Serving the Rural Poor

Since the inception of the Adrianne Baker Fellowship Program, four California Western graduates have received loan repayment assistance. One of the first alums to take advantage of the program was Corrie Arellano '03. She is an attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance, a nonprofit group focused on assisting California’s farm workers and low-income families in rural areas.

Born and raised in the town of Nipomo on California's central coast, Arellano says she wanted to return and give back to her community after graduating from California Western.

"My grandparents were farm workers and I saw the struggles they went through. I wanted to help people like them," she says.

Arellano interned with California Rural Legal Assistance while she was an undergraduate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and she was determined to go to law school and come back to the organization as a lawyer. Arellano focuses on Santa Barbara County, a sprawling area that includes some of the most affluent towns and cities in the United States as well as some of the poorest people in the state who often need legal representation.

"We help the people who put the food on our table and work other low-wage jobs in our community," Arellano says.

She deals with a variety of cases, ranging from civil rights issues to unfair labor practices to housing discrimination. On any given week, she handles 20 to 30 cases and she might be in litigation, arguing in front of a federal court or an appellate court. But Arellano would have it no other way.

"I recently represented seven workers who were injured on the job at a large winery. The case made its way to the California Supreme Court and was sent back down for hearing where I argued in front of the appellate court as amicus curiae, and we won. My clients were so appreciative that to celebrate they threw me a surprise baby shower."

"I knew this was the kind of work that made me the happiest. I wanted to do work that would give me a variety of experience," she says. "And the Baker Fellowship really made much of this possible for me. I was able to use the money to pay back my bar loan."