Author: pricelessmisc

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Government Benefits

​RALEIGH · March 1, 2019 –Hawkins v. Cohen (5:17-CV-581 E.D.N.C.) is a federal lawsuit filed in 2017 by Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and the National Health Law Program to stop illegal terminations of Medicaid benefits in North Carolina. The Court hearing the case has certified it as a class action.

This means that the Court’s orders protect all N.C. Medicaid beneficiaries from having their Medicaid terminated improperly (including transfer to Medicaid that only covers family planning services).

The Court has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the N.C. Medicaid agency and all 100 county Departments of Social Services (DSS) to stop terminating or reducing Medicaid coverage until eligibility under all Medicaid categories has been considered and advance notice of the right to a hearing has been mailed. The Court’s order prohibits automatic terminations without any notice by the state computer, NC FAST, because a county worker failed to process a review of the case in the month it was due. This often happens in the following circumstances: at the end of the one year period for which Medicaid was previously approved; a parent or caretaker’s youngest child turns age 18; any child turns age 19; a pregnancy ends; transitional Medicaid coverage ends. The Order also prohibits failure to consider all Medicaid categories before Medicaid terminates.

Specifically, beginning in April 2019, for persons receiving Medicaid as a child, caretaker of a child, or pregnant woman, DSS will have to send a notice giving that person the opportunity to allege disability and then apply for Medicaid based on disability even though the person already gets Medicaid. If that application based on disability is timely filed, DSS cannot terminate Medicaid for that person unless that application has been denied.

If you have any questions about this lawsuit or about your rights, you may contact the attorneys who filed the case, the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy. You can reach these lawyers by calling this toll free number: 1-800-936-4971. You can also send the lawyers an email athawkinsinfo@charlottelegaladvocacy.org. You also may contact these lawyers if you want to report that you lost your Medicaid without a decision that you were no longer eligible for Medicaid under any category or without receiving advance written notice that your Medicaid would stop.

There is no cost to you for any help that these lawyers provide to you.

# # #

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Fair Housing

RALEIGH · Feb. 5, 2018 – Legal Aid of North Carolina announced that the owner, and former and current managers of an apartment complex in Hickory, N.C., had settled a housing discrimination complaint alleging that they had discriminated against a resident with a disability. As a result of the settlement, the owner and managers of the Villas at Northview, who denied engaging in discrimination, will adopt new fair housing policies for people with disabilities, attend training in fair housing law, and pay collectively a total of $15,000 in damages and costs to Ms. Jerilyne Johnson, the tenant who brought the complaint.

The case involved Ms. Johnson’s request to have a parking space near her unit to accommodate her mobility limitations, some of which were caused by multiple sclerosis. While parking at the complex is typically “first come, first serve,” fair housing laws require housing providers to make “reasonable accommodations” to rules and policies to allow people with disabilities an equal opportunity to live in a dwelling.

Ms. Johnson made her initial written request for a reserved parking space in 2014. After her request was denied several months later, she filed her fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) against the owners and managers of the complex: Villas at Northview, LLC; Intermark Management Corporation; Vista Capital Management Group, Inc.; and Brenda Cranford (collectively known as “Respondents”).

The complaint was referred by HUD to the North Carolina Human Relations Commission (NCHRC) for investigation. Respondents eventually granted Ms. Johnson’s request for a reserved parking space. The NCHRC found “reasonable cause” to believe that the Respondents had engaged in an unlawful housing practice by refusing to approve Ms. Johnson’s request for over a year. Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Fair Housing Project represented Ms. Johnson in settlement negotiations.

“Ms. Johnson did not believe what happened was right, educated herself about the protections of the Fair Housing Act, and then did something about it – all on her own,” said Kelly Clarke, attorney at the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid who assisted Ms. Johnson in the settlement negotiations. “I am just glad we could help her finish what she started.”

The law prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability.

# # #

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Learn more at LegalAidNC.org.

Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through education, outreach, public policy initiatives, advocacy and enforcement. North Carolinians who believe that they have been victims of housing discrimination can contact the Fair Housing Project at 1-855-797-3247 or info@fairhousingnc.org. The project’s work on this case was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program. Learn more about the project and fair housing laws at FairHousingNC.org.

Media Contact

Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of N.C., 919-856-2132, SeanD@legalaidnc.org

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Disaster Relief

RALEIGH, January 5, 2017 – Legal Aid of North Carolina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Red Cross will hold a series of free outreach events this month in eastern North Carolina for people affected by Hurricane Matthew.

Attendees can receive expert help with housing, insurance, financial assistance and legal issues arising from the storm. Each event is completely free and open to all members of the public. Appointments are not required.

​Sat., Jan. 14, 2017
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Robeson Community College
5160 Fayetteville Road
Lumberton, NC 28360		 ​Sat., Jan. 21, 2017
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Edgecombe Co. Admin Building
201 St. Andrews St.
Tarboro, NC 27886		 Sat., Jan. 28, 2017
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Goldsboro Event Center
1501 South Slocumb Street
Goldsboro, NC 27530

The events are part of Legal Aid’s effort to provide critical information and assistance to survivors of Hurricane Matthew. Visit the Disaster Relief section of our site for free self-help legal resources, news from federal and state agencies serving survivors, links to important information and more.

If you need legal help, call the toll-free Hurricane Matthew legal aid hotline at 1-800-662-7407.

If you are a lawyer who wants to volunteer to help storm victims, click here to learn more.

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Summer intern secures restraining order for domestic violence victim

BOONE · June 18, 2019 – The summer is just getting started, but Kelsey Woods, summer intern in our Boone office, has already had a huge impact on the life of one of our clients.

Our client came to Legal Aid after experiencing horrific violence at the hands of a family member. After several days of intensive training, including mock trials, and observation and practice, Kelsey represented our client at a domestic violence hearing in Wilkes County District Court. She secured a one-year restraining order, allowing our client to have a little bit of peace of mind in the midst of a difficult time. The judge was supremely complimentary of Kelsey’s conduct and practice. She described her as being well spoken and seeming beyond her years.

We are so happy to have Kelsey working with us this summer. She is a rising 3L at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Prior to law school, Kelsey served five years active duty onboard the U.S.S. George H. W. Bush. She is currently serving as a Petty Officer First Class in the United States Naval Reserves.

“Working for Legal Aid is such a rewarding experience because it allows you to directly empower your clients and facilitate positive changes in their lives,” Kelsey said.

While at Legal Aid, MLK interns work under the supervision of seasoned Legal Aid attorneys in our offices and projects across the state, bringing legal theory to life by doing substantive work on real cases for real clients.

Learn more about our MLK Internship Program.

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Farmworker Unit secures $75,000 settlement in labor trafficking case
Related

Haga clic para traducción al español

Hear Caitlin Ryland discuss the case on WUNC

Read coverage in The Wilson Times

RALEIGH · April 1, 2019 – A group of 13 migrant farmworkers represented by Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Farmworker Unit has obtained justice – and $75,000 – in a labor trafficking case involving the federal H-2A visa program. The case, Eliseo Alonso-Miranda, et al. v. Cirila Garcia-Pineda, et al., was settled in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of N.C. on Dec. 26, 2018.

The vast majority of the $75,000 settlement will be paid in damages to Legal Aid’s clients: Mexican citizens lured into crippling debt for the opportunity to come to North Carolina in 2015 with promises of a legal work visa that would provide them with abundant work, ample pay, and the chance to extend their stay in the U.S. at the end of their visa period.

The ones who made those promises were three farm labor contractors in Stantonsburg, North Carolina: Cirila Garcia-Pineda, her daughter Marisa Garcia-Pineda, and her stepson Ofelio Garcia. The workers say the Garcias exploited features of the federal H-2A visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for temporary agricultural work under certain conditions. Farm labor contractors act as go-betweens who recruit, transport, oversee, and often house workers on behalf of agricultural companies. The role of farm labor contractors is defined by federal law, and contractors must be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor. Farm labor contractors, in addition to fixed-site farming operations and grower associations, are permitted to directly petition for workers using the H-2A visa program.

In their August 2017 complaint against the Stantonsburg contractors, Lori Johnson, managing attorney of the Farmworker Unit, and supervising attorney Caitlin Ryland described a very different reality for their clients than the lucrative job opportunity that they were promised in their hometowns in Mexico.

The complaint alleges that before the workers arrived in North Carolina, Cirila had been operating as a farm labor contractor for years, but her business was in trouble. Facing financial difficulties and weathering multiple state and federal investigations, she was potentially on the verge of losing her certification as a farm labor contractor. So, she turned to her daughter Marisa, who was working as a paralegal in a Greenville law firm at the time. Acting as a front for her mother, Marisa submitted the various applications required to hire workers through the H-2A program. Marisa held herself out to the feds as the sole contractor, when in reality, her mother and stepbrother acted as the on-site farm labor contractors.

The workers allege that, in 2015, the Garcias charged them exorbitant and unlawful recruitment fees, which are expressly prohibited by the H-2A program; paid them less than the $7.25 per hour minimum wage and the required $10.32 per hour H-2A wage for their work in the tobacco and sweet potato fields; lied to them about their chances of staying in the U.S.; failed to reimburse the workers’ upfront visa and travel-related expenses to come from Mexico to North Carolina; housed them in substandard housing; deprived them of workers’ compensation coverage, which they are entitled to under H-2A rules; impeded their access to medical care; retained their Social Security cards; used threats and coercive action to try to confiscate their passports; and made a loud, public display of physically threatening another worker who dared to ask for his wages.

“Our clients wanted justice, and we are glad that we were able to win some measure of it for them.” Johnson said.

The complaint alleged that, taken together, the contractors’ actions violated multiple state and federal laws, including the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and the rules of the H-2A program.

“This is what labor trafficking looks like,” Ryland, a member of North Carolina’s Human Trafficking Commission, said. “Sex trafficking might be better known, but labor trafficking is just as pernicious and it’s all too prevalent, especially in industries where labor contracting services are used.”

“North Carolina’s agricultural industry is one of the largest users of the H-2A program,” Johnson said. “H-2A workers are particularly vulnerable, despite the protections guaranteed to them by the program. They are often recruited from parts of the world with fewer economic opportunities, rarely speak English, typically are unaware of their legal rights, and they depend on their employers for nearly everything: housing, mail, access to food, medical care, houses of worship, information … almost everything. With their visas tethered to one employer, the H-2A worker can’t just leave and work lawfully for a different employer. There are always individuals out there who are willing to exploit these vulnerabilities for their own gain.”

Under the settlement, the three contractors deny all liability, but agree to the financial settlement and other terms, including a lifelong ban from participating in the H-2A program. This was a moot point for Cirila Garcia-Pineda, whom the U.S. Department of Labor added to its list of Ineligible Farm Labor Contractors in 2017, which prohibits her from engaging in any activity as a farm labor contractor, whether under the H-2A program or not.

For Marisa Garcia-Pineda, her agreement to the life-long H-2A ban comes on top of a three-year ban – issued by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2018 – on acting as a farm labor contractor outside of the H-2A program.

Ryland remarked, “I am honored to have had the opportunity to represent this group of workers who bravely stood up in solidarity against those that wronged them. Our clients hope that this settlement will help them and their families move forward from this experience and that shedding light on what happened will protect others vulnerable to the same exploitation.”

Media Contact

Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of North Carolina, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org

About

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Our Farmworker Unit is a statewide project that addresses the special legal needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina. Learn more at legalaidnc.org and farmworkerlanc.org.

# # #

^ Back to English version

La División de Trabajadores Agrícolas asegura un acuerdo de $75,000 en caso de la trata de personas en el aspecto laboral

RALEIGH · Abril 1, 2019 – Un grupo de 13 trabajadores agrícolas migrantes representados por Ayuda Legal de Carolina del Norte de la División de Trabajadores Agrícolas ha obtenido justicia – y $75,000 – en un caso de la trata de personas en el aspecto laboral que involucra el programa federal de visas H-2A. El caso, Eliseo Alonso-Miranda, et al. v. Cirila Garcia-Pineda, et al., fue resuelto en el Tribunal de Distrito de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito Este de Carolina del Norte el 26 de diciembre del 2018.

La gran parte  del acuerdo de $75,000 se pagará en daños y perjuicios a los clientes de Ayuda Legal: ciudadanos Mexicanos fueron reclutados con una deuda perjudicial para tener la oportunidad de venir a Carolina del Norte en el 2015 con la promesa de una visa de trabajo legal que les proporcionaría trabajo abundante, un buen salario, y la posibilidad de extender su estadía en los Estados Unidos  al finalizar el tiempo de su visa.

Los que hicieron esas promesas fueron tres contratistas de trabajadores agrícolas en Stantonsburg, Carolina del Norte: Cirila García-Pineda, su hija Marisa García-Pineda y su hijastro Ofelio García. Los trabajadores dicen que los García abusaron de las características del programa federal de visa H-2A, el cual permite a los empleadores de los Estados Unidos contratar trabajadores extranjeros para trabajos agrícolas temporales bajo ciertas condiciones. Los contratistas de trabajadores agrícolas actúan como intermediarios que reclutan, transportan, supervisan y, a menudo proveen vivienda a trabajadores en nombre de las empresas agrícolas. La función de los contratistas de trabajo agrícola es definida por la ley federal, y los contratistas deben estar certificados por el Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos. Los contratistas de trabajadores agrícolas, granjas operativas, y las asociaciones de productores, tienen permiso para solicitar directamente a los trabajadores utilizando el programa de visa H-2A.

En la demanda de agosto de 2017 contra los contratistas de Stantonsburg, Lori Johnson, Abogada Directora de la División de Trabajadores Agrícolas, y la Abogada Supervisora Caitlin Ryland describieron una realidad muy diferente para sus clientes, que la lucrativa oportunidad de trabajo que les prometieron en sus pueblos de origen en México.

La demanda alega que antes de que los trabajadores llegaran a Carolina del Norte, Cirila había estado operando como una contratista de trabajadores agrícolas por años, pero su negocio estaba en problemas. Al enfrentar dificultades financieras y sobrellevar múltiples investigaciones estatales y federales, estaba potencialmente a punto de perder su certificación como contratista de trabajadores agrícola. Entonces, se dirigió a su hija Marisa, que en ese momento estaba trabajando como asistente legal en un bufete de abogados en Greenville. Utilizando su nombre para encubrir a su madre, Marisa presentó las diversas solicitudes requeridas para contratar trabajadores a través del programa H-2A. Marisa se presentó ante las agencias federales como la única contratista, cuando en realidad, su madre y su hermanastro eran los contratistas de trabajo agrícola en los campos de trabajo.

Los trabajadores alegan que, en el 2015, los García les cobraron cuotas sumamente altas e ilegales de reclutamiento, las cuales están explícitamente prohibidas por el programa H-2A; les pagaron menos del salario mínimo de $7.25 por hora y el salario requerido de $10.32 por hora de H-2A por su trabajo en los campos de tabaco y camote; les  mintieron sobre sus posibilidades de permanecer en los EE.UU.; fallaron en reembolsarles el costo de la visa y los gastos relacionados con los viajes de México a Carolina del Norte; los alojó en viviendas precarias; los privó de la cobertura de compensación laboral para trabajadores, a la que tienen derecho según las reglas H-2A; impedido su acceso a la atención médica; confiscaron sus tarjetas de Seguro Social; utilizaron amenazas y acciones agresivas para intentar confiscar sus pasaportes; e hicieron una demostración pública en donde amenazaron físicamente a otro trabajador que se atrevió a preguntar sobre su salario.

“Nuestros clientes querían justicia, y nos alegramos de haber podido ganar algo de eso para ellos,” dijo Johnson.

La demanda alegó que, en conjunto, las acciones de los contratistas violaron múltiples leyes estatales y federales, incluyendo la Ley de Horas y Salarios de Carolina del Norte, la Ley de Normas Razonables de Trabajo y la Ley de Protección de Víctimas de la Trata de Personas, y las reglas del programa H-2A.

“Así es la trata de personas en el aspecto laboral,” dijo Ryland, miembro de la Comisión de Trata de Personas de Carolina del Norte. “La trata de personas en el aspecto sexual podrá ser más conocido, pero la trata de personas en el aspecto laboral es igual de pernicioso y demasiado frecuente, especialmente en las industrias donde se utilizan los servicios de contratación laboral.”

“La industria agrícola de Carolina del Norte es uno de los mayores usuarios del programa H-2A,” dijo Johnson. “Los trabajadores del programa H-2A son particularmente vulnerables, a pesar de las protecciones que les garantiza el programa. Normalmente, son reclutados de partes del mundo con menos oportunidades económicas, rara vez hablan inglés, generalmente desconocen sus derechos legales, y dependen de sus empleadores para casi todo: vivienda, correspondencia, acceso a alimentos, atención médica, lugares de adoración, información… casi todo. Con sus visas atadas a un empleador, el trabajador H-2A no puede simplemente irse y trabajar legalmente para un empleador diferente. Siempre hay personas que están dispuestas a explotar estas vulnerabilidades para su propio beneficio.”

Según el acuerdo, los tres contratistas niegan toda responsabilidad, pero aceptan el acuerdo financiero y otros términos, incluyendo ser prohibidos de por vida de poder participar en el programa H-2A. Este fue un punto discutible para Cirila García-Pineda, a quien el Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. agregó a su lista de Contratistas de Trabajadores Agrícolas Inelegibles en 2017, la cual la prohíbe participar en cualquier actividad como contratista de trabajadores agrícolas, ya sea bajo el programa H-2A o no.

Para Marisa García-Pineda, su acuerdo con la prohibición del programa H2A de por vida se suma a una prohibición de tres años, emitida por el Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. en 2018, al actuar como contratista de trabajadores agrícolas fuera del programa H-2A.

Ryland comentó: “Me siento honrada de haber tenido la oportunidad de representar a este grupo de trabajadores que valientemente levantaron la voz en solidaridad en contra de los que los maltrataron. Nuestros clientes esperan que este acuerdo los ayude a ellos y a sus familias a salir adelante de esta experiencia y al sacar a la luz lo que sucedió va a proteger a otras personas vulnerables de este tipo de  explotación.”

# # #

Contacto con los medios

Sean Driscoll, Director de Relaciones Públicas, Ayuda Legal de Carolina del Norte, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org

Acerca de Ayuda Legal

Ayuda Legal de Carolina del Norte es una firma de abogados a nivel estatal sin fines de lucro, que brinda servicios legales gratuitos en asuntos civiles a personas de bajos ingresos para garantizar el acceso equitativo a la justicia y eliminar las barreras legales a oportunidades económicas. Nuestra División de Trabajadores Agrícolas es un proyecto estatal que aborda las necesidades legales especiales de los trabajadores agrícolas migratorios y temporales en Carolina del Norte. Obtenga más información en www.legalaidnc.org y www.farmworkerlanc.org

Author: pricelessmisc

← Back to Healthcare Access

MARION, January 26, 2015 – Do you have to pay a fine for not having health insurance? Can you get financial help to pay for health insurance? If you have questions about the Affordable Care Act, come to a free health insurance information and enrollment event Thursday from 2-8 p.m. at the Corpening Memorial YMCA, 348 Grace Corpening Road, in Marion.

The Affordable Care Act requires everyone to have health insurance, pay a fine or receive an exemption from the fine. The Council on Aging of Buncombe County, Legal Aid of North Carolina, and the McDowell Hospital are partnering to help McDowell County residents understand the health care law and help them enroll in health insurance plans.

Individuals can make an appointment for a free, confidential meeting with a trained Affordable Care Act navigator who can help them review options and enroll in a health care plan. Walk-ins will be accommodated if possible, but scheduling an appointment is recommended. Open enrollment for 2015 ends on February 15 so it is important to enroll as soon as possible.

Informal presentations about the health care law will be made in English at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and in Spanish at 7 p.m. No appointment is necessary to attend the presentations or stop by the event for general information about the Affordable Care Act.

One-on-one enrollment appointments can be scheduled by calling 828-437-8280, ext. 2103 or 1-855-733-3711. Appointments can also be made online at: http://connector.getcoveredamerica.org.

Those interested in enrolling in a health insurance plan should bring their Social Security or immigration document numbers, income information for every member of their household, policy numbers for current health insurance plans and any information about job-related health insurance available to the family.

###

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity.

The Council on Aging of Buncombe County (COA) is a non-profit organization providing services, support and information to help people meet the challenges of growing older. COA is dedicated to promoting independence, dignity and wellness for older adults through education, innovative programming, and coordination of resources. Learn more at www.coabc.org.

McDowell Hospital serves the health care needs of our community, giving comprehensive, cost-effective, quality care without regard to race, color, creed or ability to pay. Learn more at www.mcdowellhospital.org.

Media Contacts

Barbara Degen, 828-437-8280 x2104, barbarad@legalaidnc.org

Sean Driscoll, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org​

Author: pricelessmisc

​​​​​RALEIGH, March 4, 2016 ​— The Lawyer on the Line pro bono program is celebrating its fifth birthday today! We are marking the milestone by thanking our 1,001 volunteers and highlighting the program’s accomplishments. Watch the video below and keep reading to learn more about this innovative pro bono partnership that is making a real difference in the lives of North Carolinians.

Lawyer on the Line is a partnership of the North Carolina Bar Association​ and Legal Aid of North Carolina. The project connects Legal Aid clients with pro bono volunteers who provide legal advice and brief service over the phone.

The partnership is a big win for all involved: lawyers have an easy, manageable way to do pro bono, Legal Aid lawyers have time to focus on more complex, impactful cases, and thousands of clients a year receive expert legal help at absolutely no cost.​

Since its launch in 2011, Lawyer on the Line has recruited 1,001 pro bono volunteers, partnered with six N.C. law schools – Campbell, Charlotte, Duke, Elon, N.C. Central and Wake Forest – recruited nearly 400 law student volunteers, partnered with the paralegal program at Meredith College, and served over 15,000 clients. The services provided by Lawyer on the Line are worth more than $4 million on the private market.

​Please help us celebrate Lawyer on the Line’s success by spreading the news. If you are an attorney interested in volunteering with Lawyer on the Line, click here to learn more and apply.​​​

Author: pricelessmisc

Today is the fourth anniversary of the Lawyer on the Line program, a pro bono partnership of the North Carolina Bar Association and Legal Aid of North Carolina.

Every year, Lawyer on the Line connects thousands of low-income North Carolinians with volunteer advocates who provide free, over-the-phone legal help with routine cases.

Since it launched in 2011, more than 12,000 people have received free legal help through the program, thanks to the efforts of more than 1,000 volunteer attorneys, paralegals and law school students – a level of service estimated to be worth roughly $3 million based on a typical hourly rate for private attorneys.​

“The growth and success of this program are phenomenal,” says David Wormald, who oversees Lawyer on the Line for Legal Aid. “Already in 2015 we’ve served nearly as many clients as we did in the first full year of the program.”

In 2014, Lawyer on the Line served nearly 4,000 clients, four times as many as were served in the first year of the program. Lawyer on the Line now boasts an active volunteer network of more than 700 members, more than double the amount from the program’s first year.

The statistics are impressive, but it’s the clients that matter.

“Just wanted to send you a message of thanks for all of your help,” wrote one client to the law student who helped her get out of a lease with a landlord who refused to fix the depl​orable conditions of her home. “They have agreed to my terms and I owe it all to you!”

If you are a private attorney who wants to volunteer your time and talents to those in need, visit the Lawyer on the Line page​ on the North Carolina Bar Association’s website to learn more and sign up.

Here’s to many more years of service!

Author: pricelessmisc

RALEIGH · October 2, 2019 – North Carolina Lawyers Weekly has named Legal Aid NC attorneys Lesley Albritton and Yolanda Taylor as Leaders in the Law for 2019.

Based in our Greenville office, Lesley is the managing attorney of our Disaster Relief Project and the manager of our Community Economic Development Practice Group. She is responsible for making our firm a critical partner in our state’s preparation for and response to natural disasters.

Yolanda Taylor is the managing attorney of our Wilson office and one of our firm’s leading community economic development lawyers. She is the leader of our firm’s participation in efforts to fight gentrification and racial segregation in Rocky Mount.

Lesley Albritton, Managing Attorney, Disaster Relief Project

As the managing attorney of our Disaster Relief Project, Lesley Albritton is responsible for leading one of the most dynamic, high-profile and broadly impactful practice areas in our organization—a vital and weighty responsibility that she fulfills with aplomb, passion and skill.

In our state, the question is not if there will be another natural disaster—usually a hurricane—but when. For that reason, and because disaster-related legal cases can crop up long after the event has passed, our disaster-relief work never ends. There are always open cases, and there is always the next disaster to prepare for.

It is thanks to Lesley’s persistent, prescient preparation that, when disasters do strike, Legal Aid of North Carolina is able to hit the ground running. We can immediately call upon national and state partners—including FEMA, the American Bar Association, the Red Cross, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the North Carolina Bar Association—to spin up a service infrastructure to help survivors overcome the legal barriers that stand in the way of a full and equitable recovery.

The keystone in that infrastructure is the free statewide legal hotline deployed immediately after a disaster. The hotline is part of the formal Disaster Legal Services partnership among Legal Aid NC, the NC Bar Association, the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association, and FEMA. Operated by Legal Aid’s Central Intake Unit and the NC Bar, the hotline serves as a single point of contact for survivors who need legal help. Depending on their legal problem and other circumstances, callers are referred to Legal Aid or pro bono volunteers recruited by Legal Aid and the NC Bar. Learn more about the Disaster Legal Services partnership.

Key to the success of the hotline is spreading the word to survivors—no small task when all the usual forms of communication (phones, internet, mail) are likely to be out of commission. To ensure that survivors know that help is available, Lesley oversees the deployment of a team of Legal Aid staff and volunteers that conducts outreach at Red Cross shelters and embeds in FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers. Team members hand out free legal education materials, consult with survivors and direct them to critical recovery resources.

Our ability to connect quickly with survivors by immediately establishing an on-the-ground presence after a disaster is thanks in large part to Lesley’s role as Legal Aid’s point person on the North Carolina Disaster Recovery Task Force, a multi-agency group convened by the Emergency Management division of the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Legal Aid’s role on the task force is, in partnership with other agencies and organizations, to implement the housing section of the Disaster Recovery Framework, the state’s all-encompassing plan for responding to natural disasters. Legal Aid is responsible for handling cases involving public housing admissions and evictions, and terminations of housing subsidies, like Section 8 housing vouchers.

Lesley’s participation on the Task Force puts us right in the middle of the preparations for and the response to natural disasters, establishing Legal Aid as a critical partner in the recovery effort and paving our way to accessing survivors immediately after the event.

Our commitment to meeting survivors where they are, rather than making them come to us, doesn’t stop after the shelters and recovery centers close down. In early 2019, months after Florence made landfall, Lesley worked with the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center to put on a well-attended and successful series of free FEMA Appeals Clinics at community colleges throughout the southeastern part of the state. Survivors showed up in droves to hear Lesley give a legal-education presentation and to meet one-on-one with pro bono volunteers recruited by Legal Aid and the Pro bono Resource Center. Learn more about the FEMA Appeals Clinics.

At Legal Aid, the result of all this outreach to survivors is, of course, casework. All the calls to our hotline and connections with survivors at shelters and clinics translates into hundreds of cases for clients who need help with disaster benefits, insurance claims, landlord-tenant issues, consumer scams and more. Overseeing all of this legal work is, of course, Lesley.

It’s one of her most important—and fulfilling—duties, she says. She provides legal support to our staff attorneys, including an elite corps of disaster-relief specialists funded by the Golden Leaf Foundation, pro bono volunteers and paralegals. By reviewing work, making suggestions, and providing nudges in the right direction, Leslie sets up other attorneys for success.

“It’s hard to overstate how this has become my favorite part of this job,” she says. “It makes me feel so good when our attorneys are successful. The confidence boost they get from a big win makes them feel great, but more importantly, it makes them more eager to take on their next case and get an even bigger win for their next client.”

At Legal Aid, our commitment to our clients extends far beyond their legal needs. Following Hurricane Florence, Lesley employed a team of social workers to develop plans for outreach to the public and community partners to develop a network for case referrals and to build an exhaustive list of resources in each impacted county.

Moreover, Lesley does all this while also handling her own disaster-related caseload.

Yolanda Taylor, Managing Attorney, Wilson Office

Learn More
Wilsonian honored for work as Legal Aid attorney
The Wilson Times – Nov. 4, 2019

NC Association of Women Attorneys honors Yolanda Taylor with public service award
Legal Aid NC – Oct. 16, 2019

Yolanda Taylor, the managing attorney of our Wilson office, is a true leader in our organization and in the communities she serves.

As the head of our Wilson office, Yolanda oversees the provision of critical legal services to low-income and vulnerable residents in Edgecombe, Greene, Lenoir, Nash, Wayne, and Wilson counties.

With a small staff of 13, including 9 attorneys, three paralegals, and one community economic development outreach coordinator, our Wilson office bears the weighty responsibility of being the sole source of free civil legal services for the 116,000 low-income residents of its service area.

With so many people who need help and with so few people to provide it, Yolanda, as a leader of our community economic development work, has pioneered the practice of community lawyering to leverage her office’s limited resources to meet the needs of its clients.

As defined by the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, “community lawyering is a process through which advocates contribute their legal knowledge and skills to support initiatives that are identified by the community and enhance the community’s power.”

The use of community lawyering allows a relatively small group of advocates to have a disproportionately positive impact in a marginalized community by serving as force multipliers for efforts that have already galvanized the community.

It’s a bottom-up approach that ensures that those who are best able to identify and articulate a community’s needs—the members of the community in question—remain in the leadership roles that will best enable them to meet those needs. Community lawyers, essentially, are just there to lend a helping hand—though a critically important and powerful one.

Yolanda has put the philosophy of community lawyering to successful practical use in her efforts to support the Steering Committee of Community Academy, Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for low-income people in the city of Rocky Mount.

The group was founded in 2015 following the release of the Twin Counties Visioning and Strategic Plan, a report issued as part of a strategic planning process led by representatives from the City of Rocky Mount and Edgecombe and Nash counties.

One result of the process was the identification of 14 low-income, racially segregated communities in Rocky Mount that were rapidly gentrifying. Members of those communities, facing the prospect of being priced out of their homes and exiled from their neighborhoods, wanted a voice in the community development process. They wanted those in power to hear their concerns—and to address them.

Yolanda helped the Steering Committee raise its voice on behalf of the community members and ensure that they were speaking to the right people. She and her staff helped them develop talking points and taught them how to advocate at city council meetings. She educated them on the federal Fair Housing Act and the powerful protections it provides to struggling communities. “I armed them with the law,” she says.

Her efforts have been incredibly successful. The Steering Committee now holds monthly meetings with city management, where the two groups work together to develop strategies that will ensure the equitable growth of Rocky Mount, which includes the perseveration and expansion of affordable housing, food equity, access to transportation, and the increased health and vibrancy of the community.

Thanks to this new partnership, the city council has voted unanimously to address the community’s gentrification concerns and have incorporated community-led strategies to mitigate the effects of gentrification into its fair housing plan. The city also implemented a workforce housing advisory council that will address the fair housing needs of residents, affordable housing and the gentrification concerns in affected neighborhoods. The city is now partnering with the community to shape equitable land use policies.

Yolanda’s successful use of community lawyering to make a broad impact within communities of need has made her a recognized expert on the subject within our organization and throughout the broader public-interest legal community.

She has led trainings on community lawyering and community economic development for Legal Aid advocates, and at conferences hosted by the N.C. Equal Access to Justice Commission, the N.C. Equal Justice Alliance, the N.C. Justice Center, the Racial Justice Institute of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Center for Budget and Tax Accountability and more.

Author: pricelessmisc

RALEIGH, April 20, 2016​​ — Legal Aid of North Carolina raised 38 pounds of food per employee during this year’s Legal Feeding Frenzy, making us the winner in the inaugural Public Interest category.

The Legal Feeding Frenzy is the North Carolina legal community’s annual contest to raise food and funds for food banks in our state. It is sponsored by the North Carolina Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks​.

Participants collected nearly 300,000 pounds of food during this year’s contest, which ran from March 1-31. Attorney General Roy Cooper, honorary chair of the contest, will recognize winners at an awards ceremony April 26 in Cary.

Read the North Carolina Bar Association’s announcement to learn more.​