IOLTA Grants

Transcription

1 IOLTA Grants Boston Medical Center Corporation: Medical-Legal Partnership for Children The Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) provides civil legal assistance to low-income patients and their families by working with clinicians to identify unmet legal needs. MLP utilizes professional staff and a pro bono network. Funding granted: $35,000 Casa Myrna Vazquez Legal Advocacy Program Casa Myrna Vazquez Legal Advocacy Program offers legal advice and referrals, both in-person and through it s hotline, as well as court representation and out-of-court advocacy. It also gives clients long-term representation in Probate and Family Court matters, with a focus on the provision on multi-lingual services to diverse and typically underserved women in the community. Centro Presente Legal Immigration Services Structured around an efficient paralegal-based model with the support from a pro bono firm, Legal Immigration Services offers a bilingual, welcoming, and safe environment to prepare immigration processes and provide consultations that are relevant to the community with which Centro Presente works. Children s Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc. The EdLaw Project The Edlaw Project was created to ensure that Boston s highest risk children receive a quality education. The project provides children with legal representation in education matters including school discipline, academic failure, and undetected special needs. It educates families, youthserving professionals, lawyers, and educators to recognize the warning signs of unmet educational needs and learn how to intervene effectively. It also engages with the school system and supports community-set agendas by assisting in efforts to organize community members. 1

2 City Life/Vida Urbana Legal Advocacy to Stop Post-Foreclosure Displacement This program seeks to educate low-income tenants and former property owners of their rights when threatened by foreclosure displacement. CL/VU staff and attorneys provide weekly canvassing of foreclosed properties, weekly legal trainings on the foreclosure process in Spanish and English, and close coordination with almost daily client consultations. Boston neighborhoods served include Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Hyde Park, and East Boston. Community Legal Services and Counseling Center, Inc. (CLSACC) Pro Bono Staff & Legal Services Projects Pro Bono and Staff Legal Services responds to unmet legal needs within the communities it serves, assisting victims of domestic violence and their children, preventing homelessness, securing legal status in the U.S. for battered immigrant women and people seeking political asylum and helping low-income people with disabilities live independently and attain stability. Funding granted: $25,000 East Boston Ecumenical Community Council, Inc. Community Legal Assistance Program (CLAP) CLAP serves immigrants and refugees who are below 125% of the poverty level and who have entered the US within the past 16 years from El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. The project works primarily to educate community residents on their rights as immigrants as well as changes in the immigration policy that affects their immigrant status. It also assists with immigration status issues for non-citizens, provides access to legal representation, and supports such legal representation. Funding granted: $7,500 Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) Greater Boston legal Services (GBLS) is the primary provider of free civil legal assistance in Greater Boston and the largest legal services provider in New England. GBLS mission is to provide free, civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families in Boston, and to 31 cities and towns in Suffolk, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Plymouth counties. It provides legal assistance for a wide spectrum of poverty law matters including affordable housing, tenant rights, emergency shelter regulations, family law, welfare regulations, employment law, unemployment benefits, health and disability benefits laws, and immigration law. Advocacy options include brief service, full representation, impact litigation and systemic policy advocacy. Funding granted: $375,000 2

3 Irish Immigration Center Immigration Services Program The Immigration Services and Citizenship Program is a civil legal services program providing legal immigration assistance to clients who would otherwise be unable to afford it. The program utilizes a staff attorney, a BIA certified staff member, citizenship specialists, and 12 pro bono attorneys in order to provide advice, counseling, representation, assistance with status and immigration processes, free legal clinics and immigration workshops, a comprehensive citizenship program, ESOL classes, and advocacy for immigrant worker rights. Funding granted: $25,000 Lawyers Clearinghouse. The mission of the Lawyer s Clearinghouse is to promote affordable housing and reduce homelessness by providing pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations that work with homeless populations and to individuals who are homeless. Its three programs are the Community Legal Referral Program, the Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and the BBA Business Law Pro Bono Project. Funding granted: $30,000 Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the BBA The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a non-profit civil rights organization that provides free legal services to victims of discrimination based on race and national origin by way of impact litigation, community outreach and legal education, and technical assistance. LCCR s work addresses discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, voting rights, education discrimination and school desegregation, environmental justice, racial violence, police misconduct, and economic development. Funding granted: $40,000 Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC) LARC collaborates with Greater Boston Legal Services and the Volunteer Lawyers Project and operates a free legal hotline, which serves as the primary entry point for callers experiencing legal problems and seeking legal services in Greater Boston. The Hotline staff identifies legal problems, provides advice and materials on a variety of legal topics, and refers clients to government and social service agencies when appropriate. The staff also screens clients for eligibility for full representation by GBLS or VLP. LARC, in conjunction with four private law firms and GBLS support, also places cases with a pro bono panel providing representation in a variety of matters. Funding granted: $175,000 3

4 Massachusetts Advocates for Children Children s Law Support Project Education Pro Bono Referral Network Through the Education Pro Bono Referral Network of Children s Law Support Project, MAC is able to expand its capacity to provide civil legal services to assure the rights of children from lowincome and underserved populations in the areas of special ed, school excursions, and homelessness. MAC/CLSP provides support to pro bono and legal services attorneys. The project specifically targets low income children in immigrant and non-english speaking families. Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Health & Safety (MassCOSH) Immigrant Worker Clinic The project will provide, train, and direct pro bono attorneys to manage cases involving immigrant workers with the goal of screening, referring, and providing pro bono representation and advocacy to adults, youth, immigrants, and people of color in Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, East Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Charlestown, and Chelsea. It will also conduct outreach programs in these neighborhoods and at companies that employ immigrants. Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services This organization provides advocacy for prisoners in the areas of health/mental health, guard brutality, and confinement/segregation. It also provides advocacy for prisoners suffering from Hepatitis C, HIV, MRSA, and other common and chronic infection diseases. It also provides educational information directly to prisoners themselves about the prison system and about managing their diseases. Funding granted: $40,000 Metrowest Legal Services Metrowest will provide legal advice, brief service, and representation to low-income individuals and families in our service area. General support funds provided by the BBF will be used to fund attorneys in the areas of housing, government benefits, and elder law who rely on unrestricted funds in whole or part to represent their respective client populations. Funding granted: $30,000 4

5 Neighborhood Legal Services Homelessness Prevention Project The NLS s Homelessness Prevention Project (HPP) is a part of NLS s Tenancy Preservation Project. In the HPP, NLS staff partner with an attorney from North Shore Community Action Programs (NSCAP) and pro bono attorneys to provide limited representation to low income tenants and landlords in mediation in the Lynn and Salem sessions of the Northeast Housing Court. [NB: NLS is a core provider of legal services for many communities within Route 128; although the application is for a specific project, the grant will free up other funds for general operating and other legal services, which is why NLS is included in this category.] Funding granted: $15,000 Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR) The Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR) is the core provider of pro bono legal services to asylum seekers whose cases are heard in Boston. It recruits, trains, and mentors private attorneys to provide representation to asylum seekers in Boston. It collaborates with other legal service providers to achieve this mission. Funding granted: $35,000 Respond, Inc. Respond, Inc. s mission is to help women and their children create options for a safer life, free from domestic violence, and to further the efforts of the larger community to end domestic violence. It provides emergency shelter, support, and advocacy in the Greater Boston area, particularly select towns in Middlesex County. Respond, Inc. also assists low-income individuals with the navigation of the court system by providing legal education, collaborating with private law firms on pro bono work, cross-training and referring participants to community legal agencies, and engaging in targeted outreach to immigrant communities. Shelter Legal Services Foundation, Inc. Veterans Legal Services Project: Chelsea Soldiers Home SLS operates a legal clinic for veterans at Chelsea Soldiers Home in Chelsea, MA. The clinic provides services such as wills, guardianships, representation in debit and child support cases, and help in other civil legal matters. 60% of the residents of Soldiers Home are formerly homeless and 75-80% of residents live below the poverty line. 5

6 Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP) Pro Bono Legal Project The Pro Bono legal Project s mission is to make legal services less intimidating and more accessible for low-income residents of Malden, Medford, Everett, Melrose and Wakefield, thereby increasing justice for those members of the community who are most vulnerable or at risk of homelessness (about 1000 clients annually). The project provides information, advice, advocacy, and representation in non-fee-generating civil cases. Services are provided through staff attorneys, a pro bono attorney panel, a paralegal, and legal interns. Victim Rights Law Center Rape Survivors Law Project Currently the Rape Survivors Law Project provides pro bono civil legal representation to low income victims of sexual assault by recruiting, training, and mentoring attorneys. Increased funding is requested to help develop a curriculum and re-train its attorney panel in Dwyer hearing decisions, serve as a clearinghouse for Dwyer requests, and offer trainings to private bar, judiciary, and district attorneys offices across Massachusetts on protecting victims privacy rights. Women s Bar Foundation Family Law Project for Battered Women The Family Law Project for Battered Women offers indigent and low-income victims of domestic violence referrals to pro bono attorneys for family law cases in Probate and Family Court. The FLP conducts trainings for private attorneys to secure pro bono representation for clients, provides limited assistance and emergency referrals, and stabilizes many families during or after violence occurs. They are also looking to expand FLP to offer assistance pursuant to Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) who may be eligible to self-petition for legal immigration status or to apply for an interim U visa. Funding granted: $25,000 6