Our Impact
Since our founding in 2013, Root & Rebound has reimagined how lawyers can support low-income communities and communities of color harmed by mass incarceration. In doing so, we’ve reached tens of thousands of clients through an innovative model that combines cutting edge community lawyering, education, and policy reform.
Direct Legal Serices
To date, we have achieved the following:
10,700
Provided direct legal support to more than 10,700 system-impacted people through our mobile clinics, Reentry Legal Hotline, and via prison mail.
95%
95% of callers say that our Reentry Legal Hotline has helped them resolve legal issues related to their justice involvement.
Public Education
Created a
Library of Resources and Training Hub
with numerous partners across California and nationally, covering Fair Chance Employment, Education, Immigration, and with resources for directly impacted people, their families, and the professionals who support them.
Produced the
First Step to Second Chances Guide
to ensure that the 3,000+ people released from federal incarceration since the implementation of the First Step Act have the knowledge they need to successfully reintegrate and be reentry ready.
Policy Reform
Co-Sponsored
AB 2845
reforming CA’s pardon and commutations process to improve transparency, accessibility, and expediency so fewer immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years are deported to countries they barely know.
Mobilized a coalition of over
50 partners to pass AB 2138
making the state professional licensing process fairer for people with records, and ensuring that expunged, old, and irrelevant convictions are not barriers to meaningful careers.
Supported
AB 2293
requiring all EMT boards in California to report data about the denial rates of applicants with criminal records—a step toward creating a path for incarcerated firefighters to become licensed EMTs after completing their sentences.
Our Reach
We have high-impact lawyers working on-the-ground in communities most impacted by incarceration across California and South Carolina, developed educational resources alongside local partners in a growing list of states, and advanced national campaigns to advance the rights of justice system-impacted people and families throughout the United States.
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