History

The collaborative combined specialized legal expertise through IIBA with the deep community trust of Napa County's Family Resource Centers, creating a coordinated model that made citizenship services accessible, culturally responsive, and community-centered.

While increasing naturalization remained an important priority, it became clear that many immigrant families—particularly mixed-status families—needed legal services beyond citizenship. In response, the collaborative expanded its legal capacity and secured additional funding to provide a broader range of immigration legal services, including humanitarian relief, temporary protections, DACA, and other forms of immigration relief.

Beginning in 2017, as immigration enforcement intensified and proposed policy changes created widespread fear and uncertainty, the collaborative recognized that legal representation alone was no longer enough. Families also needed trusted information, practical tools, and coordinated community support to navigate an increasingly complex immigration environment, including Know Your Rights education, Public Charge guidance, and Family Preparedness planning.

The collaborative also partnered with the Community Leaders Coalition to launch the Strengthening Immigrant Families Committee in response to proposed changes to the federal Public Charge rule. The committee helped combat misinformation, connect families with accurate information from trusted sources, and reduce the fear that prevented many from accessing essential health and human services for which they remained eligible.

The success of the Strengthening Immigrant Families Committee reinforced an important lesson: protecting immigrant families requires more than legal expertise. It requires trusted messengers, coordinated communications, and strong cross-sector partnerships that can respond quickly as community needs evolve.

In 2025, when the current administration took office, the collaborative recognized that immigrant families would need far more than traditional immigration legal services. They would need coordinated advocacy, expanded removal defense, rapid response infrastructure, trusted communications, and a community-wide network capable of responding to fear, misinformation, detention, and deportation.

It was at this moment that the collaborative adopted a new name: Napa Valley Together.

After more than a decade of growth, the name Citizenship Legal Services no longer reflected the breadth of its work.

As Napa Valley Together, the collaborative expanded its mission by adding advocacy as a core pillar and formalizing its partnership with the Community Leaders Coalition to strengthen community leadership and advance systems-level advocacy. It also expanded its removal defense work and formalized its partnership with the North Bay Rapid Response Network to strengthen regional response capacity and coordinate support for families affected by immigration enforcement.
Building on the success of the original Strengthening Immigrant Families Committee, Napa Valley Together reconvened the committee to launch a new trusted messenger campaign informed by Human-Centered Design.

What began as a collaborative focused on expanding access to citizenship has evolved into a regional network that strengthens legal services, builds community capacity, and advances collective action in support of immigrant families.