Equal Justice Works: 2025 Wrapped

As 2025 comes to a close, Equal Justice Works is reflecting on the accomplishments our Fellows and programs have achieved this year. Here’s our year by the numbers: 

In 2025, our community helped expand access to justice on a national scale. We mobilized 190 Fellows across 28 states:

• Supporting communities recovering from disasters 
• Advocating for and providing legal assistance to youth 
• Protecting tenant rights and strengthening housing stability 
• Strengthening legal aid in rural communities  

And so much more! Collectively, Fellows served 13,870 clients and created 1,897 resources and trainings that will continue supporting communities long after their Fellowships end.

Where Fellows Served in 2025

From coast to coast, our Fellows worked alongside communities to create change. Each number on the map represents a project improving clients’ lives and reducing the justice gap.

Throughout the year, we’ve shared stories from Fellows making a difference across the country. Here are some highlights:  

• Arkansas: VIDEO: 2022 Fellow Adrieanna Hutson on Communities Affected by Extreme Heat 
• Georgia: A Visit to the Georgia Resource Center 
• New York: In Conversation: A Fellow and Alum on Working Together To Promote Justice in the Workplace 
• Hawaii: Advocating for Legislative Reform to Improve Disaster Recovery: Lessons from Maui 
• Alabama: Advocates for Accessibility: Cecilia Ballinger on How to Take Action for Disability Rights 
• Texas, Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, California: Building Disaster Resilience: Guidance from the Front Line 
• California: From Student Fellow to Community Advocate 
• Maryland: Collective Tenant Action: Fellow Avery Shivers Shares Experience With Sharp Leadenhall Lawsuit 

Impact by Program 

So, how does this break down by program?   

This year, 158 Fellows in the Design-Your-Own Fellowship program worked across 31 issue areas, building capacity for organizations addressing emerging community needs, advocating alongside community members, building relationships supporting their work, and increasing understanding of laws, processes, and rights.

In addition to Design-Your-Own Fellowships, Equal Justice Works also operates cohort-based Fellowship programs – issue-focused models that place multiple Fellows in communities across the country to address a shared challenge through coordinated training, technical assistance, and collective impact. Through these cohort programs, Fellows drove measurable impact across the United States. This year: 

• Housing Justice Program Fellows served 2,276 individuals. They led community trainings and events to support tenants and prevent displacement across three states. 
• Disaster Resilience Program Fellows secured over $2 million in relief for communities recovering from hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and extreme heat.
• Opioid Crisis Response Program Fellows helped 598 individuals and over 1,000 household members navigate civil legal issues and access supportive services in the program’s inaugural year.

You can see the full span of our Fellowship programs on this page.

It Takes a Village to Build a Pipeline

During our 2025 Public Interest Summer Internship Primer, we helped more than 200 law students receive training in trauma-informed lawyering, housing law, community lawyering, and client interviewing – building early exposure to public interest careers.  

We also expanded opportunities for law students to launch their careers through our summer internship program, the Rural Summer Legal Corps (RSLC). Funded by the Legal Services Corporation, 50 RSLC Student Fellows from 36 law schools served with 44 legal aid organizations to serve “legal deserts,” rural communities that are isolated with little to no access to legal aid. Together, these Student Fellows: 

• Served 15,622 hours and 
• Assisted 2,339 individuals.  

These students extend the reach of legal aid in rural communities while building the next generation of public interest leaders. We are already gearing up for the next class of 2026 Student Fellows, so stay tuned for more information on law student opportunities in January! 

At our 2025 Career Fair, we facilitated: 

• Over 2,300 interviews between public interest employers and students or recent graduates.
• Over 500 table talk sessions. 

This remains one of the largest public interest career fairs in the country. 

Our Alumni community also grew this year, as did our Alumni outreach.  

• Our Alumni application reviewers grew to 178 reviewers — a 42% increase over last year, and more than double the number in 2023. 

On an executive level, we expanded our Board of Counselors to 96 members this year, broadening our circle of support and drawing perspectives from across professions. 

We thank our supporters for making this impact possible! We are so grateful to our Fellows, Host Organizations, Alumni, our staff, and our community for the growth you have helped facilitate this year! Thank you for your commitment to equal justice, and we look forward to building on this impact together in years to come.