Mission

​Advancing Justice - CA advocates for the civil and human rights of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other underserved communities to promote a just and equitable society for all through policy.

Health

AJSOCAL’s Health Access Project (HAP) seeks to address the health care needs of the AANHPI communities through outreach, education and advocacy, and coordinates the Health Justice Network (HJN), a statewide collaborative comprised of close to 60 community-based organizations, health care providers, and community clinics. HAP and the HJN have long worked together to ensure access to affordable, culturally and linguistically competent, and quality health care for AANHPIs and other low-income, immigrant and limited-English proficient communities.

Higher Education

​We advocate for equity in education so that low-income students can access the support they need in order to attend and graduate from college.

Education

We advocate for equity in education so that low-income students can access the support they need in order to thrive in our public schools.

Housing

​California is home to the largest number of Asian Americans and the second-largest number of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) in the country; comprising 16 percent of the state’s population. Over 310,000 Asian American and nearly 15,000 NHPI households are struggling to find affordable rental housing. Many Tongan (67 percent), Mongolian (63 percent), Vietnamese (59 percent), Cambodian (59 percent), and Sri Lankan American (58 percent) renter households are spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing. We support policies that address the housing crisis within communities of color.

Criminal Justice

​We advocate for transformation of the criminal justice system to reduce the reliance on our inhumane and ineffective punitive carceral system, and to reinvest these resources in addressing the root causes of crime and criminalization.

Workers' Rights

Our affiliate workers’ rights programs provides legal counseling, policy advocacy, direct services and impact litigation for low-income immigrant workers on a wide range of workplace issues, including race and national-origin discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour problems, unemployment insurance benefit appeals, and workplace safety.

Elections

We advocate for fair representation of all communities, as well as for inclusiveness and transparency in the redistricting process. We also focus on expanding and protecting the voting rights of AANHPI communities and all immigrant communities, to ensure full participation of all eligible voters in the electoral process.

Immigration

​We are committed to an immigration system that keeps families together and does not determine a person’s value by their immigration status or whether they have been incarcerated. Recognizing that incarceration, immigration detention, and deportation separates families, we focus our legal services on the most vulnerable in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community — immigrants facing deportation due to criminal convictions. The hundreds of clients we serve each year enable us to quickly identify emerging problem areas and to respond effectively through impact litigation, community education, and advocacy.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - California is a partnership of two non-profit organizations:

Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus

AJSOCAL
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (Advancing Justice – ALC) was founded in 1972 as the nation’s first legal and civil rights Asian American organization. Recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist in the United States, Advancing Justice – ALC is committed to the pursuit of equality and justice for all sectors of our society, with a specific focus directed toward addressing the needs of low-income, immigrant and underserved Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (NHPI). Through direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building, AJSOCAL focuses on the most vulnerable members of Asian American and NHPI communities while also building a strong voice for civil rights and social justice.