North Shore District Attorney Warren Montgomery has announced an event to help people seal arrests or convictions on their records.
The “Fresh Start” program will reduce the cost for people who qualify under state law for expungement, a press release from Montgomery’s office said. Expungement is a legal process that “seals” an arrest or conviction, essentially removing it from public access.
The event is set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 18 at the St. Tammany Parish Courthouse, 701 N. Columbia St., Covington.
From LSC’s site:
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation Receives $250,515 Pro Bono Innovation Fund Grant, $68,119 Technology Initiative Grant
WASHINGTON – The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today that Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation will receive a $250,515 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant and a $68,119 Technology Initiative Grant.
LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund is intended to encourage and expand robust pro bono efforts and partnerships to serve more low-income clients. “We are grateful to Congress for establishing the Pro Bono Innovation Fund to increase pro bono support for civil legal aid,” said LSC President Jim Sandman. “This grant program stimulates more volunteer participation in legal aid and allows our grantees to serve more people.”
This Pro Bono grant will go towards Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation’s Pro Bono Transformation Project. This project will enhance the organization’s pro bono program by centralizing its volunteer lawyers program and undertaking an in-depth assessment of how the program engages in pro bono activities. The goal of the project is to increase the program’s infrastructure capacity, promote better coordination of resources, increase positive volunteer experiences, facilitate greater collaboration, and expand pro bono services for clients.
The grant will also allow Southeast Louisiana Legal Services to create web-based legal resources and upgrade volunteer communication strategies. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation is one of 15 recipients of grants from LSC’s $4 million Pro Bono Innovation Fund
Established in 2000, LSC’s Technology Initiative Grant program supports projects that develop and replicate technologies to improve efficiency and provide greater access to high-quality legal assistance. The program distributes up to $4 million annually to LSC-funded legal aid organizations. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation is receiving one of 25 technology grants.
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services will use its Technology Initiative Grant to improve its website, LouisianaLawHelp.org. The project will progress in three stages: a website evaluation phase, a site overhaul and redevelopment phase, and a site outreach and marketing phase. It will incorporate many of the recommendations from LSC’s recent statewide website evaluation project with the goal of optimizing the website for use on mobile devices and increasing overall usability.
The Graduates for Justice will work with SLLS for eight weeks while they await bar exam results.
Deanna Cuevas will work with our General Civil Law Unit in the Baton Rouge.
McKayla Smith will work with our Veterans and Innovative Projects Unit in New Orleans.
Urvi Patel will work with our Housing Unit in New Orleans.
Sara Ashton LaRosa will join us as a law clerk to our Public Housing Youth Reentry project in New Orleans.
Marcus Foster is a new Lutz Fellow assigned to our Baton Rouge office. A graduate of Tulane Law School and Ursinus College, Marcus will target domestic violence and family law.
Alexandra Kamp is our new Lutz/Louisiana Bar Foundation Child Welfare fellow in our Westbank office. A graduate of Tulane Law School and the University of Southern Mississippi, Alexandra will focus on Child in Need of Care cases.
Alexis Erkert Depp joins SLLS’ New Orleans Housing Law Unit as our new Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow. Alexis’ project focuses on mitigating the collateral consequences of mass incarceration in the greater New Orleans area by increasing access to stable, affordable housing for low-income formerly incarcerated people (FIPs). A graduate of Appalachian State University and the Northeastern University School of Law, Alexis clerked for LLS in our Housing Law Unit in the New Orleans office in 2015.
Hosted at the Greenwell Springs Road Regional Library in Baton Rouge.
Flood Proof was there — Louisiana Rep. Edward “Ted” James District 101 meeting with the Louisiana Department of Insurance and the Restore Louisiana program.
The work of SLLS housing attorney Hannah Adams is featured in “Over a hundred families in New Orleans East facing eviction in September,” by WWLTV.
Click above to read about SLLS’ disaster recovery work in “Our flooded neighbors need a hand, New Orleans: Editorial” from The Times Picayune.
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Laura Tuggle (504) 529-1000 ext. 270 or ltuggle@slls.org
Flood Proof Project Helps Disaster Survivors Recover
BATON ROUGE, La—As the one year anniversary of last year’s devastating August 2016 flood approaches, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) and its “Flood Proof” project partners are pleased to announce that 106 disaster impacted homeowners have been assisted to unlock $3,045,763 in flood recovery funding or other economic benefits. “Flood Proof’s” goal is to help survivors living in their property informally passed down to them after the death of a loved one, get the legal proof they need to show they own their home. Such proof is often a requirement to receive federal recovery funds, insurance proceeds, loans, and other rebuilding resources. The project provides free legal services to eligible homeowners living in East Baton Rouge, Ascension, and Livingston parishes whose homes were flooded. Another 154 families still have pending cases.
“While we have made progress in helping move our community forward, we still have a long way to go”, said SLLS Executive Director Laura Tuggle. “Though it has been almost a year since the flood wreaked havoc, it seems like yesterday for thousands of people who still have been unable to rebuild. Due to the generous support of our funders, volunteers, and community stakeholders, we plan to continue the project to help as many vulnerable families as possible get the help they need to recover.”
Support for the project is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Equal Justice Works, and the Louisiana Bar Foundation. Project partners include SLLS, Louisiana Appleseed, Southern University Law Center, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Innovation.
Since its inception last fall, “Flood Proof” has participated in 84 outreach events reaching 4,900 survivors. Three events are planned this week:
August 10, 2017 5:30pm-8:00pm Baker Municipal Center, 3325 Groom Rd. Baker, La 70714
August 12, 2017 9:00 am-12:00pmDenham Springs Junior High School 401 Hatchell Ln.
Denham Springs, LA 70726
August 12, 2017 9:00 am-4 p.m. Arsenal Park, 930 N 7th St. Baton Rouge, LA 70802
To make it easier for survivors to access free legal help, the “Flood Proof” app was created. The app is available for download on Android and Apple phones.
We are excited to announce it is now available online at https://floodproofapp.org.
We are grateful to the ABA Center for Innovation and Stanford University for their support in creating the app.
A new video made possible by the ABA Standing Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness explaining the app and how we are making a difference in the lives of survivors is at https://vimeo.com/226507610/6ea3ec8103.
Disaster impacted families needing free legal help to prove ownership of their homes to help them recover from the flood, can call 1-844-244-7871, download the app, visit the website, or come out to outreach events.
SLLS also provides free civil legal services with other kinds of disaster-related problems impacting survivors like FEMA appeals, foreclosure prevention, contractor disputes, landlord-tenant problems, and family law matters.