Access to Government Services

Highlights of Our Work

Michelle Lim, Advancing Justice-LA's Voting Rights Policy Advocate, with her multilingual "I Voted" sticker in November 2016.

In 2014, Advancing Justice-LA joined the forces with community partners and other legal service providers to challenge the California Department of Social Services’ decision to send Medi-Cal renewal forms to its beneficiaries only in English. Without legally mandated translations of the forms into non-English languages—including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hmong, Cambodian, Arabic, and Farsi—many faced termination of their Medi-Cal benefits, simply because they had no way of knowing that they had to complete a renewal form. Over 40% of Medi-Cal beneficiaries report speaking a primary language other than English, and before 2014, beneficiaries received renewal forms with non-English translations. Advancing Justice-LA and its partners successfully obtained an emergency court decision to prevent the State from disenrolling any Medi-Cal beneficiaries based on the cancellation notices it sent only in English. Advancing Justice-LA and its partner continue to litigate this matter.