 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
2007-2008 BBF GRANT RECIPIENTS The Boston Bar Foundation is proud to support the following organizations: Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) provides housing counseling, housing searches, landlord tenant mediation and education, homelessness prevention, housing court advocacy, rental assistance, and stabilization services in order to enable low-income families and individuals to move towards self-sufficiency. The Stabilization and Prevention program expands ABCD’s current efforts by enabling them to assist in the search of affordable housing as well as to provide legal representation, support, research, training, and consultation with staff and other clients. Administrative Office of the Trial Court Alternatives for Community and Environment, Inc. (ACE) Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) builds the power of communities of color and lower income communities in New England to eradicate environmental racism and classism in order to achieve environmental justice. ACE believes that everyone has the right to a healthy environment and to be decision-makers in issues affecting their community. MEJAN is the public service project of the BBA Environmental Law Section, and provides pro bono legal and technical support to underserved communities throughout the state on pressing environmental concerns by linking low-income communities facing environmental and public health hazards with the free services of attorneys, public health experts, and environmental consultants. Boston Bar Association/Boston Municipal Court Boston Medical Center: Medical-Legal Partnership for Children Promoting Legal Health for BMC Pediatrics Families Healthy Homes for Healthy Families Brookline Community Mental Health Center Brookline Community Mental Health Center is the only mediation program in Greater Boston that operates in the schools, courts, and communities. Metropolitan Mediation Services (MMS) serves referrals from courts, housing authorities, police departments, community agencies, and DSS. They also have programming for pro se clients. MMS would like to expand their project in collaboration with Boston Housing Authority, Boston Medical Center, Boston Youth Ministry, and Boston Bar Associations, courts, legal service agencies, law schools, and individual attorneys. Casa Myrna Vazquez Casa Myrna Vazquez is a Boston-based, multicultural organization dedicated to addressing and ending domestic violence in the lives of women and children through advocacy, prevention and intervention programs. It operates an emergency shelter, two transitional living programs, and a 24/7 free hotline for victims of domestic violence. It provides a range of services including those related to legal, housing, economic development, mental health, children’s, and dating violence issues, and gives many trainings on domestic violence. 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 of multi-lingual services to diverse and typically underserved women in the community. Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration Services Centro Presente Centro Presente is a member-driven, statewide Latin American immigrant organization dedicated to the self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts. Operated and led primarily by Central American immigrants, the organization works for immigrant rights and economic and social justice. The Legal Immigration Services Department provides the following services to the immigrant community: NACARA cancellation of removal cases; case maintenance services to ABC asylum class members and TPS beneficiaries; TPS re-registration services to qualified Honduran and Salvadoran immigrants; family-based petition services & U.S. naturalized citizenship petitions. The program also now reaches out to immigrant workers to provide individual advocacy and in the area of wage and hour violations, and unjust threats to fire or actual firings due to USCIS delays in processing work authorizing renewals. Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc. City Life/Vida Urbana City Live/Vida Urbana is a grassroots community organization committed to fighting for racial justice, social justice, economic justice, and gender equality by building working class power through direct action, coalition building, education, and advocacy. Healthy Homes/Healthy Families (HHHF) and Tenant Organizing Program will coordinate their efforts to provide optimal access to civil legal services for Section 8 voucher holders living in buildings owned by the Urban Edge Development Corporation and represented by the Justice and Power Tenant Association. Program staff and housing attorneys will enhance access to legal services for those facing eviction for cause, extremely poor housing conditions, and/or serious quality of life issues. Community Dispute Settlement Center, Inc. Community Dispute Settlement Center is a mediation and training center dedicated to providing an alternative and affordable forum for resolving conflict. Its team of pro bono mediators performs training programs and community outreach. The Divorce/Paternity and District Court Mediation program performs on-site mediation in District Courts and wants to expand to develop on-site mediation in a Probate & Family Court with an additional Mediator-for-a-Day early intervention component (currently the program offers only screening and mediation during stages of litigation). CDSC is also looking to expand the program to have a larger divorce practice and to begin writing final separation agreements. Community Legal Services and Counseling Center, Inc. (CLSACC) The Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC) provides free civil legal aid and affordable psychological counseling to low-income individuals. Chief among CLSACC’s goals is to motivate private attorneys to volunteer and expand the organizations capacity to meet the needs of underserved populations. CLSACC provides legal trainings, consultation and support to community-based organizations, attorneys and advocates that serve CLSACC’s target populations. Pro Bono and Staff Legal Services respond 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. East Boston Ecumenical Community Council, Inc. A United Way of Mass. Bay affiliate, the East Boston Ecumenical Community Council (EBECC) has the mission of educating program participants about the American legal system, promoting optimal immigration status for non-citizens, promoting access to legal representation, and providing interpretation/translation, escort, and related services. It provides programs in the following areas: immigration services, adult education services, social work services, youth services, and community organizing. Since 2005 it has focused solely on Latino immigrants. 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. Employment Options & Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee The Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project was launched in 2000 as a project of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and Equal Justice Works and is a collaboration between Employment Options, Inc. and the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC). The Clubhouse Project provides legal representation in domestic relations cases to low-income clients with a mental disability/illness who are at risk of losing custody and/or contact with their children. The project focuses on parents who are members of a Massachusetts Clubhouse or who willing to become a member. Clubhouse currently serves 800 members who are low-income, and racially and linguistically diverse. Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston The Fair Housing Center seeks to promote fair housing for all protected classes under federal, state and local laws. Programs target housing discrimination based on race, national origin, family status, and source of income (e.g., use of Section 8 housing subsidies). The Fair Housing Enforcement Program intervenes in cases of illegal housing denial and provides advocacy on behalf of victims of housing discrimination. It links complainants with attorneys who pursue cases using the Fair Housing Center’s testing methods. It investigates and challenges systemic housing discrimination and enhances the region’s enforcement capacity through testing, technical assistance, and legal action. Finex House, Inc. Finex House’s mission is to end violence against all women and works to make domestic violence services accessible to women with disabilities. It serves victims who face linguistic, cultural, social, or legal barriers in escaping abuse and are denied services elsewhere. All women served by Finex House are provided with a legal intake and the majority of the 120 clients do receive legal advocacy. Finex House is requesting funding to expand its existing Legal Services Program. The program focuses on serving low-income battered women who would otherwise not receive legal services, such as women with: disabilities, recent histories of substance abuse and/or prostitution, chronic illness, language barriers, or immigration problems. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) was founded as a non-profit in 1978 and has the mission to achieve full equality and justice for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people, and people with HIV/AIDS, primarily through direct representation of clients. GLAD also uses legal education. The AIDS Law Project provides comprehensive legal assistance to people with HIV, including information, publications, extended client interventions, consultation, and representation. Gerontology Institute – UMass Boston Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) Greater Boston legal Services (GBLS) is the primary provider of free civil legal assistance in Greater Boston, the largest legal services provider in New England and one of the premier anti-poverty legal aid organizations in the nation. 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. The Guidance Center, Inc. The Guidance Center, Inc. (GCI) provides prevention, intervention, and family support services for the children and families of Cambridge, Somerville, and surrounding cities. Presently GCI serves 3,500 children and families each year, with care starting during pregnancy and continuing until young adulthood. Meeting Place works to help families manage child access arrangements due to parental disputes following parental separation, removal of a child from the home, or open adoption. It is the only supervised visitation service in Middlesex County. It provides supervised visits and exchanges, off-site and supportive supervision, case management, post-supervision services, objective observation notes, and referrals for additional support services. Harry H. Dow Memorial Legal Assistance Fund The mission of the Dow Fund is to develop financial resources to increase low-income, limited English-proficient Asian immigrants’ access to the legal system through special projects to meet emerging legal needs and by creating opportunities for bilingual and bicultural interns and lawyers to enter legal services to increase legal services’ capacity to serve the needs of the Asian immigrant community. This new project seeks to protect Chinatown residents’ right to stay in their own homes by challenging rent escalation and containing gentrification in that neighborhood. It will combine individual representation with community legal ed. and advocacy, with a long term plan of integrating the project into GBLS. Health Law Advocates Pro Bono Legal Network Children’s Mental Health Access Project International Institute of Boston The International Institute of Boston (IIB) serves the needs of the immigrant and refugee populations in Massachusetts through advocacy, literacy classes, job counseling and placement, mental health counseling and economic development opportunities. The Asylum Representation Project (ARP) provides direct civil legal services for low-income individuals in an underserved area of the law (immigration law, and the subset category of refugee and asylum law). It participates in regional and national initiatives to improve the administration of justice for asylum claims before the Immigration Court (Executive Office of Immigration Review), and provides training and mentoring to members of the pro bono bar representing asylum cases. The target population is almost exclusively indigent or low-income (below 175% of federal poverty guidelines). Irish Immigration Center The Irish Immigration Center (IIC) provides legal advice, information, advocacy, referrals, and support for immigrants on issues relating to immigration, employment, citizenship, housing, and social services in order to assist individuals and families in making the economic, psychological, and cultural adjustment to a new land. The Immigration Services & 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. Jewish Family and Children’s Services Jewish Family and Children’s Service is a non-profit health care and human service agency that serves over 80 communities throughout Greater Boston. Bet Tzedek provides legal services and a legal referral program for underserved individuals in the Great Boston Area. The project uses a part-time attorney and a paralegal to provide both direct representation and referral service. It also offers Russian interpretation and translation to target members of the Russian community that are disadvantaged by language barriers. Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness, Inc. General Operating Support Massachusetts Legal Clinic for the Homeless Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 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. 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. Massachusetts Advocates for Children Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Health & Safety (MassCOSH) Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services Brutality and Civil Rights Project Chronic Disease Advocacy Project Massachusetts Law Reform Institute The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) is a poverty law office whose mission is to advocate for low-income people, the elderly, minorities, immigrants, and people with disabilities in basic needs cases. They currently work on issues such as barriers to employment, housing, impact of criminal records, interpreter services for the courts & emergency health care facilities, and access to education and employment for the disabled. Mediation Works, Inc. National Consumer Law Center NCLC is a legal resource and advocacy organization that advocates on behalf of low-income consumers. NCLC carries out is mission through direct advocacy/consumer representation in judicial, legislative and administrative forums, and by providing advocates with expert technical assistance, training, research, analysis and issue identification to assist clients. The project, which is a joint creation of NCLC and the Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center, seeks to reform the treatment of individual consumers in debt collection cases before the Massachusetts Small Claims and District Courts. At present there is virtually no representation of consumer defendants in the small claims courts, allowing “debt buyers” and other debt collectors to obtain judgments and payment orders from small claims courts despite presenting scant evidence of the original debt. It will target low-income and elderly consumers and priority will be given to cases where there is a claim of fraud or other claim and the problem appears to be systemic. National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter Neighborhood Legal Services Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. (NLS) is a non-profit legal services organization providing free legal assistance to low income residents of southern Essex County. The mission of Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) is to provide legal help that is easy to access, client centered, effective, cost efficient, and designed to achieve safety, self-sufficiency, family stability, fair treatment, and economic opportunity for low-income and elder residents in the northeastern region of Massachusetts. They provide assistance across a range of civil legal problems including: housing, public benefits, domestic abuse and family law, civil rights and discrimination, assistance to persons with AIDS, community economic development, predatory lending, income tax assistance, assistance to elders, and employment law. Homelessness Prevention Project Legal-Clinical Partnership for Healthy Tenants and Healthy Housing On The Rise, Inc. On The Rise, through its Safe Haven/Outreach program and its partnership with Greater Boston Legal Services, helps women living in crisis or homelessness find safety and effectively use mainstream human service programs (such as battered women’s shelters or walk-in legal clinics). OTR serves 250-300 women annually and provides services to improve health, get jobs, and find housing. The Legal Access Project works with GBLS to increase access to legal services and representation for low-income women over a broad range of civil legal issues. The Legal Access Project is currently being expanded to provide advocacy for women on civil legal issues, develop new opportunities for pro bono attorneys, and provide more opportunities for direct service staff to participate in system-level initiatives. Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR) Pro Bono Asylum Project Immigration Court Pro Bono Project Respond, Inc. Shelter Legal Services Foundation, Inc. Shelter Legal Services promotes self-sufficiency, financial security, and stability through accessible and comprehensive legal services. They locate legal clinics at homeless shelters and service centers to reach out to underserved members of society. SLS has a small staff and uses law students and pro bono attorneys to offer legal assistance to hundreds of homeless and low-income individuals per year. The Veterans’ Legal Services Project is an existing program that is seeking funding to expand to a new location at the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home where 60% of the residents are formerly homeless and 75-80% live below the poverty line. Shelter Legal Services was asked by Chelsea Soldiers’ Home to open a clinic to address the civil litigation needs of its residents, including estate planning, debt collection, bankruptcy, child support, unemployment, and basic civil claims. Somerville Community Corporation Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) is a membership organization that provides leadership for sustaining the city of Somerville as a vibrant, diverse and tolerant community. It develops and preserves affordable housing while offering services and leading community organizing efforts that enable low and moderate-income Somerville residents to achieve economic stability and increased civic participation. The Somerville Mediation Program’s mission is to provide free alternative dispute resolution services in summary process eviction and small claims cases for the Somerville District Court, and to serve the low-income and minority populations in the cities of Somerville and Medford. South Middlesex Legal Services Domestic Violence Project Eviction Defense Project Homeless Advocacy Project Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP) Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP) works with all sectors of the community to prevent the development and continuation of conditions that cause poverty, or that occur as a result of people living in poverty. Tri-CAP serves an ethnically and racially diverse population of low-income families and individuals in Malden, Medford, Everett, Melrose, and Wakefield. The Pro Bono Legal Project’s mission is to make legal services less intimidating and more accessible for low-income residents, 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. Tufts University School of Medicine/New England Medical Center Tufts-New England Medical Center (Tufts-NEMC) is the principal teaching affiliate of Tufts University School of Medicine. The Floating Hospital for Children is the pediatric division of Tufts-NEMC and serves infants through young adults. The Medical Legal Partnership for Children (MLPC) serves low-income patient-families, particularly those in the Asian community, in the pediatric and adolescent outpatient clinics. MLPC provides legal advocacy and intervention in cases of domestic violence in the home, unsafe and/or unhealthy living conditions, or unmet special education needs. Victim Rights Law Center The Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) provides free legal assistance to sexual assault victims to restore their sense of physical safety, preserve their privacy rights, and to stabilize their employment, education, housing, and immigration status following an assault. 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 representation of sexual assault victims, establish best practices, track and analyze Dwyer hearing decisions, serve as a clearinghouse for Dwyer requests, and offer trainings to the private bar, judiciary, and district attorneys’ offices across Massachusetts on protecting victims’ privacy rights. Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Women’s Bar Foundation The Women’s Bar Foundation promotes social and economic equity for women and meets the legal needs of women and their children through an array of pro bono services. They manage five pro bono projects – Family Law Project for Battered Women, Elder Law Project, Women’s Lunch Place, Framingham Project for Incarcerated Women, and Hampden County Housing Project. 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. Women’s Lunch Place The Women’s Lunch Place provides a safe, comfortable daytime shelter, nutritious food, and services for women who are homeless or poor. The Advocacy and Legal Assistance program helps guests of Women’s Lunch Place access legal services by referring them to legal service agencies or attempting to pair them with a local pro bono attorney. It also provides help finding housing, referrals to substance abuse programs, and help with domestic violence. |