Newsletter
April 8, 2020
In this Issue:
  • Letter from the Executive Director: Legal services in the time of coronavirus
  • Update: We continue to help clients and open new cases!
  • New LASP resources related to COVID-19: Domestic violence, foreclosure & eviction, illegal lockouts for renters, public benefits, unemployment compensation, & utilities
  • LASP in the news - COVID-19
  • Virtual Clean Slate & Expungement Workshop - April 14
  • Spring break with LASP, in person for Penn law students & virtual for Drexel law volunteers
  • Collaborating across 4 counties - COVID-19
  • 2018-19 Annual Report was mailed in early March
  • LASP Giving
Letter from the Executive Director
Legal aid in the time of coronavirus
To LASP friends and partners:

With Pennsylvania's federal disaster declaration approved on March 30 due to the coronavirus public health pandemic, and with Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Bucks counties part of the state epicenter of the outbreak, LASP staff have mobilized to continue to support our communities from remote locations with limited physical operations .

LASP is committed to ensuring the health and safety of staff and clients during this crisis. At the same time, LASP provides essential services in its region and cannot simply shutter its operations. LASP staff are rising to the challenge to continue to help those members in our community who are most in need . On March 20, the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) requested clarification from Gov. Tom Wolf on the order to close "non-life-sustaining" businesses. On March 29, Gov. Wolf formally issued a letter permitting PLAN and 14 legal services programs across the state, including LASP, to continue operations at their physical locations, while complying with social distancing and other mitigation efforts to minimize risk to employees and the public.

There can be no question that LASP services are essential and will continue to be so as the effects of the crisis will likely remain for the long-term. Domestic violence will not stop and will likely spike as stress and anxiety rise. There will be landlords who take self-help measures against tenants, parents who do not return children after visitation periods end, and hourly employees at the many businesses affected by closures who will face loss of income and employment and challenges paying for food, rent, and other necessities. They will need assistance to navigate social safety net programs, which are seeing dramatic changes. LASP continues to assist clients with these and other emergent concerns.

To continue helping low-income people and to protect staff and clients, LASP has implemented the following measures:

  1. Staff are working remotely to the greatest extent possible;
  2. Helpline operations continue, and LASP is accepting new clients;
  3. Advocates continue to represent clients at all scheduled court appearances and administrative hearings. (Note that hearings are still occurring in all four counties, particularly in cases involving domestic violence and Children and Youth.)
  4. Walk-in intake, clinics and community outreach events are temporarily canceled.
  5. Managers meet regularly by video conference.

Your support of LASP is appreciated, welcomed, and needed now more than ever. If you have a neighbor, friend, or family member with a legal issue affecting a basic human need – with their housing, income, utilities, or with a family law issue or domestic violence, please think of LASP as a resource during this difficult time to help . We are available via our Helpline, 877-429-5994, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., and through our online intake portal .

Sincerely,
C. Shawn Boehringer
Executive Director
Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania
LASP continues to help clients, new & current!
COVID-19 resources
New LASP resources explain how to access help during COVID-19, in English and Spanish
The corinavirus public health threat has brought changes to the court system and to many facets of everyday life that impact residents of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. Throughout this crisis, LASP attorneys and staff, in addition to continuing work on behalf of clients, have collaborated to develop new informational materials, in both English and Spanish, to help explain how to access services and recent changes prompted by COVID-19.

Each flyer can be clicked to access a downloadable PDF. If you have any questions, please contact Marion Hoffman Fraley, Communications Manager, at 610-275-5400 x140 or mfraley@lasp.org.
Domestic violence
Homeowners & Renters: foreclosure & eviction information (2-page flyer)
Landlord-tenant - Illegal lockouts
Public benefits
Unemployment compensation
Utilities
In the news
Regional news coverage during COVID-19

Times-Herald and Pottstown Mercury story by Carl Hessler Jr.
March 19, 2020

* * * * *


Times-Herald and Lansdale Reporter story by Gary Puleo - March 27, 2020
New: Virtual workshop
Virtual Clean Slate & Expungement workshop April 14
LASP Attorney Deborah Steeves will present a Clean Slate & Expungement Workshop on Tuesday, April 14 at 4 p.m. The event will be held virtually through the Coatesville Center for Community Health .
 
The workshop is designed to help individuals with criminal records who may have been denied employment or other services because of their record. Participants will learn about the Clean Slate and expungement process, their eligibility, and learn how to proceed.  Register to receive the meeting link by emailing ccch@comcast.net.

To obtain a copy of your criminal record, visit http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJ.aspx.

Collaborating across 4 counties
A few members of LASP's team shared their screen during a recent meeting via video-conference. Through regular video-conferencing sessions, our team shares resources and ideas across the counties.
Spring break with LASP
Penn & Drexel law students help with LASP projects
NORRISTOWN - During their spring break in early March (and before coronavirus restrictions began), eight University of Pennsylvania law students volunteered at LASP Norristown, working with  Erica  Briant , Supervising Attorney for the Community Engagement Unit. Students:
  • Reviewed records for former clients to identify people eligible for the new expedited pardon process;
  • Analyzed expungement, sealing and pardon eligibility;
  • Drafted petitions for expungement, sealing and pardons;
  • Met with clients together with Erica;
  • Filed expungement petitions and scheduled hearings, with Daniel Cortes, Community Engagement Staff Attorney;
  • Helped at an expungement clinic at Pro Act in Norristown.

Just a week later for Drexel's spring break, COVID-19 social distancing guidelines went into effect, so the effort went virtual. Briant, together with LASP intern Sarah Fishel , trained students through Zoom. Sean Kilkenny returned from summer 2019, and Krystal R. Bordoni-Cowley, Raffaele Cicala, Alexandra Lynch and Kayla Panek also volunteered. They each were assigned 100 former LASP clients to review for eligibility for the expedited marijuana pardons.
University of Pennsylvania law students volunteered at LASP in early March, before coronavirus social-distancing guidelines prompted Drexel law's spring effort to go virtual. Penn law students are shown here. Front row  (from left): Erica  Briant and Roger Li. Back row : Wesley Newton, Cathlin, Joshua El-Bey, Mackenzie Libbey, Jon Blomberg, and Seth Rubenstein.
2018-19 LASP Annual Report
In your mailbox or online. ...
LASP's 2018-19 Annual Report was mailed in early March. If you are at a different location from where your LASP snail-mail arrives, check it out online !

In 2018-19, LASP handled 9,745 cases benefiting 21,302 clients and their families , in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. This Annual Report thanks our donors, pro bono volunteers, board members, advocacy staff, community partners, and all who contributed their time, talent and/or treasure to increase access to justice and level the playing field in our courts.

Please let us know your thoughts on the 2018-19 report! Contact Shawn Boehringer , Executive Director, at sboehringer@lasp.org ; Ann Tydeman-Solomon , Development Director, at asolomon@lasp.org ; or Marion Hoffman Fraley, Communications Manager and editor, at mfraley@lasp.org .
LASP Giving
Keep free civil legal aid strong in Bucks, Chester, Delaware & Montgomery counties during COVID-19.
 
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