Community Legal Aid education work in Worcester County aims to help at least 50 students and their families know their rights in the special education and school discipline processes. With the Foundation’s support, Community Legal Aid will provide free legal assistance to low-income students who have disabilities that the school is failing to address appropriately with adequate services. This includes work representing children with disabilities at IEP and 504 meetings as well. The work will also entail providing legal assistance to students faced with unlawful or unfair disciplinary actions which excludes them from the classroom, including representing students at principal suspension or expulsion hearings and superintendent appeals.

Students may also be eligible for legal assistance if their language access rights have been violated or they have been denied access to school or treated improperly because they have experienced homelessness.

In addition, after years of schools toggling between remote, hybrid, and in-person learning, Community Legal Aid advises families on COVID-specific issues, including compensatory services such as tutoring to make up for lost learning time, and how to support students with social/emotional impairments who experience exacerbations as they transition back to school.

With all of these services, Community Legal Aid works to facilitate better communication between schools and families, with the goal of helping to ensure that at-risk students remain and succeed in school.

If a young person between the ages of 3 and 22 is experiencing any difficulties related to their education and would like to apply for help, please call Community Legal Aid’s intake line at 855-CLA-LEGAL (855-252-5342) or apply online at https://communitylegal.org/get-help/.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Receives Grant to Help Students in Fitchburg and Worcester appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

Community Legal Aid, the non-profit civil legal aid program serving the low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties, is pleased to announce that it has received funding from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation to support its CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information)/Re-entry work in Worcester County.

Persons recently released from incarceration face myriad civil legal problems, including barriers to housing and employment opportunities. Community Legal Aid’s CORI/Re-entry work focuses on helping formerly incarcerated individuals overcome the barriers that may hinder their ability to reintegrate into society. Civil legal assistance can play a critical role for people leaving jail and returning to society, translating into reduced recidivism and increased success for reintegration into the community. Helping formerly incarcerated individuals obtain stable housing and work provides stability to the individual as well as to the communities and neighborhoods receiving them. Our ability to effectively address these problems goes to the very core of the American belief in offering second chances.

Community Legal Aid’s Worcester County CORI/Re-entry work has been led by Attorney Nina Harrison, a graduate of Howard University and Boston College Law School, since 2019. In addition to her work serving individual clients with their CORI-related re-entry issues, Attorney Harrison trains staff at frontline agencies that assist formerly incarcerated individuals identify the legal issues facing ex-offenders. Some of those agencies include the Worcester Public Library, Family Health Center of Worcester, Restoration Recovery Center in Fitchburg, Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, and University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.

Funding from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation will have a tremendous impact in helping Community Legal Aid address the challenges facing the region’s community members. The Gardiner Howland Foundation’s support of $20,000 allows Community Legal Aid to allocate resources specifically to assisting at least 20 individuals in Worcester County.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Receives Grant to Help Formerly Incarcerated People appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

In addition to representatives from local law firms, partner social service organization, community partners and members of the public, United States Congressman James McGovern attended and provided remarks.

Congressman McGovern has served the residents of Massachusetts Second District since 1996, and he has been a great friend to Community Legal Aid for many years. From supporting federal funding for legal services and leading the charge to provide SNAP benefits, housing and other issues, Congressman McGovern has fought for our clients to live with dignity and safety. He told guests, “This new office space will allow Community Legal Aid to have an even bigger impact on our community. I’m honored to be a part of this celebration because we need you now more than ever. The work you do here will make a difference – for our community, for our commonwealth, and for our democracy.”

Community Legal Aid has moved its Worcester operations to the downtown Guaranty Building, 370 Main Street. This new location is in close proximity to the Worcester County Courthouse and remains easily accessible by public transit, but it will better accommodate our growing team. Community Legal Aid, and its affiliate, the Central West Justice Center now employ a team of over 60 attorneys, paralegals, AmeriCorps advocates and support staff who provide civil (non-criminal) legal assistance to elders facing abuse or exploitation, at-risk students needing school-based services, victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders and/or family law assistance, individuals and families facing homelessness, and those in need of public benefits including food stamps, Social Security/SSI, and unemployment.

For more information about the event, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

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As Managing Attorney, Attorney Jean-Pierre oversees a team of attorneys, paralegals, AmeriCorps advocates and support staff who provide civil (non-criminal) legal assistance to elders facing abuse or exploitation, at-risk students needing school-based services, victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders and/or family law assistance, individuals and families facing homelessness, and those in need of public benefits including food stamps, Social Security/SSI, and unemployment. He will also spearhead community outreach to local social service agencies and to residents of Worcester County who may be eligible for services from Community Legal Aid. Attorney Jean-Pierre joins a management team of four attorneys who manage Community Legal Aid’s offices in Worcester, Springfield, Northampton, Pittsfield, and Fitchburg.

Attorney Jean-Pierre received a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University where, in addition to completing his studies, he mentored at-risk youth and was a track and field athlete for four years. After college he obtained his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. While in law school, he served as a summer intern at Community Legal Aid’s predecessor organization, Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts in Worcester. After completing law school, Attorney Jean-Pierre started his law career as a Bart Gordon Fellow with Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services. When the fellowship ended, he became a full-time staff attorney with the Worcester office of Community Legal Aid where he litigated various domestic relations and restraining order matters. After nine years with Community Legal Aid, he joined the Law Office of Murphy and Rudolf LLP where he continued to practice in the Probate and Family Court and also represented parents and children in Care and Protection matters in the Juvenile Court. In 2016, he joined the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau as a clinical instructor, where he supervised law students and taught courses in advanced clinical procedure.

During his career, Attorney Jean-Pierre has served as Co-Chair of the Family Law Section for the Worcester County Bar Association and worked with various community partners in Worcester to address the effect that domestic violence has on families. In 2012, he was honored with the YWCA Great Guy Award & Official State Citation.

“Lyonel is an accomplished advocate as well as a caring, compassionate, and thoughtful person who will provide wonderful support to staff,” said Community Legal Aid Executive Director Jonathan L. Mannina. “We are delighted that he is taking on this role of Managing Attorney and are excited about the work he will do to assist Worcester County’s most vulnerable individuals with their urgent civil legal needs.”

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Names Lyonel Jean-Pierre Jr. as Managing Attorney of its Worcester Office appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

“It is critical to us as a firm, that the work of the Community Legal Aid continue,” said Charlie Casartello Jr., Managing Partner at Pellegrini, Seeley Ryan & Blakesley. “For 70 years, they have provided invaluable advocacy for and support to people who otherwise would not be able to afford legal representation. The impact they make is tremendous and we are proud that we can make a difference in their mission,” he added. Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan and Blakesley is a law firm of more than fifteen lawyers who, since 1957 devote their practice to protecting the rights of injured persons.

Pictured: PSRB Attorneys Charles Casartello, Jr., Michael Cardaropoli, Patrick McHugh, Sondra Santanelli, Community Legal Aid Managing Attorney Corrine Ryan, PSRB Attorney Daniel Blakesley, Community Legal Aid Development Director Tom Navin, PSRB Attorneys Peter Moran, Earlon Seeley III, Tom Downey

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Priscilla has spent more than two decades in civil legal services. Her work started at the Massachusetts Justice Project (MJP), an agency which provided legal advice, education, referrals, and direct representation to low-income residents of Central and Western Massachusetts. In 2004, Priscilla received the Equal Justice Award from MJP.

Priscilla began specializing in elder law in 2011, when, while at MJP, she staffed a statewide Senior Legal Helpline project while continuing to assist individual clients and engaging in outreach activities with senior centers, councils on aging, and other agencies providing services to elders. When MJP merged with Community Legal Aid in 2014, Priscilla became the Intake Paralegal for the organization’s elder work across its five-county service area, a role she has held to this day. The Elder Law Unit of Community Legal Aid assists persons 60 years old and older with issues involving housing; SSI, Social Security Disability Insurance, and other Social Security issues; access to healthcare benefits including MassHealth and Medicare; nursing home rights; SNAP (food stamps) and other benefits; family law, including physical abuse; and financial exploitation. For over a decade, Priscilla has helped hundreds of clients while supervising, training, and mentoring non-attorney volunteers and interns, and she is known to all as a committed and caring professional.

A graduate of Algonquin Regional High School, in Northborough, MA, Priscilla obtained a B.A. in Spanish from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and thereafter taught Spanish at Penn State. She then returned to Massachusetts for a career in public service. Currently a resident of Hampden County, Priscilla is also highly creative and artistic. As a Halloween enthusiast, she leads her colleagues in an annual office Halloween event and assembles incredibly imaginative Halloween costumes every year.

About Community Legal Aid:
CLA provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid’s Priscilla Pettengill Honored at WCBA’s Annual Law Day appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

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The WBA’s Board represents varied legal experience, diversity, and a steadfast commitment to advocating on behalf of women’s issues. Said Dick, “I am honored to serve as the Vice President, Operations for the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, and am ready for both the challenges and opportunities it will bring. The WBA is a gathering place for women attorneys and others who share an interest in achieving ‘the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society.’ It is a powerful force for positive change in Massachusetts, and I am delighted to be a part of it.”

Raised in Canada and in Ohio, Attorney Dick earned her B.A. from The Ohio State University, where she majored in political science and classical humanities with a minor in linguistics, and her J.D. from Ohio State Moritz College of Law. For her third year of law school, Attorney Dick studied at Harvard Law School as a visiting student. During law school, she served as a law clerk with the Juvenile Public Defenders office in Franklin County, Ohio, and as a legal intern with GLAD Legal Advocates and Defenders in Boston. Before joining Community Legal Aid as a Staff Attorney in the Family Law Unit in 2017, she handled pro bono (volunteer) family law and guardianship cases through the Women’s Bar Foundation (the WBA’s sister organization) and Volunteer Lawyers Project, and received the Meg Connolly MVP Award from Senior Partners for Justice in February 2017.

In 2019, Attorney Dick was elected to the WBA Board of Directors and served a two-year term as a Regional Director representing Central Massachusetts. She was first elected to the WBA Executive Board as Secretary in 2021. In her free time, Attorney Dick enjoys baking, being active, reading, and spending time with her dog.

About the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts:
Founded in 1978 by a group of activist women lawyers, the Women’s Bar Association boasts a large membership of women lawyers, judges, policy makers, and law students across Massachusetts. The WBA is committed to the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society. For more information, visit www.womensbar.org.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Attorney Julie Dick Elected to Executive Board of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

Attorney Komar-Bates joined Community Legal Aid’s affiliate, Central West Justice Center, in 2016, first working as a Staff Attorney for the Benefits Unit and the Medical-Legal Partnership before transitioning to the Housing Unit. Since then, she has represented clients in housing cases in Housing Court, District Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and administrative hearings. Over the past year, she has been a Coordinating Attorney for the COVID-19 Eviction Legal Help Project (CELHP). Launched in the fall of 2020 with funding provided by the state, the CELHP project provided urgently needed legal assistance to combat the rise in evictions, and potential for homelessness, arising during the pandemic. Attorney Komar-Bates will oversee cases in the Worcester County area.

“Over the past five years, and particularly during the pandemic, I have been honored to be able to help individuals, the elderly, and families avoid eviction and homelessness,” said Komar-Bates. “I look forward to supporting and collaborating with members of the Housing Unit’s team as we continue to protect the rights of tenants in Worcester County.”

Originally from New Jersey, Attorney Komar-Bates is a graduate of Vassar College and Boston University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and a recipient of the Public Interest Scholarship. After graduating from law school, Attorney Komar-Bates served as a law clerk in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts. Attorney Komar-Bates resides in Upton with her spouse and two children.

Attorney Mandy Winalski has been with Community Legal Aid since 2014, first as a Staff Attorney and then as a Coordinating Attorney for the Housing Unit. In addition to representing low-income and elderly individuals in housing matters, she has staffed “Lawyer for the Day” and led “Know Your Rights” trainings for partners and client communities in Hampshire and Franklin Counties. Prior to joining Community Legal Aid, Attorney Winalski spent five years as a civil litigator in Connecticut. Attorney Winalski will oversee cases in Hampden, Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin counties, and work out of Community Legal Aid’s Springfield office.

“For the last seven years, I have proudly advocated for our low-income and elderly clients,” said Attorney Winalski. “The past year, I have had the incredible experience of overseeing the work of junior attorneys and case managers. Now, I look forward to the opportunity to take on a supervisory role and share my passion and expertise with my incredibly talented colleagues.”

Attorney Winalski is a graduate of Temple University and Boston University School of Law. She was also a member of the inaugural class for the Animal Law LL.M at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland Oregon, and she regularly participates in animals rights activism and outreach. She currently resides in Western Mass. with her spouse, 5 cats and 4 guinea pigs.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. Community Legal Aid works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Names Blair Komar-Bates & Mandy Winalski As Senior Supervising Attorneys in Housing Unit appeared first on Community Legal Aid.

As Managing Attorney, Attorney De Oliveira will oversee a team of attorneys, paralegals, and support staff who provide civil (non-criminal) legal assistance to elders facing abuse or exploitation, at-risk students needing school-based services, victims of domestic violence seeking protective orders and/or family law assistance, individuals and families facing homelessness, and those in need of public benefits, including food stamps, Social Security/SSI, and unemployment. She will also spearhead community outreach to the residents of northern Worcester County who may be eligible for services from Community Legal Aid. De Oliveira joins a management team of four attorneys who manage Community Legal Aid’s offices in Worcester, Springfield, Northampton, Pittsfield, and Fitchburg.

Attorney De Oliveira joined Community Legal Aid in October 2018 as a staff attorney in the Family Law Unit and has been based in the organization’s Fitchburg office since it opened in 2019. During her time in the Family Law Unit, De Oliveira assisted many domestic violence survivors with their family law cases, managed the Uncontested Divorce Project, helped supervise the unit’s AmeriCorps advocate, and trained and mentored new attorneys. As a member of the Fitchburg office, De Oliveira participated in regular Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault roundtables and built strong relationships with the Domestic Violence liaisons from the Fitchburg and Leominster Police Departments, as well as with local community partners and advocates in the Northern Worcester County area. Prior to joining Community Legal Aid, De Oliveira worked for over ten years as a senior paralegal and law clerk in immigration and family law in nonprofit organizations and private firms.

De Oliveira grew up in Worcester and has remained an active member of the community. From 2019-2021, she was a commissioner on the Worcester Human Rights Commission, and she is a member of the Worcester County Bar Association and Community Legal Aid’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. De Oliveira’s passion for the law and equity is particularly evident in her work on language access issues. She is an active member of the statewide legal aid Language Access Coalition and is trilingual herself, fluent in English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. She is a graduate of New England Law in Boston and Brandeis University, and currently resides in Worcester with her spouse and two children.

“Lauren’s legal background and skills make her particularly well suited to provide guidance and support for our North County staff as they help the area’s most vulnerable individuals with their urgent civil legal needs,” said Community Legal Aid Executive Director, Jonathan L. Mannina. “We are delighted that she is taking on this role of Managing Attorney, and are excited about the work she will do to assist clients in the North Worcester County region.”

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.

The post Community Legal Aid Names Lauren De Oliveira as Managing Attorney of the Fitchburg Office appeared first on Community Legal Aid.