Ribbon Cutting a Success

(Left to Right) Joan Burda--Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program Director, Rob Anderle--Justice For All Committee member with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Marcia Egbert--Program Officer of the Gund Foundation and Meg Wilson--NEOCH Board President cut the ribbon on the new Self Help Legal Clinic.

Self Help Legal Center Opens

On a cold day in February 2008, the Homeless Legal Assistance Program officially opened their Self Help Center. I kept meaning to post this picture and a brief description. Sorry for the delay. Anyway, this facility will allow very low income and homeless people to go into the center and print out their own proceedings for the Court. They can print out a poverty affidavit, or a simple divorce filing, or a defense against an eviction if they cannot find help from an attorney. The Center will start out open on Monday afternoon or Wednesday mornings until we find more volunteers to staff the site. This has been a dream of Burda for years, and is finally taking shape. The St. Luke's Foundation and Gund Foundation have long supported this program. Every year, we serve between 500 and 700 people who cannot find anyone else to help them with their legal problems. We are one of the only programs going into the shelters to help people directly with their legal obstacles to housing.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.