26
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
COMMISSION ON HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY
INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES
The Commission on Homelessness and Poverty has jurisdiction over matters affecting the needs and concerns of individuals and families experiencing homelessness and poverty and the impact of laws, litigation and the legal profession on them. In carrying out its responsibilities, the Commission educates members of the bar and the public about legal and other problems of such individuals and families and ways in which lawyers can assist in addressing them, encourages and assists in the development of bar and law school pro bono programs which provide legal services to such individuals and families, trains lawyers to provide pro bono legal assistance to homeless and near-homeless people, works with ABA entities on issues arising within their jurisdiction that affect poor and homeless people, and works with state and federal legislative, executive, and judicial bodies to ensure that laws and regulations do not discriminate against individuals and families experiencing homelessness and poverty and are enforced in a manner that helps ensure a productive outcomes.
Since its last report in February 2016, the Commission held its spring business meeting and related programming in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, AL, April 14-16, 2016 (please see details below under “Collaborate to Advocate: Lawyers and Communities Working to End Poverty Initiative”). The Commission also held its annual business meeting and related programming in association with the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, August 5-6, 2016 (please see details below under “Collaborate to Advocate: Lawyers and Communities Working to End Poverty Initiative,”“Homeless Veterans Justice Initiative and Coordinating Committee on Veterans Benefits & Services,” and “Homeless Youth and the Law Initiative”).
The Commission’s longstanding Homeless Court Initiative and technical assistance related to legal services for homeless and low-income veterans were featured in the June 2016 issue of the ABA Journal with this headline: “Valuing Veterans: Agency provides holistic services, including homeless court and legal aid.”
Collaborate to Advocate: Lawyers and Communities Working to End Poverty Initiative
The Commission is midway through a three-year antipoverty initiative aimed at removing legal and justice system-based barriers that create or perpetuate poverty. Through this initiative, the Commission is collaborating with lawyers and advocates in communities across the country to identify, promote and implement best practices for eliminating legal and justice system-related policies, practices and procedures that unfairly perpetuate or worsen the harmful effects of poverty on low-income people and communities, including obstacles and barriers to public benefits, employment, housing, treatment and services needed by people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty. Through a series of anti-poverty community roundtables, the Commission is highlighting diverse perspectives from local advocates who are seeking to eliminate poverty and developing a web-based “quilt” of anti-poverty ideas. The initiative’s website includes a toolkit for communities to operationalize local anti-poverty agendas—featuring ten “Blueprints for Action” addressing housing and homelessness, disproportionate involvement in criminal and civil justice systems, food inadequacy, inadequate healthcare and poor health outcomes, inadequate education outcomes, lack of opportunity for full employment at a living wage, living through an unending and continuous cycle of crises, lack of personal and physical safety, stigma and lack of personal dignity, and isolation from community and political infrastructure. The online toolkit also highlights ABA policies relevant to each of these 10 manifestations of poverty areas and features tips on legislative advocacy provided by the ABA Governmental Affairs Office.
In association with its spring business meeting, the Commission convened 3 anti-povertyroundtables in Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, meeting with local lawyers, advocates, providers and the faith community to discuss how to break the cycle of poverty. While in Birmingham, the Commission met with locals at the Woodlawn Foundation at Social Venture, an innovative community development foundation that uses a “community quarterback” approach to education, wellness, and revitalization without the harmful effects of gentrification. To date, the foundation has developed 64 income restricted units as a beginning phase to aid in breaking the cycle of poverty and has invested over $700,000.00 in repairs for existing homeowners in the Woodlawn community to enhance the quality of life for the homeowners as well as build a sense of pride and with its residents. In addition to discussing issues related to education and housing, the Birmingham roundtable included a candid discussion on the intersectionality of race and poverty.
The Selma roundtable was convened in the historic Brown Chapel AME Church. Participants included the Mayor of Selma, faith leaders, local community advocates, legal aid, the prosecutor, a judge, the police, and concerned residents. The robust dialogue on race and poverty was guided by the following framing questions: How do our organizations, churches, the criminal justice system and lawyers collaborate to lessen poverty’s adverse impact on personal and physical safety? What racial and economic challenges impair your ability to collaborate with each other and regional and state partners for better: Education and schools, Shelter and Housing,
Mental health, AIDS and other Healthcare?How can we collaborate across racial lines to better educate the public and public officials about the reality of race and poverty today? How can the ABA and the Alabama legal community support a local anti‐poverty dialogue and your collaborative efforts? The community dialogue prompted a renewed interest in pursuing the creation of a homeless shelter and other critically needed services, and the Commission is providing technical assistance to support follow-up meetings convened by local groups to further these efforts. The Montgomery Advertiser covered the event, highlighting the Commission’s anti-poverty initiative (see “Anti-poverty movement draws Alabama activists” at
The Montgomery roundtable was convened at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Facilitated by Legal Services of Alabama, framing questions for the dialogue included the following: What is the best approach for legal services providers to collaborate with those providing education, housing, healthcare and other supports for the homeless and people living in poverty?How can we better collaborate with these entities, and legislative bodies, to remove inappropriate and damaging collateral consequences of criminal convictions?How can we more candidly collaborate across racial lines to better educate the public, and public officials, about the functional reality of the relationship of race and poverty? How can the ABA and the Alabama legal community support a local anti‐poverty dialogue and your collaborative efforts?
The Commission is working with the locals in each community to prove follow-up technical assistance in support of their follow-up meetings to enhance collaboration on anti-poverty programs.
The Commission held a program on Friday, August 5 in association with the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco featuring local community partners from the United Way of the Bay Area Roadmap to Cut Poverty (now in its third year)reporting on their various programs and accomplishments. Reports on their best practices, model programs, and innovative strategies will inform our initiative as we move forward.
Homeless Children, Youth and the Law Initiative
and Coordinating Committee on the Legal Needs of Homeless Youth
In association with the 2016 ABA Annual Meeting, the Commission and its Coordinating Committee on the Legal Needs of Homeless Youth convened a roundtable titled, “When School Is Your Home: Why Educating A Million Homeless Students Is A Civil Rights Battle.” The interactive roundtable discussion was led by a mix of local and national experts who examined the scope of the issue, discussed the rapidly shifting federal legal context, highlighted opportunities for lawyers to protect the right to education for homeless students, explained how this issue intersects with other civil rights issues related to racism, housing, and poverty, and presented best practices for educating homeless children as well as those at-risk. The dialogue at the program will inform the Commission’s work as it updates its bestselling book, “Educating Children Without Housing: A Primer on Legal Requirements and Implementation Strategies for Educators, Advocates and Policymakers” (the 5th edition will be released in fall 2016). Nationally recognized experts from the American Bar Association, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, and the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless will contribute to the book.
On September 28th and 29th the ABA Commission on Homelessness & Poverty and the Coordinating Committee on the Legal Needs of Homeless Youth, in collaboration with the U.S. Family and Youth Services Bureau, will host an invitation-only national stakeholder summit at Baker & McKenzie in Washington D.C. The vision for the summit is to disseminate information on progress that has been made since our joint ABA-FYSB January 11, 2016 domestic convening, engage new partners to broaden the effort, and set the stage for the next administration—all done in partnership with our colleagues at FYSB and other pertinent federal agencies. Working groups will focus on the following key issues in preparation for the summit: Responsibility, Criminalization, Identification, Access to Justice, Employment and Education, and Youth Involvement. Additionally, we envision highlighting Project Street Youth along with a national legal services network for homeless youth concept paper at the summit.
On International Day of the Street Child in April, we updated our international partners on the activities that have taken place since the Commission-led International Summit on the Legal Needs of Street Youth held in London in June 2015. Highlights from the update appear below. The full report is available online at
Homeless Veterans Justice Initiative
and Coordinating Committee on Veterans Benefits & Services
The Commission regularly provides technical assistance to judges, lawyers and advocates across the country on Veterans Treatment Courts, model pro bono initiatives, and strategies to remove legal barriers to benefits, employment, housing, treatment and services for veterans (and homeless and low-income veterans in particular). The Commission also staffs and leads the ABA Coordinating Committee on Veterans Benefits & Services (CCVBS).
The Commission/CCVBSsecured $100,000 from the Bob Woodruff Foundation to coordinate a two-day national stakeholder summit aimed at laying the foundation for a national legal services network for service members, veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. Coordinated in partnership with the ABA Governmental Affairs Office and with the support of Army OneSource, the Military & Veterans Legal Services Network Summit was held at the Washington, DC office of Jones Day, June 23-24, 2016. A team of lawyers from the Military Spouse JD Network served as Summit Reporters. As envisioned, the Network will provide a national nexus to connect and expand available legal resources by providing a single point of access to equip lawyers and their clients to holistically resolve any and all legal barriers. The Network will also foster collaboration on the state and local levels and promote education and training of the profession and public. Post-Summit work will focus on securing funding to foster connectivity and capacity for the Network infrastructure with the goal being to launch a national pilot.
The Commission continues to collaborate with the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) to provide technical assistance related to legal services at Stand Down, the VA and service provider organizations. The Commission coordinated a legal track comprised of 5 sessions at the annual NCHV conference in Washington, DC, June 1-3. Sessions addressed how to engage lawyers, innovations for justice involved veterans (diversion, early release, and reentry), partnerships to embed lawyers in provider organizations, family law and child support, and credit reports and consumer debt defense. The Commission also co-sponsored the 8th Annual Maryland Veterans Legal Assistance Conference & Training on June 3, 2016 in Baltimore (in partnership with the Homeless Persons Representation Project, Maryland Legal Aid, Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, University of Baltimore School of Law, The Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the University of Baltimore, and the Veterans’ Affairs and Military Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association).
The Commission continues to staff and lead the ABA Coordinating Committee on Veterans Benefits and Services (CCVBS). The CCVBS has secured liaisons from the pertinent ABA entities in an effort to foster greater communication and collaboration. Leadership, pertinent members and staff are regularly contacted and asked to share information on programming, policy development, pro bono initiatives and other activities. The CCVBS held its traditional midyear meeting at Veterans Village of San Diego, a model housing and treatment program for homeless veterans that includes civil and criminal legal services—including a Homeless Court—onsite. The meeting was preceded by a tour of the compound and a roundtable discussion with providers and participants. (The program was covered by the ABA Journal; see The CCVBS held its traditional annual coordinating meeting on Saturday, August 6 during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Participants were briefed on the Military & Veterans Legal Services Network Summit and reports on recent and upcoming ABA veteran-related activities were provided.
Homeless Court Initiative
The Commission continues to facilitate the creation of Homeless Courts throughout the United States by educating communities about this innovative response to the special legal problems of homeless people and equipping courts with the necessary tools to administer successful programs. Since its last report, the Commission has provided technical assistance to judges, lawyers and advocates in Chicago, IL and Charleston, SC, and new Homeless Court Programs were recently launched in Madison, WI and Sonoma, CA. TheCommission is sponsoring a presentation on Homeless Courts at the NLADA Community Oriented Defender conference in DC, June 9-10th.
John J. Curtin, Jr. Fellowship
The John J. Curtin, Jr. Justice Fund, a permanent endowment in the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education, was created to honor Jack Curtin, ABA President from 1990-91. In acknowledgment of his outstanding achievements, as well as the affection ABA members and staff have for Jack, his colleagues in the Association collected over $100,000 within a year of his leaving office to establish the fund. Jack's long-standing dedication to issues of social justice and civil rights led to approval by the ABA Board of Governors to use the income from the Justice Fund to provide stipends to law students working to help individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty. The Curtin Fellowship Program highlights Jack’s commitment to legal aid for individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty as well as serving as a mechanism for supporting law students as they provide direct legal services to our nation’s most vulnerable families.
This summer, four outstanding law students were awarded the ABA John J. Curtin, Jr. Fellowship: a $2,500 stipend in support of summer internships dedicated to addressing the legal issues related to homelessness and poverty. Skyler Collins of the University of Texas at Austin interned at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid in Austin, TX. Katherine Hanson of the University of Wisconsin interned at Legal Action of Wisconsin in Madison, WI. Danielle Stewart of the University of California Davis School of Law interned at the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, CA. Richard Prebilof Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law interned at the Homeless Advocacy Project in Philadelphia, PA, but ultimately declined funding after securing funding from another source.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Small, Chair
August 2016
1