Our Mission, History and Strategic Priorities
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice advances economic, racial, and disability justice for low-income individuals, families, and communities across the country. Everyone deserves to thrive, not just survive. That means ensuring that we all have full access to the resources, support, and services we need to live healthy, fulfilling lives that are . There are countless barriers to economic access and equity for the most marginalized communities in our nation, which is why NCLEJ relies on impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing to create structural change for a better future.
Founded at Columbia University in 1965, NCLEJ has achieved significant court victories benefiting hundreds of thousands of low-income people nationwide, demonstrating that the law can be a powerful instrument for improving the lives of the most disadvantaged members of our society. Our work to ensure access to public benefits includes the landmark 1970 Supreme Court case, Goldberg v. Kelly, which established the right to due process for benefits recipients and remains good law to this day. Since then, NCLEJ’s work has continued to hold government agencies accountable when they fail to comply with the law, and safeguard our clients’ legal and constitutional rights. In particular, NCLEJ has become a national leader in the effort to protect and expand access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as food stamps.
In addition to our work in the public benefits space, NCLEJ has also emerged as a powerful and consistent voice on behalf of individuals living with disabilities, low-wage workers across a range of settings, and economically depressed communities of color that continue to be disproportionately In recent years, NCLEJ’s litigation and advocacy victories include ending debt-based driver’s license suspension in New York; forcing the New York State Housing Authority to clean up toxic mold that sickened residents; defending the first amendment rights of Migrant Justice leaders against retaliation by ICE and DHS; requiring the Suffolk County Department of Social Services to provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities applying for public benefits; and securing more than $110 million in additional State expenditures for Michiganders living with intellectual and development disabilities.
NCLEJ has also revived and republished The Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys to further share our expertise in bringing public interest litigation on behalf of and alongside low-income people. The Manual helps navigate the complexities of Section 1983 litigation, which is the primary means for legal advocates to sue state or local governments for violating an individual’s constitutional or federal rights. By making our expertise in this area more accessible, NCLEJ seeks to catalyze systemic change from the bottom-up by empowering legal advocates across the country to bring their own lawsuits in collaboration with the communities they serve.
NCLEJ’s fight for economic, racial, and disability justice falls into four interconnected categories:
Safeguarding Access to Public Benefits: NCLEJ is one of the only national organizations that engages in systemic, impact litigation to defend the rights of low-income people to apply for and receive all the essential federal and state government benefits to which they are entitled. We fight to ensure that life-affirming safety net programs like SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid are administered fairly and in a timely fashion.
Advancing the Rights of Low-Wage Workers: NCLEJ supports workers organizing for a living wage, as well as safe and fair workplaces. In particular, we provide legal support to the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers and other members of the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility movement. We also champion the labor rights of incarcerated workers and advocate closing the 13th Amendment loophole, which has been manipulated to justify the ongoing exploitation and mistreatment of incarcerated people forced to work inside of prisons across the country for little to no compensation. Our work also addresses dangerous working conditions in the agricultural and home care industries, wage theft, gender pay disparity, pregnancy discrimination, and the sub-minimum wage.
Combating Abusive Debt Collection and Wealth Extraction: NCLEJ fights against abusive debt collection practices that undermine economic stability, particularly in communities of color. We work with grassroots leaders to seek justice and equity for people and communities terrorized by legally-sanctioned racial profiling, extreme police violence, the threat of being subjected to debtor’s prison for failure to pay fines and fees, emerging environmental harms, and systematic underinvestment—financial and otherwise—by both the private and public sector.
Advocating for Disability Rights and Justice: NCLEJ utilizes disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, to improve access to government programs and services, such as public benefits, housing, and medical coverage, for low-income people living with disabilities. NCLEJ also applies those laws in novel ways to pursue deinstitutionalization and non-carceral services and supports for people with disabilities.
