While in San Antonio for the Innovations in Technology Conference 2026, Frontline Justice team members Celine Ta and Rachel Royal visited one of the host sites participating in the Economic Justice Initiative (EJI), a statewide effort to expand access to civil legal services through innovations such as community justice workers.

At the St. Mary's University School of Law, they met with Arlee and Jovanna, EJI Fellows, helping build legal capacity through the Microenterprise and Community Development Clinic.

The clinic supports solo and micro-business owners with LLC checkups, worker classification questions, and related legal and tax guidance. These are services often out of reach for entrepreneurs who do not qualify for traditional legal aid but cannot afford private counsel. As a community justice worker, Arlee expands legal awareness to often underreached communities by conducting outreach, delivering plain-language legal information in community settings, and creating new points of access for entrepreneurs to receive advice and education on tax and business structure basics.

EJI is an initiative of the Texas Immigration Law Council focused on redesigning how civil legal services are delivered in Texas by expanding community-based models and strengthening local legal infrastructure.

To learn more about the Economic Justice Initiative, visit https://txilc.org/txilc-program/economic-justice-initiative.

‍To learn more about Arlee and Jovanna’s work at the Center for Social and Legal Justice, visit https://www.stmarytx.edu/outreach/vita.