CALIFORNIA RURAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE, INC. (CRLA)
MONTEREY COUNTY
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) was founded in 1966 as part of U.S. President Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” CRLA has 22 offices statewide, including Salinas, Monterey, Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Gilroy, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo, along the central coast. Not all CRLA offices provide the same services. CRLA has “Basic” offices which largely operate similar to many other legal aid offices, and “Migrant” offices which specifically serve farmworkers. Salinas has both a Basic and a Migrant office located in the same building, while Monterey and Watsonville are Basic offices. CRLA provides free legal services to low-income residents of the counties served. CRLA receives the majority of its funding from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), and is subject to certain restrictions. In addition to providing direct representation, CRLA makes referrals, conducts community education, and works with governmental agencies to enforce labor, housing and other regulations. Each office is staffed with attorneys, community workers, and administrative legal secretaries. Statewide, CRLA provides free legal assistance to about 30,000 Californians annually.
What CRLA Does
The Salinas office has five full time attorneys and provides the following services:- Employment law for farmworkers only, all types, including wage and hour, health and safety, discrimination, FMLA/CFRA, ADA, etc.
- Housing, both public and private, including fair housing, eviction defense, habitability, foreclosures (advice, but generally not loan modifications), and security deposit recovery
- Education, including school discipline, special education, IEP
- Public Benefits, specifically appeals of denials of the following benefits Social Security/SSI, SDI, UIB Medi-Cal, Food Stamps, General Assistance, and cash aid
- Domestic violence TRO’s
- LGBT community, including discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodation; name changes; advice and counsel on limited family law matters
- Housing, both public and private, including fair housing, eviction defense, habitability, foreclosures (advice, but generally not loan modifications), and security deposit recovery
- Education, including school discipline, special education, IEP
- Public Benefits, specifically appeals of denials of the following benefits Social Security/SSI, SDI, UIB Medi-Cal, Food Stamps, General Assistance, and cash aid
- Domestic violence TRO’s, including custody in cases with physical abuse to a child
- Legal guardianship
- Housing, including fair housing, eviction defense, habitability, foreclosures (advice, but generally not loan modifications), and security deposit recovery
- Education, including school discipline and special education
- Employment, including wage claims and discrimination
- Public Benefits, specifically appeals of denials of the following benefits Social Security/SSI, SDI, UIB Medi-Cal, Food Stamps, General Assistance, and cash aid
- Domestic violence TRO’s, when other local agencies are backlogged
Unmet Needs
Everyday dozens of Monterey County residents come to CRLA for assistance. Unfortunately, CRLA is unable to provide all the services requested due to lack of staffing, lack of resources, lack of staff expertise, the service does not fall within its priority areas, or clients do not qualify under LSC or other guidelines. These are some of the unmet needs our offices encounter:- Family law
- Eviction defense for indigent, undocumented people Affirmative habitability
- Employment law for non-farmworkers
- Consumer law
- Foreclosure, loan modifications, etc.
Donate Time: Referrals, Volunteer Opportunities & Ideas
There are a number of ways that attorneys, paralegals and others can assist CRLA, and more importantly, its clients. Please contact one of our offices if you are interested in the following:- Accept one or two pro bono cases from CRLA each year; we’re happy to help train you if you need to get up to speed in a new area of law
- Volunteer in one of our offices for a few hours on a weekly or monthly basis
- Participate with the MCBA’s Lawyer Referral Service, where we make many referrals
- Accept a referral from CRLA on a reduced-fee or reduced-contingency basis
- Co-counsel with CRLA, this is especially helpful when you are familiar with an area of law and CRLA attorneys are unfamiliar with that law
Donate Money
While much of our funding comes from the Legal Services Corporation and is subject to numerous conditions, CRLA can raise additional funds which are not subject to many of the same conditions. For instance, CRLA is dependant on individual, foundation and corporate donors for many of our most successful programs. To that end, CRLA accepts financial donations and cy pres awards. For further information, please contact Mike Courville at (415) 777-2752 x 338 or locally, Michael Marsh at (831) 757-5221 x 303.TO VOLUNTEER, CONTACT CRLA:
Salinas CRLAMichael Marsh, Directing Attorney
3 Williams Road
Salinas CA 93905
(831) 757-5221
mmarsh@crla.org
Monterey CRLA
Teri Scarlett, Directing Attorney
2100 Garden Road # D
Monterey CA 93940
(831) 375-0505
tscarlett@crla.org
Watsonville CRLA
Gretchen Regenhardt, Directing Attorney
21 Carr Street
Watsonville CA 95076
(831) 724-2253
gregenhardt@crla.org