In the spring of 2013, with a full-time staff attorney at OneJustice funded by Cooley LLP, APBCo Bay Area launched the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC), which is focused on bringing access to legal services in rural and isolated communities throughout Northern California, focusing on applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), housing, and public benefits.
OneJustice and Cooley LLP, in collaboration with other Bay Area law firms and legal service providers, launched the Bay Area’s IMPACT Project, the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC), in May 2013. The Collaborative’ s mission is to expand access to legal services in rural and/or isolated communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area through limited scope clinics, focusing primarily on immigration and housing issues. The clinics utilize trained pro bono volunteers from the participating law firms and corporations, who are supervised by experienced legal services staff attorneys. The Collaborative is supported by a newly-created staff attorney position at OneJustice. To date, the RJC has held immigration (including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and/or housing clinics in five regions of the greater Bay Area – south Santa Clara, coastside San Mateo, east Contra Costa, Napa, west Marin – in addition to an immigration clinic in El Dorado County.