We’re excited to share our Top Ten Significant Achievements of 2024, made possible by your support and dedication to justice for all. Thank you for being part of our team! As we enter this new year, we know we will face challenges, but with your commitment, we are ready to meet the legal needs of vulnerable people in southeast Louisiana.
We hope we can continue to count on you in the fight for fairness. Remember, you have until midnight tonight to make your 2024 year-end gift. You can donate now at www.slls.org/donate.
#1
As of 12/26/2024, over 27,000 people received free civil legal aid from SLLS, resulting in almost $33.5 million of direct economic benefits thanks to the tireless efforts of our staff and the generous backing from our faithful team of donors, funders, and volunteers.
#2
We launched new projects in collaboration with community partners and funders, including our expanded Legal Services for Veterans Project funded by the Veterans Administration, our Vulnerable Veterans Advocacy Project funded by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, our Eviction Defense Clinic in partnership with Southern University Law Center, and our Heir Property Remediation Project funded by the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Dallas sponsored by local FHLB affiliate Red River Bank.
#3
In December 2024, SLLS began working on a new Technology Initiative Grant funded by the Legal Services Corporation. We will develop a statewide web application to enhance legal issue identification and streamline referrals for Louisianans in need. By working with the Louisiana 211 Information & Referral program, we will equip them to better assist callers. Key features include an AI-driven legal issue search, a user-friendly screening tool, and a smart referral algorithm.
#4
SLLS, in partnership with Acadiana Legal Services and the Louisiana State Bar Association Access to Justice Department, convened Louisiana’s second Disaster Law Collaboration Summit. Over 150 public interest lawyers, emergency responders, disaster case managers, faith-based partners, librarians, and other community stakeholders attended the event to highlight the importance of civil legal aid in disasters.
#5
SLLS was awarded $2.4 million from the City of New Orleans to sustain our innovative and award-winning Right to Counsel Program. This project has provided critical legal help to over 2,000 households composed of over 3,200 people. It was highlighted by the White House in its first ever Eviction Reform Summit.
#6
SLLS’ team was honored with the 2024 Louisiana State Bar Association’s Excellence in Advocacy Award, the New Orleans Bar Association’s Mark A. Moreau Award, and a Louisiana State Bar Association Children’s Law Award.
#7
SLLS hosted our popular “Bar Exam” fundraisers in both New Orleans and Baton Rouge having successful events with strong support from the legal community.
#8
After the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) closed its downtown location which had been located in area central to public transportation and to unhoused people, SLLS successfully negotiated with it to make an in-person access point available for thousands of people in need who rely on benefits and/or who have difficult relying solely upon online assistance. In response, DCFS agreed to station workers at the downtown New Orleans Main Library on Mondays and improved its website. In other DCFS advocacy, SLLS determined that their computer systems were not programmed to share information a food stamp applicant’s appointed representative with DCFS call staff. This meant SLLS attorneys were not able to effectively assist clients who needed legal help to resolve issues regarding eligibility for benefits. DCFS has now recognized the problem and is reprogramming its computers with SLLS’ help in developing interim workarounds. This will help hundreds of people who rely on vital food stamp assistance.
#9
SLLS protected the right to return and secured transparency in the redevelopment process for hundreds of public housing tenants displaced from their homes as a result of Hurricane Ida damage. Post-storm, the Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority tried to shutter both of its public housing projects due to hurricane damage. Tenants contacted SLLS about attempts to evict them from the only housing available and affordable to them. After defeating attempts to evict tenants, SLLS filed suit in federal court. The suit has now been settled, providing another round of vouchers for tenants still residing in the project, financial and case management relocation assistance, elimination of all rent that could have been charged since Hurricane Ida, and a right to return for the tenants when the housing is redeveloped. The settlement also requires rebuilding plan updates, notice of public meetings via the agency’s website, Facebook page, and email to the Resident Council, specifies notices to be given about future HUD applications, and assures revision of future leases to comply with federal grievance regulations.
#10
SLLS secured important wins for Medicaid recipients though impactful litigation establishing important protections for our clients and hundreds more. In one case, a grandmother’s Medicaid was being stopped because her six-year old granddaughter was not included by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) her total household size. The State’s policy did not comply with federal law. DHH was considering only our client in the household size. Federal law requires that eligibility be judged using the poverty line for a “family of the size involved.” Louisiana Medicaid’s policy did not use the word family and included only the applicant and sometimes a spouse in its budgeting. Despite our client having legal custody, the LDH would not count her granddaughter as part of her family. SLLS pursued an administrative appeal, which was unsuccessful, and attempted to negotiate with the Medicaid agency. We then filed a federal suit to have three Louisiana Medicaid categories account for dependents who are in the home. SLLS sought and obtained a preliminary injunction for the client. Parker v. Louisiana Dep’t of Health, 24-728, 2024 WL 1885561 (E.D. La. Apr. 30, 2024). The court also recently ruled against the agency’s motion to dismiss the case. 2024 WL 4930655 (E.D. La. Dec. 2, 2024). In another case, as LDH began post-pandemic case re-evaluations, it had promised the federal government that it would continue services for all who timely seek an administrative hearing on their terminations. Early in 2024, SLLS brought to LDH’s attention an appellant who was not being provided services and asked for LDH to determine whether others had similarly been left without services. LDH’s investigation determined that 300 people pending appeals taken in December 2023 had been left without continued services. The agency reinstated the recipients and changed its processes to prevent and catch any similar glitches in the future.