For Immediate Release

Date: March 21, 2024

Contact: Laura Tuggle, ltuggle@slls.org, 504-529-1000 x 270

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Receives $1.8 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott

New Orleans, LA—Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) recently received a $1.8 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving, part of her pledge to donate most of her wealth back to society. This is SLLS’ single largest donation in its history. The funds will help SLLS increase access to justice for vulnerable low-income people across southeast Louisiana.

SLLS strives to break down legal barriers and make fair and equal access to justice possible for the people who need it most. Free civil legal aid can help vulnerable people with life’s most basic needs, like protecting families from domestic violence, helping seniors keep their homes, recovering from disasters, ensuring people living with disabilities have stable lives, and securing access for all to our system of justice.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, SLLS has received several awards and recognitions for its innovative response to meeting client needs in challenging conditions. Our New Orleans Right to Counsel eviction diversion project was lauded by the White House for its high success rate. SLLS’ Homeless One Stop Legal Clinic team received the 2023 Louisiana State Bar Association Innovation in Legal Services Award.

“Civil legal aid is an often overlooked but essential solution to stabilizing families in crisis,” said SLLS Executive Director Laura Tuggle. “Many families in Louisiana are still struggling with economic losses from COVID-19, Hurricane Ida, and challenging economic conditions. This unprecedented gift will help us continue to drive innovative solutions to bridge the justice gap.”

About Southeast Louisiana Legal Services
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) fights for fairness in the justice system. We provide free civil legal aid to low-income people across 22 parishes in southeast Louisiana. We have six offices: Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Harvey, Houma, and New Orleans. Our mission is to achieve justice for low-income people in Louisiana by enforcing and defending their legal rights through free legal representation, advocacy, and community education. For more information about SLLS, visit www.slls.org and follow us on Facebook (@SLLShelps).

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: Promotional Photography and Videography

ABOUT SLLS

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) provides free legal assistance to indigent and other vulnerable people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. We protect their livelihoods, health, housing, and families. Through legal representation, we can assure fairness for our clients as they navigate through the civil justice system. SLLS works to combat the inequities and disproportionate impacts faced by marginalized communities of color. We are the largest nonprofit civil legal services provider in Louisiana serving 50% of the state’s poverty population in twenty two parishes across southeast Louisiana.

OVERVIEW

SLLS seeks proposals for the creation of an organizational promotional video, promotional videography with client testimonials, a 30-second PSA video, and new commercial photography to enhance its outreach and community engagement efforts. All promotional materials should be visually appealing and engaging, and encourage clients, volunteers, donors, and the community to learn more about SLLS and its resources.

GOALS

The organizational promotional video should be consistent with SLLS branding and:

• Length: 3 minutes
• Content: SLLS services, impact, client, staff, volunteer, and stakeholder testimonials
• Target Audience: General public

The 30-second PSA video should be consistent with SLLS branding and:

• Content: SLLS disaster legal services, referencing two-year Hurricane Ida Impact
• Target Audience: Client Population

The organizational photographs should align with the website redesign and:

• Content: Staff interaction with clients, community outreach events, on-site photos with disaster-impacted
  clients, volunteer interaction with clients and staff
• Target Audience: General public

The organizational videography should be consistent with SLLS branding and:

• Incorporate client testimonials from key clients in the Southeast Louisiana region.
• Target Audience: General public

ADDITIONAL NEEDS

The ability to customize videos and images for sharing on social media and SEO

TIMELINE

We would like to have new commercial photographs, an organizational promotional video, promotional videography with client stories, and a 30-second PSA video by March 2024.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Proposals should be submitted by December 23, 2023 to Lynette Martin at lmartin@slls.org. Proposals should include at minimum:

• Description of the firm and a general overview of qualifications
• Timeline and budget for completing the project

You can download the RFP here.

SLLS wants to hear from the community it serves. We need your input for our latest study of the biggest legal needs facing low-income people in our area.

Please take a few minutes for these quick surveys.  Each one takes about three minutes. You can do any or all of them. SLLS needs and values this data.

If you use a computer, you may need to press “CTRL” while clicking a link. You may need to paste a link into a browser window.

• Legal Needs big picture -- take our overview survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGQFBNG
• Work issues – take the survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KRDFCHB
• Government Aid issues – take the survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KTYMP76
• Money & Debt issues – take the survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M3PR65W
• Housing issues – take the survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KRSTNNF
• Family issues – take the survey here or here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KTRBVWM

There is an English-Spanish dual language version of the overview survey to reach out to people who prefer to use Spanish:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGTJN6B

Our online application is temporarily down, but we are still accepting applications for legal help. You can apply by calling us at 1-844-244-7871 or walking into one of our offices. There is a list of our offices here.

From August 24 - September 1, 2023 SLLS will modify its operations due to mandatory staff training.

From August 24 - 25, 2023 SLLS will be open for emergency intakes only for evictions with court dates for our Orleans Parish Right to Counsel program and Child in Need of Care (CINC) cases.

From August 28 - August 30, 2023  all SLLS offices will be closed to the public. Help desks, outreach events, legal clinics, and eviction desks will not be staffed during this time.

SLLS will reopen from August 31 - September 1, 2023 for emergency intakes, including evictions, urgent legal deadlines (within seven days), Child in Need of Care (CINC) cases, and protective orders.

Normal operations will resume on September 5th.

Online applications will not be accepted at this time. For emergency assistance, call 1-844-244-2871.

I. Overview

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) extends this Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Consultant to conduct a Compensation Analysis.  The Consultant will work with SLLS’ management and Board of Directors Personnel Committee.

SLLS is a nonprofit tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization that provides high quality legal assistance to people with low-income in civil matters. SLLS serves clients in twenty-two parishes in southeast Louisiana from seven office (Baton Rouge, Covington, Gretna, Hahnville, Hammond, Houma, and New Orleans).  SLLS works to remove barriers to opportunity, ensuring access to shelter, economic security, safety and health through direct legal representation in civil cases, policy advocacy, and community legal education. SLLS has 160+ employee of which about 70% are lawyers and engages hundreds of volunteer attorneys and dozens of law students every year.

Pre-pandemic and prior to 2021’s catastrophic Hurricane Ida, SLLS had about 100 team members on staff. We now have about 165 staff working from seven offices, staff embedded onsite with other partners such as hospitals, medical clinics, homeless shelters, domestic violence victim service centers, community colleges, and robust pro bono partnerships. We have almost 100 different funding sources though LSC funding is about 45% of our budget with another almost 30% from the Louisiana Bar Foundation.

Under SLLS’ current leadership, its salary scale was refreshed in 2018, 2020, and 2022 with a $2,000 lump sum salary supplement for all staff in 2023. Excluding its leadership positions which are off the salary scale, SLLS has three primary position types – Managing Attorneys, Staff Attorneys, and Support Staff. There is a maximum starting salary for new hires up to 15 years of experience. SLLS has annual steps of $1,800 for attorneys and $800 for support staff. The steps have not been changed in over a decade. SLLS removed caps on annual steps for staff after 10 years of employment in 2021 to prevent staff from getting maxed out on their annual salary.

SLLS wishes to conduct an analysis of salaries and benefits including comparison to the nonprofit and government sector for the local market.  The goal of this project is to ensure that SLLS’ compensation package remains competitive to attract and retain staff, is respectful and supportive of staff, is an appropriate use of resources, and reflects SLLS’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

II. SLLS’ Salary Structure

Under SLLS’ current leadership, our salary scale was developed in 2018 and refreshed based on an internally conducted salary scale study in 2020 and 2022. SLLS has provided a one-time lump sum salary supplement of $2,000 for all staff irrespective of position in 2023.  The key elements of SLLS’ current salary structure are:

• SLLS’ Compensation Philosophy reflects a commitment to providing a competitive, transparent compensation package that encourages employee development and growth. As part of this policy, SLLS Aid commits to periodic review of salary ranges and positions to ensure ranges are appropriate and based on market analysis.
• No position has a starting salary of lower than $15 per hour.
• Starting salaries are based on comparable salaries in the non-profit and government sector in the southeast region
• For new hires, each position type has a minimum and maximum starting point up to 15 years of experience.
• Starting salaries are set based on years of experience, language fluency for languages regularly used for SLLS clients, and other factors for support staff.
• Staff automatically (subject to funding and satisfactory performance) receive an $1,800 annual step increase for attorneys and an $800 annual step increase for support staff
• Staff working with SLLS for more than 10 years are no longer maxed out on a maximum amount of steps
• Information for SLLS’ current salary scale is included as Attachment 1 to this proposal

III.      This Project

SLLS seeks a consultant to:

• Conduct a market analysis of salary for all positions.
• Work with SLLS to review job descriptions for positions and to make recommendations for how to incentivize longevity such as by creating new staff classification types and other measures
• Make recommendations for changes in position and their compensation based on the analysis above.
• Conduct comparable market analysis of benefits provided, including health insurance, retirement plan, time off, and other benefits.
• Make recommendations for changes in benefits package where appropriate.
• Make recommendations regarding changes to SLLS’ step increase levels
• Provide a final report to the SLLS Personnel Committee describing research completed, process engaged, recommendations and reason for those recommendations.

IV. Steps and Timeline

The planned timeline for this project is:

• Deadline for proposal submission September 5, 2023
  • Direct Questions and submit proposals to Shannan Latino, Human Resources Manager at slatino@slls.org
• Selection and identification of terms of engagement: September 13, 2023
• Completion of Analysis: November 15, 2023
  • Stage 1 – Salary Scale Recommendations: November 15, 2023
  • State 2 – Recommendations for Step Increases: December 31, 2023
  • Stage 3 – Benefits Review: March 31, 2024
  • Stage 4 – Recommendations to Incentivize Longevity: June 30, 2024

Note:  Timeline is subject to change based on SLLS and consultant schedules. Recommendations may be delivered in stages including Stage 1 -Salary Scale recommendations Stage 2 – Recommendations for Step Increases Stage 3- Benefits Review Stage 4- Recommendations to Incentivize Longevity

V. Proposal Content

Responses to this Request for Proposal should be no longer than 8 pages long (shorter proposals are welcome) and include the following:

• Firm description, including how long the firm has been in business, specialty areas, and experience providing compensation analysis services to not-for-profit and other professional organizations.
• Identification of the staff who will work on the project. Describe their experience, education, training, and professional certifications
• Description of your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and information regarding the diversity of your workforce.
• Description of your engagement with mission-driven organizations where organizational values have significantly impacted compensation structure and how that orientation informed your work.
• Statement of your understanding of the work required and how you will approach this project, including work plan and timeline.
• Description of how your approach will assist SLLS on its path to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization.
• Three current or former clients who we may contact as references.
• Statement of your fees for this work, including an indication of whether you propose a flat fee or hourly fee.  SLLS prefers a flat fee proposal. If the proposed fee is hourly based, provide the estimated number of hours required.  Please include the responsibilities and services covered by these fees.

VI. Evaluation Criteria and Award of Contract

SLLS may elect to schedule interviews with potential consultants prior to awarding a final contract. Please include contact information for scheduling purposes in the RFP.

Proposals will be evaluated upon the contractor’s responsiveness to the RFP, qualifications, demonstrated experience with similar projects, and total price quoted for all items covered by the RFP. Award of the contract resulting from the RFP will be based upon the most responsive contract that is most advantageous to SLLS in terms of cost, functionality, experience, and quality of past work.

SLLS ideally seeks a firm that understands its needs as a nonprofit and legal services organization and is invested in our mission of achieving justice and social change by fighting poverty.

SLLS reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals and to waive any minor discrepancies or technicalities in the proposal or specifications, when deemed to be in the best interest of SLLS. We also reserve the right to negotiate with all respondents to the RFP and reject any or all offers and discontinue this RFP process without obligation or liability to any respondent.

VII. Cost of Proposals

SLLS will not pay any costs associated with preparing proposals in response to this RFP.

You can download the request for proposals here.

The 23rd JDC Bar Association is looking for volunteers to help staff their Self-Help Resource Center at the 23rd Judicial District Court on the 1st Thursday of every month. You can find more information about the Self-Help Desk here. If you're interested in volunteering, contact Janeane Abbott at Janeane@abbottprescott.com or 225-406-7474.

The information provided on this post does not, and is not intended to, represent legal advice. All information available on this site is for general informational purposes only. If you need legal help, you should contact a lawyer. You may be eligible for our free legal services and can apply by calling our Covid Legal Hotline at 1-844-244-7871 or applying online here.

The St. Tammany Parish Court (22^nd JDC) has a 3-month traffic ticket amnesty program for people who received traffic tickets between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2022 and did not pay them. If you pay your old ticket through the program, the program will drop the late fees, fines, and warrants.

The program lasts from May 1, 2023 to July 31, 2023. Tickets received after January 1, 2023, are not eligible for this program. The program does not waive any fees you might owe to the DMV.

To make changes to your ticket, you should contact the Traffic Division of the District Attorney's Office. You will need to obtain two copies of your ticket from the Clerk of Court. Once you have your documents, the Clerk of Court will add an Amnesty Stamp to your ticket for approval.

To participate, you need to request an amendment of your ticket through the District Attorney's Office Traffic Division. You will need two copies of the ticket from the Clerk of Court. The Clerk of Court will put an Amnesty Stamp on the ticket for approval.

After getting the amnesty stamp, go to the Sherriff's Office to pay for your ticket. After paying your fines and court costs, the Clerk of Court will remove any suspensions or attachments.

The Court can give you a letter for proof of payment to the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles if you have any holds of flags on your driver's license.

For Immediate Release, February 15, 2023

Contact:

Laura Tuggle, ltuggle@slls.org, 504.913.6617

 

Over 60 Nonprofit Groups Call On FEMA to Extend the February Deadline for Hurricane Ida Disaster Assistance and Appeals

236,000+ Louisiana households are awaiting FEMA aid decisions as deadline looms

NEW ORLEANS — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP) will stop accepting appeals and providing financial assistance for Hurricane Ida on Feb. 28, 2023, despite the fact that, according to FEMA’s own records, there is still no decision on over 236,000 Louisianan household’s applications for assistance.

FEMA has not issued a press release or any public notification of the looming deadline.

In response, over 60 voluntary, faith-based, community, philanthropic and national advocacy organizations have issued letters to President Biden, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, the Louisiana Congressional Delegation and Governor John Bel Edwards, requesting an extension of the deadline to allow disaster-affected households time to submit appeals to FEMA.

“Hurricane Ida was the fifth costliest hurricane in U.S. history, and Louisianans continue to struggle to recover,” said Laura Tuggle, Executive Director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. “As nonprofits, we are on the ground, working directly with people in affected communities. We are partners that stand behind FEMA’s equity goals and are uniquely positioned to help identify the invisible roadblocks that Louisianans are experiencing as they try to access assistance. Due to our intimate knowledge of the barriers to recovery, we know nothing will go further to producing equitable outcomes among the people of our state than an extension of the IHP period of assistance and appeals deadline.”

Louisianans have faced significant barriers to applying for assistance since Hurricane Ida for a variety of reasons, including:

• In 2021, Louisiana’s poverty rate was the highest in the nation at 19.65%.
• The remote, rural areas that Hurricane Ida hit have low educational attainment levels.
• FEMA relies heavily on written correspondence, which directly impacts Louisianans’ ability to access disaster assistance in a state with a literacy rate of 84% in 2023.
• Providing the necessary FEMA documentation requires adults to be technology-proficient in areas without broadband access, which prevents rural residents, older adults, people with disabilities, people with limited English proficiency, low-income households and others - from acting in their own best interest.
• Survivors must fax information to National Processing Service Centers or upload it into FEMA’s antiquated NEMIS system, which makes documents illegible due to excessive pixelization. This triggers repeated requests for documents that survivors think they have submitted (which were legible on their end).
• Homeownership documentation was destroyed in the storm or is lacking due to heirship property issues which take time and legal assistance to resolve.
• There is a severe lack of contractors to provide the estimates that are required for homeowners to submit appeals.
• The COVID-19 pandemic prevented FEMA inspectors from entering people's homes, resulting in inaccurate damage assessments and the need for a second inspection.
• The closure of Disaster Recovery Centers in Louisiana on February 25, 2022, made it more difficult for survivors to get the help they needed when applying for assistance.
• Many homeowners still have unresolved insurance claims and cannot submit settlement documentation and declaration pages to receive FEMA awards.
• The Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program recently began processing applications. To be eligible, applicants must have received either $8,000 in home repair funds or $3,500 in personal property assistance from FEMA.

Because FEMA has not provided the public with formal written notice of the deadline through the media, Louisianans are not ready for the cessation of IHP financial assistance or the loss of their ability to appeal previous FEMA decisions denying them assistance. Without a deadline extension, Hurricane Ida survivors will experience growing levels of financial instability, making Louisiana and its residents even more vulnerable to future storms.

By comparison, on Jan. 24, 2023, FEMA published a press release identifying the March 10, 2023, deadline for Hurricane Ida survivors in Pennsylvania.

A 90-day extension beyond the Feb. 28, 2023 deadline would allow survivors time to obtain FEMA resources which are required to be eligible for the Restore Louisiana Program. An inability to appeal FEMA decisions not only prevents access to FEMA assistance but will also bar access to the state’s housing recovery program.

We are grateful the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) shares our common desire to change negative recovery outcomes that disproportionately affect underserved communities. We are aware that GOHSEP requested the exact same extension of FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP) after Hurricane Laura, and were met with a denial of their request. We stand with our state officials in support of their equity goals and we seek a different outcome for Ida’s request - one that extends the deadline by at least 90 days. The enormous number of people in Louisiana whose needs are still unmet must be everyone’s greatest priority.

“This is a life or death situation for Louisiana’s people,” added Tuggle. “FEMA has an opportunity to make good on its equity goals by extending the February 28 deadline and providing a notification period before the deadline to account for the unique challenges of our state’s Hurricane Ida survivors.”

See the full list of partner signatories here.

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About Southeast Louisiana Legal Services

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) fights for fairness in the justice system. It provides free, civil legal aid to low-income people in six offices, across 22 parishes in southeast Louisiana. Our six offices are located in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Harvey, Houma, and New Orleans. Our mission is to achieve justice for low-income people in Louisiana by enforcing and defending their legal rights through free legal representation, advocacy, and community education. For more information about SLLS, visit www.slls.org and follow us on Facebook (@SLLShelps).

“Lawyers have a license to practice law, a monopoly on certain services. But for that privilege and status, lawyers have an obligation to provide legal services to those without the wherewithal to pay, to respond to needs outside themselves, to help repair tears in their communities.” – U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 2014)

Are you an attorney (either currently practicing or retired) in East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St James, St John, or West Feliciana?  Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) would like to speak with you about opportunities to volunteer and/or create a partnership with you to bring legal services to those who need it most.

Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) fights for fairness for vulnerable people. We provide free, civil legal aid to low-income people in six offices, across 22 parishes throughout southeast Louisiana. Our six offices are located in Baton Rouge, Covington, Gretna, Hammond, Houma, and New Orleans. Everyday we:

• protect domestic violence victims,
• empower abused and neglected children by giving them a voice in their lives and the courtroom,
• preserve housing for hard-working families,
• end homelessness for people with disabilities and veterans,
• protect elderly consumers,
• remove barriers to access medical care,
• improve access to employment and education for vulnerable people,
• and so much more.

No matter what challenges our communities face, we work every day to increase access to justice and help vulnerable people clear life's legal hurdles.  But we can’t do it alone and that’s why we need your help.  To find out more information, please contact Cindy Horne, CP at 225-448-0080, ext. 302 or by email at chorne@slls.org or Douglas Carey at 504-529-1000, ext. 246 or by email at dcarey@slls.org.  Our website can also be found at www.SLLS.org.

“Our society has major unmet legal needs that adversely affect low and middle income families. It’s a situation that threatens the well-being of our democracy. According to California’s Business and Professions Code, lawyers should ‘Never to reject, for any consideration personal to himself or herself, the cause of the defenseless or the oppressed.’ The entire legal professional has an opportunity to address this crisis.” – Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (October 2014)