November 30, 2022

Community Legal Aid Receives Grant to Help Formerly Incarcerated People

BY LAURA HANCOCK BARRY, DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, COMMUNITY LEGAL AID(508) 425-2798 / LHBARRY@cla-ma.org

Grant will Help Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Overcome Barriers in Housing and Employment in Worcester County

Community Legal Aid, the non-profit civil legal aid program serving the low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties, is pleased to announce that it has received funding from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation to support its CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information)/Re-entry work in Worcester County.

Persons recently released from incarceration face myriad civil legal problems, including barriers to housing and employment opportunities. Community Legal Aid’s CORI/Re-entry work focuses on helping formerly incarcerated individuals overcome the barriers that may hinder their ability to reintegrate into society. Civil legal assistance can play a critical role for people leaving jail and returning to society, translating into reduced recidivism and increased success for reintegration into the community. Helping formerly incarcerated individuals obtain stable housing and work provides stability to the individual as well as to the communities and neighborhoods receiving them. Our ability to effectively address these problems goes to the very core of the American belief in offering second chances.

Community Legal Aid’s Worcester County CORI/Re-entry work has been led by Attorney Nina Harrison, a graduate of Howard University and Boston College Law School, since 2019. In addition to her work serving individual clients with their CORI-related re-entry issues, Attorney Harrison trains staff at frontline agencies that assist formerly incarcerated individuals identify the legal issues facing ex-offenders. Some of those agencies include the Worcester Public Library, Family Health Center of Worcester, Restoration Recovery Center in Fitchburg, Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, and University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.

Funding from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation will have a tremendous impact in helping Community Legal Aid address the challenges facing the region’s community members. The Gardiner Howland Foundation’s support of $20,000 allows Community Legal Aid to allocate resources specifically to assisting at least 20 individuals in Worcester County.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.