Ohio's legal aid programs are continuing to provide critical civil legal services despite drastic reductions in both federal and state-based funding for 2012. In late November of 2011, Congress voted to cut the fiscal year 2012 federal funding for legal aid programs by almost 15 percent. The cut amounts to a loss of about $1.4 [...]
Ohio attorneys are now halfway through the time period available for voluntary pro bono reporting. The website which permits attorneys to report pro bono activities on a voluntary, anonymous basis will be maintained through March 31, 2012. All attorneys with an active Ohio registration, and an email address on file with the Supreme Court's Office [...]
Legal aid programs funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) have reported in response to a survey that layoffs and staff reductions are underway because of budgetary issues. The survey indicated that in 2011, LSC funded legal aid programs lost 833 staff positions through layoffs and attrition, and more are anticipated for 2012. To [...]
Hamilton area business and government leaders experienced first hand the challenges faced by people living in poverty as they participated in the "Cost of Poverty Experience" at the Butler County Educational Service Center. Participants were assigned roles and had to complete daily living tasks expected for the role, allowing participants to experience the frustration and [...]
New research by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University shows that poverty is spreading throughout Franklin county. The study, presented to 250 community leaders at a conference held in Columbus' Veterans Memorial Auditorium, showed an increase in unemployment in 64 percent of census tracts within Franklin county, [...]
Akron's new poor, those who were employed long term and now live in poverty due to job loss, face the additional disadvantage of being unfamiliar with the challenges of chronic poverty and the network of services available to address those challenges. To read more, click here.
Ed Icove, a South Euclid councilman and former board member and president of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, is teaming up with Cleveland Legal Aid to recruit South Euclid lawyers to represent homeowners facing foreclosure. To read more, click here.
Pro bono legal services by Dayton area lawyers has remained steady in the past several years, but the demand for legal services by the area's low income population has increased, according to Helenka Marculewicz, Executive Director of the Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project. To read more, click here.
Former board member Richard Cordray was appointed by President Obama to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The appointment was announced by Obama at an event in Shaker Heights. To read more, click here.
The Ohio State Bar Association announced it has selected OLAF board member Mary Amos Augsburger as its Legislative Counsel. Attorney Augsburger, currently the director of policy and public affairs for state auditor Dave Yost, will begin her new position in mid-January.
