Equal Justice Works

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2010 to Jun 30, 2011

Signed

Apr 25, 2012

Return Version

2010v3.4

Gross Receipts

$15,039,097

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Americorps legal fellows: equal justice works is part of the national service movement, by engaging lawyers and law students as americorps members to provide low-income communities with access to justice. In fact, equal justice works has been engaged with americorps since its creation in 1993. Now, the equal justice works americorps program provides critical legal assistance to 60,000 people each year. Americorps legal fellows and summer corps members help veterans to remove barriers to employment, prevent foreclosures, eliminate barriers to affordable housing, and protect victims of abuse. Equal justice works is a nimble and flexible first responder and an effective steward of federal funds. Results: -638 summer corps members served 37,308 clients at over 400 non-profit legal aid organizations and public defender offices in 44 states and the district of columbia.- across the country, 80 americorps legal fellows worked on 50,232 individual cases, including 1,933 cases of veterans, active duty military, or military families with benefits or foreclosure assistance, and 14,897 housing-related cases. Among the successes include homeless veterans leaving "skid row" into permanent housing, victims of abuse gaining protective orders against their abusers, workers recovering unpaid wages, and those affected by the bp oil spill obtaining compensation for economic losses. Ten fellows focused on foreclosure prevented 891 foreclosures. The joint economic committee of congress estimates the cost of a foreclosure to a community to be $77,395. Through approximately $250,000 in americorps funds spent on foreclosure prevention, the program achieved a return of $275 for every americorps dollar invested.- fellows and summer corps members provide community education about legal rights and responsibilities, collaborate with community organizations to increase the capacity of low-income individuals to resolve their own legal issues and to bring increased resources to those facing barriers to secure housing and stable employment.

Activity 3

Law school advocacy and outreach:law schools comprise a vital and dynamic constituency of equal justice works. As part of our mission to mobilize the next generation of lawyers committed to public service, we recognize that the importance of public interest law has to be encouraged throughout the law school experience. In 2011, 198 law schools, including nearly all of the aba accredited schools, were members of equal justice works. Our annual equal justice works conference and career fair, the nation's largest public interest law career fair, drew over 1,300 law students and attracted 117 employers. The equal justice works guide to law schools is a free interactive online resource of public service opportunities, curricula, and financial programs at law schools in the united states. The guide is the result of a unique collaboration between equal justice works and more than 150 participating schools. The goal of equal justice works' educational debt relief program is to ensure that the burden of educational debt does not deter anyone from pursuing a public interest career. In 2011, our educational debt relief webinars and in-person trainings at universities, conferences, and other forums reached nearly 2,000 borrowers interested in or already pursuing public interest careers. The resources we provided using social media - including our weekly u.s. News and world report blog, twitter, facebook and the educational debt relief portion of our website - were accessed by well over 100,000 people.because educational debt prevents many law students from pursuing careers in public service, equal justice works also advocates for the creation and expansion of loan repayment assistance programs at law schools and other organizations such as bar associations. More than 100 law schools now have some form of loan repayment assistance available to their students.

Filer

EIN

52-1469738