We have some exciting news to share with you today. CFER, co-plaintiff Eva Zhou, and our legal counsel American Civil Rights (ACR) Project just scored a major legal victory in reaching a favorable settlement with Sacramento County! According to the settlement, Sacramento agreed to remove the race eligibility criteria in its “Family First Economic Support Pilot” program and cover our attorneys’ necessary fees.

Promoting the government to dial back from racial discrimination in less than a year is a huge and swift win! Sacramento County announced the program launch in September 2024 and had planned to begin payments to families raising “Black/African American or American Indian/Alaska Native child[ren]” at the beginning of 2025. In October 2024, CFER and the ACR Project issued an intent to sue notice, threatening Sacramento with a lawsuit. Having received no response, we filed the lawsuit in December 2024. Due to our proactive monitoring, the program was never launched and it is now revamped to select beneficiaries without regard to race!

Thanks to CFER board member Eva Zhou who courageously participated in the lawsuit as an individual co-plaintiff, we strengthened our legal standing in the lawsuit, which helped secure this final triumph for equal protection!

ACR Project Executive Director Dan Morenoff commented: “California and its subdivisions should not need reminding that racial discrimination is illegal. We’re pleased, though, that Sacramento came to its senses and decided to comply with American law. In time, voluntarily or because compelled by the Courts, the rest of the state will do the same.”

Proponents of government preferences are like paper tigers. Their penchant for wasting taxpayer funds on racial discrimination crumbles, the moment a legal challenge is mounted. The million-dollar question is: who is willing and ready to stand at the forefront to confront preferential government programs, whenever and wherever they are identified?

In California, the answer is YOU and CFER. We have made it our mission to advance equality and take on government entities in the court of law. And we are winning. Settling with Sacramento is our fourth win in the last four years. In some cases, we worked with individual plaintiffs, such as taxpayers and citizens to boost standing. In other cases, CFER acted as the sole plaintiff to shield the privacy and identity of our individual members who have standing. In either scenario, we need brave individuals like Eva Zhou to initiate the fight, anonymously or not. We are now streamlining this operation through CFER’s membership structure so that you can work together with CFER to defend equality.

For just $10 a year, you can become a CFER member and support our work for equality and merit. You will have opportunities to participate in all CFER's future endeavors whenever applicable. If you have donated to us before or if you are experiencing financial hardship, we can waive your membership due.

Currently, we are looking for taxpayers in Sacramento and Orange County to launch new challenges to stop racial discrimination. If you are a resident and taxpayer in either county, will you please let us know?