California Latinas for Reproductive Justice

Clrj has three main programmatic areas, community organizing and engagement, policy, and research. Our operations in these areas are designed as strategies to achieve annual objectives and long-term goals.community organizing and engagement (coe):clrj's community organizing and engagement department aims to build latina/e leadership and ensure that our policy priorities are informed, shaped and moved by our communities. This program included activities through our community organizing pilot, unin de vecinas (udv) and the Justice for young families initiative (j4yf). Udv focused its work on tenants' rights and an ongoing housing Justice campaign, while j4yf is an initiative of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice that champions young people's rights to self-determination and bodily autonomy, including decisions about whether or not to become parents, and their right to parent the children they have within a supportive environment. Accomplishments:- (udv)udv members worked towards the expansion of the rent control ordinance in the city of bell gardens to apply tenant protections to mobile home residents- (udv) members of the union de vecinas attended conferences hosted by national organization mhaction in both sacramento and Washington dc to lobby for legislation related to tenant rights. - (j4yf) clrj worked with 13 young parents through the young parents leadership council where they learned about policy advocacy, Reproductive Justice, the history of j4yf, and community informed research and participated in community engagement activities. Three of those were hired as community researchers to support us with the creation of, recruitment for and dissemination of the j4yf needs assessment that will support the development of a policy platform on the issues of young parents and families. - (j4yf) we organized a young parents day of recognition celebration where our young parents were able to come together with partner organizations and several California legislators and staffers to be recognized and to uplift their contributions to society.

Research:clrj's research program, seeks to promote the reproductive/sexual health and Justice of the most underserved latinas/es in California by informing, shaping and increasing the availability of community informed, policy-relevant research concerning latinas'/es' Reproductive and sexual health that is accessible to policymakers, policy advocates and latina/e community as a whole.accomplishments:- (research) clrj continued data collection and analysis for the youth abortion project (yap) study and co-wrote the first publication using preliminary research findings, a research brief on the harmful impacts of anti-abortion centers. - (research) as part of the partnership with ucsf on the chat study, clrj launched a new page on our website with two spanish animated educational videos, one on medication abortion and the other on abortion via telehealth. Additionally, we finalized a draft of a community brief on study findings that was published in 2024.

Policy and advocacy:policy advocacy is one of clrj's core strategies and program areas. Clrj educates policymakers on issue areas that impact the 7.5 million California Latinas, serves as a thought leader and collaborator with state and national advocates, trains leaders on the policy process and how to advocate for themselves, as well as conducts local, state and federal policy advocacy to improve the health and well-being of latinas/es and their families in California. Accomplishments:- (policy) clrj co-sponsored one bill and worked on implementation of two statewide legislative campaigns and a local housing campaign in bell gardens, and supported organizational partners with a variety of other legislative bills. - clrj completed the two year implementation process for ab1007 (carillo) and the companion budget request, to provide over 4 million dollars in reparations funds to survivors of state sponsored forced or involuntary sterilizations. - (policy) clrj's policy advocacy team served on various coalitions and advisories and engaged (36) policymakers (53) times throughout the year.