Legal aid helps make Greenfield Community College a safe place for students

The New York Times picks up on national trends in legal aid, citing Massachusetts study that "two-thirds of low-income residents who seek legal help are turned away."
A RECENT report by a Boston Bar Association task force revealed that more than two-thirds of eligible applicants for legal aid were turned away because of a lack of resources, forcing them to represent themselves in court. This is a major failing, the costs of which are borne ultimately by the taxpayer.
The Boston Globe accompanied pieces about the funding crisis for legal aid in the Commonwealth with an editorial cartoon.
Shine some humor for a change on legal aid and enjoy a few moments of light relief.
Neglected in today’s headlines, blogs, and talk radio is a silent, shameful crisis that inflicts suffering and costs the nation money, legitimacy, and decency. Our justice system has become inaccessible to millions of poor people and so every day, we violate the “equal justice under law” motto engraved on the front of the grand United States Supreme Court. Americans who cannot afford legal help routinely forfeit basic rights as a result.
Follow this link to read about the report just released by a state-wide task force convened by the Boston Bar Association. Findings after an 18-month investigation:
CLA advocate Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham participated in a national conference to build partnerships between medical and legal service providers, with the goal of enhancing health outcomes for people in need. Read more here.
Jonathan Mannina, Executive Director of Community Legal Aid, talks about the importance of legal aid services in "Shop Talk" in the Worcester Business Journal (July 2014 edition).
The vast majority of low-income Americans have unresolved legal problems — debt, immigration status, custody issues, child care, benefits, back pay, housing, a special education plan for a child — which can negatively impact health. NYT Opinion looks at how medical-legal partnerships can help fix these problems - individually and structurally - in unique and substantive ways. CLA works with the University of Massachusetts Med