of California. [Hispanic Business [http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=29794&cat=Hispanic+PR+Wire&more=/hprw/ "Union Bank of California Foundation Donates $125,000 to California Rural Legal Assistance"] , March 10, 2006]

Between 2000 and 2006, CRLA was investigated six times by LSC or by its Inspector General. The subject of the investigations ranged from issues of timekeeping, to facilities sharing, to CRLA affiliations with non-LSC agencies. The CRLA maintained that the investigations were political fallout for obtaining over one million dollars in settlements from dairy farmers. [Advocacy Blog [http://www.ombwatch.org/article/blogs/entry/1731/34 "LSC Inspector General Investigates California Rural Legal Assistance"] , April 10, 2006.]

Padilla contends that organizations such as CRLA are "seemingly singled out for special political harassment, through more intense investigations". [Sanford, John. [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/01/galarza516.html "José Padilla: Ethnic poor 'have been given a half plate of their due'"] . EWS release.]

CRLA was also the subject of two complaints from the National Legal and Policy Center, both for apparently "violat [ing] the Legal Services Corporation Act and regulations regarding fee-generating cases" [National Legal and Policy Center. [http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=415 Complaint Before Legal Services Corporation] , July 7, 2000 and [http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=414 Complaint Before Legal Services Corporation] , August 23, 2000.]

uccesses

The CRLA claims amongst it successes the initiation of the proceedings that lead to the ban of DDT, legal challenges to the practice of placing non-English-speaking students in special education classes, and the ban of the "cortito", the short-handled hoe. [California Rural Legal Assistance. [http://www.crla.org/ourwork.htm "Our Work"] , accessed June 11, 2006.]

References

External links

* [http://www.crla.org Official site]
* [http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2004/0904arrieta.html California Dairy Workers Face Danger and Abuse] article about CRLA campaign from September/October 2004 issue of Dollars & Sense magazine