About the BAILA Network
The BAILA Network is a team of benefits enrollers, legal service providers, promotores comunitarias, and community outreach workers. We support Los Angeleno immigrant families and essential workers to access the public benefits they need to stay healthy and strong. Our services are free!
Together, the BAILA partners form a ‘no-wrong-door’ network where people can get help:
understanding what public benefits they may be eligible for
accessing legal services if they have questions or need legal assistance
Enrolling in free/subsidized health insurance and CalFresh if they are eligible
And connecting to other resources, like WIC, cash assistance, tax credits, and others
The BAILA Network partners came together in 2019 to brainstorm solutions to the barriers that prevent immigrants and essential workers from enrolling in benefits - like fear of the public charge rule and stigma about receiving benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic made this work more important than even. A study conducted by the Urban Institute found that roughly 30% of adults in California immigrant families with low incomes avoided public benefits in 2020.
In 2021 we were able to launch the BAILA network because of generous funding provided by the California Community Foundation, the California Endowment and the Weingart Foundation.
