By Kelly Goss, Washington Legislative Office at 10:20am
The Legal Service Corporation (LSC) was established by Congress in 1974 to secure equal access to justice by providing civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. Today, LSC helps fund nearly 140 legal aid programs across the country in their efforts to represent the poor on a number of vital issues such as combating predatory lenders, assisting in mortgage foreclosure proceedings or addressing landlord-tenant disputes. However in these tough economic times, most legal aid organizations haven’t been able to keep up with the increasing number of poor people in need of assistance. Even while legal aid lawyers work endlessly to assist financially disadvantaged people in their legal affairs, many qualified low-income persons still lack adequate legal representation. In some parts of the country, roughly half of those qualified to receive legal assistance are unable to obtain it.
By Kelly Goss, Washington Legislative Office at 11:29am
This year's ACLU Lobby Day at the 2008 Membership Conference promises to be an incredible experience and a great success! With over a record-breaking 250 Hill meetings scheduled thus far, more than 1,000 ACLU members from every state and territory will have an opportunity to meet with their respective congressional offices to lobby on some of our highest priority national issues: FISA, E-verify and stopping torture. Many of you will have an opportunity to meet face-to-face with your senators or representatives and tell them first-hand what you as a constituent would like them to do!
state and territory will have an opportunity to meet with their respective congressional offices to