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IN THIS ISSUE
Message from the Chair
FAIR Pledge
1607 LSC Rule Change
Client Member Spotlight
- Interview with Shawntelle Fisher
- Share Your Story with Delores Gray
Leadership Development Training for Clients
Poetic Justice Corner
Social Justice-Themed Art Auction
Client Resource Center
Upcoming Events
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Hello Client Advocates:
I wanted to provide you with some background of myself as NLADA Chair of the Client Council. It was brought to my attention at our previous conference in Houston that few of you know my history and how I am a part of the client community. I am best known for my wrongful conviction here in Texas. I stood up to our crooked DA (gladly to report he is barred from practicing law) by deciding to stay in jail instead of taking a plea deal for a crime I did not commit. After beating my bogus case, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New York heard about it and wanted to represent me in a groundbreaking civil lawsuit that would forever change Texas laws and my life. I went on to win my civil suit against the DA, the Sheriff's Dept., the Drug Task Force, the City of Hearne and the Police Department and several individuals. Turns out that not only did my case break up the "good-ole-boy" justice system in Texas but also around the world.
I was then approached by a movie production company that wanted to turn my fight for justice into a movie on the big screen. The award winning movie is "American Violet". You can watch this movie on Netflix, YouTube or purchase it on any movie site. I have also done a documentary for PBS called "The Plea" along with a few other documentaries for the ACLU to use as training tools for their attorneys.
For the past 19 yrs, I have been traveling the world training Chief Defenders and their staff on many various levels, teaching at different Universities around the world in which many have adopted my story as part of their curriculum in their law classes, was on Lone Star Legal Aid Executive Board of Directors-Houston, Texas for a few years (in which I am now hired as staff under the Victims of Crime grant in our local branch office -Bryan, Texas), I speak on re-entry not only from a woman's view but also from a mother's perspective, your NLADA Chair of the Client Council in which I also serve on the Executive Board of Directors as well as the newly elected Chair for the Texas State Client Council.
My ongoing goal as Chair this year is to continue to bring Clients to every table and make them apart of more trainings and/or conversations when it comes to implementing new rules and regulations pertaining to their lives and the communities that we live in. It is also my mission to implement a working plan with legal service providers to ensure their offices are not only hiring clients but also come up with a real working plan to do expungement clinics and outreaches in the communities that they service as well to ensure clients have a real chance with their re-entry process back into the world. All Client board members on any level should not only have board training when serving on a board but also a mentor to help guide them through the process for the first year. This mentor could possibly come from a Client Board rep that has been there for a while or from a designated Staff/Client Advocate person. I have learned that there are many Clients sitting on Boards that they have no clue as to their role. We often take our board seats for granted and do not realize that our voices are just as important as everyone else's in the room. The goal is to make the voiceless become comfortable with exercising their voice, inside and outside of the board room, as well as the communities they live in. As clients we cannot afford to remain stale or stagnant. Let's teach each other on how to be more effective in our roles. I would also like to encourage you all to learn the history of each client council that you represent. Learn your roles. Ask yourself am I doing enough? Please do not be afraid of change. We must continue to keep pushing forward as the world is rapidly changing around us.
I encourage you all to continue to strive for change in each of your programs and communities. Pass your knowledge along to teach the next person. You do a great disservice to us all by keeping the valuable information and history yourself. If you are working on something in the client community and have been highly successful at it or if you are slowly progressing and just need a little encouragement, please share your thoughts, struggles and knowledge in hopes of building a national bridge for us all. None of us have all the answers but together we can come up with the solutions.
#TogetherWeCan
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Dear Client Community,
Thank you for your vision and hard work in formulating the
Fight Against Implicit Bias and Racial Inequality (FAIR) Pledge
,
developed by NLADA’s Client Policy Group. The FAIR Pledge calls upon every equal justice advocate and organization to confront implicit bias, improve capacity to effectively serve clients, and positively advance racial justice. At this time, we are asking that all Executive Directors and Chiefs of Civil Legal Aid and Defender Offices sign the pledge on behalf of their organization
on this page
. We know that all of you – our client members – has great influence in your communities and that your encouragement to our program members (both civil legal aid and public defender offices) will help them commit to signing on to the Pledge. For that reason, we are asking for your help to please reach out to the programs you work with and ask them to sign the pledge. To make our request easy, we have drafted the attached sample letter that you can personalize and send directly to the programs.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We know with your help, the equal access to justice community can fight implicit bias and racial inequality!
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1607 LSC Rule Change
By Julie Reiskin
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Dear Fellow NLADA Clients:
I hope your New Year has been OK —and that each of you are seeing successes in our ongoing fight for justice. At the conference I shared that there was going to be a vote by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Board on the rule affecting client board member appointment for LSC grantees. They call this 1607 because that is the section of the regulations that has our client board member requirements. LSC did some extra outreach based on your great feedback and had RECORD levels of response. We got more than 90 comments and most of them were from clients and most of them supported the changes. THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing what you felt about these rules. That influenced how I voted and I know the lawyers were pleased to hear from you and they also listened to your input. 90 comments is MUCH more than we usually get on ANY sort of rule. GO CLIENTS!!!!
I will explain here what was changed, then address the concerns I heard.
There are two changes:
1) When LSC was formed in the 70’s there were lots of community action and other war on poverty organizations that were run by and for low-income people. It made sense in those days to have those organizations send client members to serve on the programs boards. The lawyers are appointed by the Bar Associations so it made sense to use these organizations to appoint client members. Things are very different today and there are not many of these community action organizations left. Sadly, most community-based nonprofits that serve low-income communities are
not
run by members of those communities. Also, some programs, especially in rural areas, have no such organizations in their service area at all. Another problem with this model is that the way nonprofit organizations run, including LSC grantees, has changed. The law, rules and best practices governing nonprofits have changed. Board members have the duty of loyalty to the organization placing the interests of the organization above their own interests. They have the duty of care with regard to being a good steward of organizational resources and must use good judgement carrying out their duties. The duty of obedience means making sure the organization follows all laws and rules and that the organization carries out their intended mission. While some people appointed by an allied organization can meet these requirements, the requirement that ALL client members be placed by another organization was impeding many programs. Most important to me was that it made it impossible for a program to nominate their own clients for Board service. Because some programs could not find organizations to nominate clients, or organizations were not engaged and failed to do it, some client positions were going unfilled. The change we approved is simply that programs are no longer required to use organizations to appoint client board members. Where it works well, our grantees are free to continue the practice. There is nothing that will stop any grantee from having another organization send a qualified low-income person to serve on the board. The change is that where it is not working, the grantees can now appoint ANY qualified client to their board. The goal is to make sure that client seats are always filled.
2) The LSC law says that clients must be eligible when they are first appointed to serve on the Board. This usually means that the client is under 125% of the federal poverty level. LSC had a rule that said the client had to be eligible EACH TIME they were renominated to serve another term. LSC was making the rule more strict than necessary and we changed this. Now, if someone is eligible when they start they are allowed to stay on the board for additional terms as long as the service is continuous. There were several reasons to make this change:
A) People do not forget their poverty experience because they start doing a little better. Sometimes it is the experience on the Board that gives someone skills and confidence to go back to work, or to improve their education allowing for a better job.
B) We want to see client board members escape poverty and do not want to punish people for success.
C) We do not ask programs to screen lawyers at each term to make them prove they are still lawyers. If a lawyer on the board retires or changes jobs they get to stay for additional terms.
D) Staying on a board should be about being a good board member, not any other characteristic.
If a program has no term limits and allows people to serve continuously then client board members can stay on the board as long as they (and the board) wants. If a program has term limits, then a client board member would have to abide by those term limits.
While most in the client community supported these changes, there were some concerns. I take all concerns seriously and I wanted to share my thinking and commitment.
1) If someone is no longer in poverty how can they represent people in poverty? What if all of the clients are no longer poor and they all stay on the board, and now the whole board consists of people not living in poverty?
In most situations the clients that get out of poverty are barely above poverty, it might be due to increased wages or hours at work, or the ability to use a disability work-incentive program like Medicaid Buy-In. It might be due to help from a LSC organization and now the client is receiving adequate child-support. Escaping poverty is a process, not an event. It takes time and just because one is over 125% does not mean one moves out of the neighborhood, changes ones friends, house of worship, etc. One does not forget the experience of poverty, especially when the poverty lasted years, decades or even a lifetime. If someone truly loses interest in fighting poverty the person is likely to resign from the board. While it is technically possible to have all client members escape poverty and stay on the board it is unlikely. Sadly, too few of us are getting out of poverty. LSC will monitor the situation and if we find that entire boards have no actual client eligible members we can always change the regulations again.
2) Having people from the community organizations kept a form of accountability to the community. If programs get to appoint their own people how do we assure community accountability?
Unfortunately the community organization model was not holding programs accountable. In most cases, organizations were simply appointing someone and forgetting about it or worse were not nominating people leaving programs short on client board members. There have not been many examples of representatives from community organizations reporting back to a community group as originally expected. Moreover, with the change in nonprofit management laws and expectations, some reporting back would no longer be permissible. In areas where there are true anti-poverty organizations appointing members to boards of our programs, this practice can continue.
3) There are plenty of low-income people out there and if the program is really interested they should be able to find people currently experiencing poverty. This will pave the way for new leaders.
We should always be recruiting new leaders into our community. However, in many areas there are not an abundance of people ready, willing and able to serve on our program boards. Where there are plenty we should share leadership..and nothing stops this from happening. We need to look at ways other than board appointments to bring more clients into the leadership space. At LSC we have committees and people who are not board members can serve on these committees. Programs can do this as well. Client councils can decide to include more people than just client board members for the purposes of leadership development. There are all kinds of boards and committees outside of LSC funded programs that desperately need the client voice. Our safety net defense work is a great example. We need to be helping people new to our movement to get involved with Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs, all of which have boards or commissions that either have client slots or should and need clients attending the meetings and speaking out for justice. There is nothing about these changes that stops new leadership development.
Real and meaningful involvement of people directly affected by any policy is my life passion. I will closely watch these changes, and honestly believe that these changes will make it better for client involvement. As long as I am on the board of LSC I will stay vigilant in monitoring these changes, and if they do not work as planned I will advocate for additional changes.
Finally, I have heard some clients are being told that due to these rules they have to leave the board. This makes no sense. Some people may simply be at the end of their term but it would not be due to these rules. If you have any personal questions feel free to reach out to me at 303-667-4216 (please leave text or voicemail) or jreiskin@ccdconline.org
Keep up your amazing work...keep fighting for what is right....together we WILL win.
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Interview conducted by NLADA's Membership Intern, Birica-Bikira Pierre-Louis
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Interview with Shawntelle Fisher
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Shawntelle Fisher has been a member of NLADA since 2016. She currently serves as an NLADA Board Member and is on Client Council, Defender Council and Development Committees. Ms. Fisher holds Bachelor degrees in both Educational Studies and Media Studies from the University of Missouri St. Louis and Master degrees in both Social Work and Divinity from Washington University in St. Louis and Eden Theological Seminary, respectively. As the Founder and CEO of The SoulFisher Ministries, a non-profit based in St. Louis, Missouri, she works with her team to respond to the needs of youth with incarcerated parents and to promote restorative justice for those currently and formerly incarcerated. Ms. Fisher strives to help women in the criminal justice system become positive, productive members in their community. She empowers them to know who they were created to be and not to be focused on what they have done. From first-hand experience, she knows what justice-involved women and children with incarcerated parents need.
Q: “Do you wish you did a lot of things differently?”
A: “No. She said, if I had not made the decisions I did, it would have never led me here. I’ve learned to embrace my past and what I have done. At the age of 15, I was a mother and by the age of 17, I was incarcerated. For the next 20 years I was in and out of the prison system. However, I’m not afraid to tell my story because it’s those same ‘bad choices’ that created the person I am today.”
Q: “How did you feel when the judge granted you your expungement?”
A: “I actually had 3 separate expungements. Being convicted since I was 17, I had been locked out of society for over three decades, so having all three expungements granted, felt amazing. However, it was the last one that was the most meaningful. Even the judge had to take a break because it was so emotional for her as well. Hearing my story made her take a moment because it was so touching.”
Q: “What gave you the idea to start your school?”
A: “It is actually an after-school program. This program targets and helps tutor kids in impoverished neighborhoods and unaccredited school districts. I took classes through the Neighborhood Leadership Academy. The classes pushed me to find what I was good at and my passion. I realized I wanted to help students with incarcerated parents. Being in the prison system, I observed that a lot of women are without family support. I wanted to give incarcerated women hope and support their transition back into the community. That is what motivated me to start The SoulFisher Ministries.
Q: “How did the community respond to The SoulFisher Ministries?”
A: “The St. Louis community and all of Missouri have been really receptive of The SoulFisher Ministries. We have partnerships with universities as well as healthcare partners.”
Q: “What is one golden nugget you would like to share with other clients to give them the motivation to keep pushing forward?”
A: “Let your voice be heard! Never be ashamed of where you’ve been and share your story. Always stay true to yourself, and outside of the dollar signs, make sure you do something that makes you happy and makes you want to get out of bed every morning.”
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Jay Coleman
A Hero Among Us and A Champion for Justice
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The NLADA family and our justice community lost a hero on March 27, 2019. Jay Coleman, a champion advocate for incarcerated people, a respected colleague who stood out among our collective voices, has passed away. As we reflect on Jay's remarkable life and contribution to our causes we are reminded that what we do as a justice community matters. No matter how hard the fight, how slow the progress can feel, or how exhausting the work, we need us to stay in the game. And when we do we leave a legacy of love that continues to inspire and motivate others to take care of each other, to fight for justice, after we are gone. We are thankful for Jay Coleman. His life was a blessing to everyone who values people equally, period. Jay lived his life like a song; encouraging, comforting and hopeful. This one's for you Jay Coleman, "Here comes the sun ...it'll be alright" (
The Beatles
), and you did so incredibly “alright”.
(Jay was listening to this song as the sun shone upon his face on a warm spring day just before he passed away.)
If you would like to do anything in memory of Jay his family has asked that you do something nice for someone in his name. A listen to “Here Comes the Sun” would also comfort his loved ones and honor his memory. Condolences can also be sent to his wife, Alison Coleman, at 104 Patroon Drive, Apartment 11, Guilderland, NY 12084.
Thank you to everyone in this community of advocates for your commitment to justice. Thank you for creating legacies of your own that will make a better world for us all.
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Delores Gray Shares Her Story
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As the Community Engagement Coordinator for Care Alliance Health Clinic, I help improve access to healthcare in my community, the Central neighborhood of Cleveland. I inform those in the community of the support services that we offer. I work to reassure them that they will not be turned away. The clinic offers primary care and dental services, insurance assistance and pharmaceutical services. We have four clinics to ensure that all areas of our community have access to services.
I help expand access to justice as the Community Representative on the Legal Aid Services of Cleveland Board of Directors, where I invite community residents to be represented at board meetings and educate them on different ways to receive the legal aid that they may require.
I take great pride in my community, and I work hard to educate and advocate for the people in my community. I am involved in various organizations including the Board of Commissioner and Progressive Action Council, Promise Ambassador for Sister of Charity and the East Tech Alumni Board.
I champion the holistic welfare of my community, including, healthcare, education and access to justice.
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NLADA works to put a human face on the issues of equal access to justice by telling the stories of clients and attorneys alike.
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Leadership Development Training for Clients
By Ronald Simpson-Bey
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I am
Ronald Simpson-Bey
. In addition to serving on the
NLADA Board of Directors
, I am the Director of Outreach and Alumni Engagement for
JustLeadershipUSA
, (JLUSA) a New York based advocacy organization committed to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. One of the ways we utilize to achieve this goal is by offering two types of leadership development trainings to directly impacted advocates around the country. One of the trainings that we provide is called
Emerging Leaders
, (EL) which is a day-long leadership development training that introduces the participants to other people,
campaigns and practices closely linked to successful criminal justice advo
cacy efforts; enabling
them to take on greater challenges, implement their visions for reform, and to generate quantifiable impact in their work. Clients are asked to urge their legal service programs to possibly send their staff and client board members to one of these trainings. (see dates and locations below)
EL participants will receive additional support from JLUSA’s leadership training staff through exposure and connections to various media and other communications opportunities through which participants may share their personal experience with the criminal justice system through storytelling to humanize the formerly incarcerated population, thus shifting hearts and minds of the public to push for reform. Emerging Leader participants will also be connected to the
Leading with Conviction
(LwC) leadership development program, as well as fellows and alumni who are in their local jurisdictions to facilitate the sharing of resources, knowledge, and connections to key stakeholders in the field.
All ELs participants must show a demonstrated track record of leadership in their communities, and a solid commitment to systemic criminal and/or juvenile justice reform, as grassroots/grasstops advocates, community organizers, or employees at direct service ATI/reentry agencies. All ELs must have had prior criminal justice involvement which we define as anything from being placed in handcuffs up to serving an actual jail or prison sentence or anything in-between. All ELs are responsible for the following:
·
All participants must attend the entire training, (generally from 8:00am-5:00pm);
·
They are responsible for their own transportation and lodging;
·
The training is a professional networking opportunity so dress is business casual;
·
They must complete any preparatory assignments and post-session surveys.
The dates and locations of the remaining Emerging Leaders events for 2019 are:
Our trainings have become so popular that participants travel from all across the country to attend one. For more information going forward and to find out when the LwC application goes live again you should follow us on
Facebook
and
Twitter
.
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From our featured poet...
Suzanne Small
The poem
Change!
is from my book
Reaching for Inner Peace
, a poetry book I wrote that was published by XLIBRIS.com. It can be bought on
Amazon
as well.
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Change!
by Suzanne Small
People tell me…
What do they know?
Not supposed to stand firm,
Yell my grievances
A thousand times, or so.
Not I, not complaining
But explaining.
The needy are not meant to be,
Looked upon as lowly.
So much to offer!
Hard work given, not neglecting,
To seek perfection;
yet overlooked.
It does not beseem,
to be ignored,
those who gave the most,
when benefits are due.
Generosity is only fitting;
not talking money only.
Healthcare is a must.
People suffering;
Dying.
Where’s the medicine
Science has promised?
Should we continue to advance?
never really learning
what it means to take a stance.
To scream out loud—make
A crowd listen!
Demonstrating for what you believe;
Social justice with no reprieve!
Things must change.
Definitely!!!
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NLADA's 2019 Exemplar Awards Dinner
presents the
Social Justice-Themed Art Auction
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For the first time ever, NLADA will hold a silent auction of justice-themed art during the cocktail reception of the Exemplar Award Dinner on June 12
th
. Artwork depicts justice issues ranging from incarceration to political protest, and all pieces are generously donated by artists from across the country, and funds raised will directly support NLADA’s mission of expanding access to counsel so that the promise of equal justice for all can become a reality.
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“Painting His Way Home is a self-portrait done in oil. It is done in my signature style of painting people - Pudgies - and shows me as the big green guy painting a mural of a hole in the wall (of my cell); that was my present (then). The paintings hanging on the walls all around me are pieces I have painted before, this is my past. The mural shows my home, where I live now, and that was my future - now my present. There are a few symbols within, but they are not always recognized by anyone who doesn’t know me.”
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“Suspicious Suicide” features Sandra Bland and the unexplained and suspicious circumstances surrounding her death in Texas police custody."
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Will Livingston began to paint after he was sentenced to forty years in prison in Oklahoma and could no longer continue his passion of music. Will’s family helps him to sell his art in galleries, art festivals, exhibitions, and donating paintings for charitable causes. Art is a way for Will to feel a part of the world – and to give back to community and society.
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"I was greatly moved by participating in the Women’s March on Washington and the March for Our Lives; they were shocking and inspiring in their size, the depth of passion and the collective fear and anger against a President and an administration that demeaned women, threatened their rights or defended egregious, permissive gun laws. However, I also could feel and see an “awakening” - a renewed energy and commitment to justice and human rights that hadn’t been harnessed in quite this way, since the Civil Rights movement and protests against the Vietnam War."
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Explore our complete
art catalogue
and learn about remote bidding.
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New Client Member Resources
Did you know NLADA has a special membership category just for clients?
Through a NLADA membership, clients engaged in the world of equal justice can take advantage of all of NLADA’s standard member benefits, along with our specially-curated content and engagement opportunities just for clients, including:
- Curated news and information.
- Access to the free Client Member listserv (OPEN NOW!).
- Opportunity to engage through the NLADA Client Council and weigh in on important issues facing clients across the country.
- Tailored programming at the Annual Conference.
- Steep registration discounts.
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ARE YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES PAID?
For inquiries about renewing your membership or how to join NLADA please contact us at
membership@nlada.org
.
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Help us expand our community to your colleagues and peers!
Your Chair, Regina Kelly CHALLENGES YOU to bring in 5 members or more for additional chances of
FREE
memberships with the offer above.
Sign up two new client members and your next membership is on us!
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SAVE THE DATES!
Upcoming NLADA Events
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