News
March 1st, 2010
As Spring nears, LASP is looking for sponsors, volunteers and runners for the 6th Annual 5k Run/Walk on June 26, 2010, to benefit Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Chester County Division. The race will be held in West Chester, and over 150 runners are expected to participate. There are six race sponsorship levels available, ranging from $100-$3,500, each with their own promotional and race entry benefits. Would you or your business consider being a local sponsor? Visit www.trialrun5k.com for more information. Also, consider running or walking for the cause. Proceeds from the event will support Legal Aid’s free legal services for low-income and vulnerable families in Chester County.
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February 15th, 2010
A recent report in the Philadelphia Inquirer turned readers’ eyes to an unfamiliar place in regards to poverty rates: the suburbs. In his report, Alfred Lubrano summarized a Brookings Institution report highlighting a nationwide poverty increase of 25% between 2000 and 2008 in the suburbs, nearly five times the rate of increase in urban poverty. Locally, in Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks and Chester counties (Legal Aid’s target counties) the number of individuals receiving food stamps grew from 23% to 33%. While suburban poverty is often overlooked, this article reminds us of its presence and amplified rates during times of national economic decline.
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January 20th, 2010
Two recent reports suggest that Protection from Abuse (PFA) programs like those offered by Legal Aid continue to be critical as the economy worsens. The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation’s 2009 Truth About Abuse report found that 75% of 600 domestic violence shelters surveyed nationally in 2009 saw a rise in the number of women seeking services. Additionally, 73% of the respondents attributed the rise in abuse to “financial issues.” A December 30, 2009 New York Times article similarly reported an increase in domestic violence-related homicides in a number of states and cities.
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January 13th, 2010
New funding awards and financial support have recently come through for Legal Aid services! Recent support from area foundations including the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, the Pew Fund for Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Foundation, the Merck Foundation and others will help LASP to meet the high demand for legal services among low-income adults and families. LASP is grateful to these foundations, as their financial support increases staff capacity to serve clients, and ensures that legal aid programs such as the Don’t Borrow Trouble Campaign and Hotline and a public benefits program in Pottstown are able to continue their valuable work.
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January 11th, 2010
Legal Aid announced this week that regional legal service provider Community Impact Legal Services (CILS) on November 30, 2009 concluded its operations as a non-profit agency, with Legal Aid continuing several key areas of CILS’s work. CILS has been a partner organization to Legal Aid since both were established in 2001. As with many small non-profits, the economic downturn of the past 18 months decimated CILS’s funding and ultimately the CILS Board of Directors decided that it would be in the best interest of the organization’s clients to spin off its work to Legal Aid and the Community Justice Project, two larger organizations with greater administrative and program capacity.
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November 11th, 2009
The Don’t Borrow Trouble Suburban Philadelphia campaign was launched by a large coalition of county and private non-profit agencies to combat predatory lending in the housing market. In 2005, Community Impact Legal Services (CILS), one of the lead organizations in the coalition, subcontracted with LASP to provide the Don’t Borrow Trouble (DBT) Helpline to assist people with questions and concerns arising from bad loans. Since that time, the DBT Helpline has expanded its mission to assist those at risk of mortgage foreclosure.
Beginning December 1, 2009, LASP will assume full ownership of the program and continue its critical work. Residents from Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties can call the helpline Monday through Thursday, 9 am – 1 pm, at 1-888-275-8843.
June 12th, 2009
An article in the Doylestown Intelligencer describes The Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program, a pilot program of the county courts system, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Bucks County Bar Association.
Beginning the week of July 6, Bucks County residents served with mortgage foreclosure papers will also receive an "urgent notice" announcing a free program that could help them stay in their homes. After meeting with a housing counselor, the homeowner will have a conference scheduled with a representative of the lender and a volunteer attorney and retired Judge Isaac Garb. The goal will be to help the parties work out a plan to avoid a foreclosure and allow the borrower to stay in their home.
People concerned with losing their homes to foreclosure can call the Don't Borrow Trouble Helpline, 1-888-275-8843.
Low income residents needing help with foreclosure, eviction or other housing or credit problems can call Legal Aid's toll-free regional helpline, 1-877-429-5994.
To read the rest of this article click on headline above.
June 10th, 2009
What: The 5th Annual Trial
Run 5K Run/Walk to benefit Legal Aid of Southeastern, Pennsylvania,
Chester
County
Division
When: Saturday, June
20, 2009.
Start time: 8:30 a.m.
Where: West Chester, PA, at 8:30 a.m. (copy & paste link for race map - http://www.trialrun5k.com/pdf/TrialRunRoute08.pdf)
Fees: $20 (under 12 $10)
To Register:
Copy & paste link for registration form - http://www.trialrun5k.com/pdf/registrationForm09.pdf
Mail the waiver (registration form)
and check for entry fees to:
Legal Aid
Attention: Trial Run Registration
222 North Walnut
Second Floor
West Chester, PA 19380
Or Register the Day of the Race at 7:30 a.m.
April 2nd, 2009
Harvey Strauss, Esq., Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania Co-Executive Director announced today that the organization recently received funding from a number of new funding sources to support its work helping frail and vulnerable older adults in the four-county suburban region with a range of legal issues including consumer law and predatory lending, landlord-tenant problems and mortgage foreclosure, obtaining public benefits and income supports, and a range of end of life legal issues.
"We are enormously grateful to these funders, which have experienced the same adverse economic conditions as the rest of us, for seeing the importance of preserving and expanding basic legal help for some of the most needy individuals in the region," said Strauss. "Because of this funding, for the first time we will be able to reach a significant group of underserved older adults in Chester County, expand our Senior Advocate program in Delaware County and improve coordination of elder law services across the four counties".
The new funding sources include:
- A 3-year grant from The Pew Fund for Health and Human Services to support Legal Aid's four-county Elder Law program;
- A grant from the Coming of Age program sponsored by WHYY, United Way and the Temple Center for Intergenerational Living to support the expansion of Legal Aid's Senior Advocate program in the City of Chester;
- A grant from the Taylor Community Foundation to support Senior Advocate volunteer legal assistance in the senior centers in Folsom and Sharon Hill;
- First-time funding from the Chester County Department of Aging Services for general elder law services in that county.
March 31st, 2009
Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) Board President Elizabeth Price was one of 10 people from around Pennsylvania to be recognized with a Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) Excellence Award at the awards dinner held Tuesday, March 31 at the Harrisburg Hilton. Elizabeth Price, who is Executive Director of the Delaware County Bar Association and a member of the Legal Aid Board of Directors since its inception in 2001, was recognized for her extraordinary volunteer leadership in support of Legal Service clients.
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