USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C om mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n ta Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 18, No. 01
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
January 3, 2018
1 Section, 12 Pages
The Escambia Project—Tackling the Justice Gap Locally By Christy Emmanuel and Leslie Powell-Boudreaux
We’d like to introduce you to the Escambia Project. This is an ongoing initiative to expand Escambia residents’ access to legal help for issues around family, housing, money, employment, driving, and more. We know that people have legal needs that they’re not getting addressed -- whether it’s around divorce, child custody, restoration of a driver’s license, housing issues, clearing criminal records, getting disability benefits, student loan debt, or more. Our goal is to make it very easy for people to find free or low-cost lawyers to help them. We are an interdisciplinary team, supported by Pathways for Change, Legal Services of North Florida, and The Florida Bar Foundation, working with community members to identify key needs, and to devise new legal help services that are user-friendly and easy to access. We are conducting our project as a series of experiments -- launching first versions of these possible new services, seeing how people use them, collecting feedback on them, and then setting our strategy from there. We have three initial services that we are trying out: Justice on the Block, Smart Intake, and One Stop Life Shop. Smart Intake is focused on spotting people’s legal needs, and then easily referring people to legal aid groups and supporting pro bono lawyers for help. The tool can be used by other social, medical, financial, or religious service providers. It can help nonlawyer service-providers ask people a few questions, and listen to their stories -- to identify if there’s a legal issue to pursue. The tool will then send the person’s information to a legal aid group, so they can follow up with the person. We implemented Smart Intake at the Pathways for Change Family Center initially, followed by the Community Action Program (CAP) where the tool is currently in the initial stages of use, and will expand out to other groups thereafter as adoption builds. Justice on The Block is about getting lawyers out into the community where people need them. We are organizing volunteer and legal aid lawyers to come in-person or via phone or videoconference to community events and centers. They can do initial consultations for free with people, and then get
them set up on a path for other services and them with lawyers. ongoing help. The first Justice on the Block • Become a host location for Justice on the event was held on August 22 at Pathways Block and / or One Stop Life Shop - within for Change Family Center; the second on reach of people with needs October 17 at CAP; the third is planned for • Volunteer as a helpful, trustworthy naviJanuary 9, 2:30-5:30 p.m. at Hillcrest Bap- gator in support of the people who attend tist Church on Nine Mile Road/Guidy Lane. these events seeking assistance One Stop Life Shop is about coordinating • Offer your services at these local events the delivery of legal help with other servic- directly - as a community- or public interes, in-person at a hosted site in close prox- est-minded professional, whether in-person, imity to the people in need of a multitude by phone or via Skype - from anywhere in of services. Anyone can come to receive the state to help us test, iterate and improve legal help and other government and social access to services services, addressing court issues, housing, • Share your ideas for improving the comdriver’s licenses, financial care, health, edu- munity’s access to legal help, and advance cation, and more. The services are free, or at the concept of a promising new service dea reduced cost. The goal is for a person to livery model to bring legal and other serviccome to one event, and get multiple prob- es within reach of our vulnerable neighbors lems solved (or at least started). The first For more information, visit www.escamOne Stop Life Shop was held on September biaproject.org or email christyemmanuel@ 15 at Pathways’ Family Center; the second outlook.com is planned for January 17, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at MorCommunity ris Eaddy Activity Center affiliated Services with the Lakeview Center at 1110 W. Lakeview Avenue (between G & H). Your community. In one place. At one time. We hope that We invite your organization to participate in One Stop Life Shop with other service providers. One Stop Life Shop brings you might be inmultiple providers together in one location, at one designated time, to make it easy for people in need to access social terested in partnerservices, legal assistance and government programming. ing with us. That GO “If I could just go could mean that “I really need to one place and help but I can’t connect with all the you: January 17, 2018 take more time services I need, my off work.” life would be so much 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. •Familiarize easier.” Morris Eaddy Activity Center yourself with, “I don’t even 1110 W. Lakeview Avenue know if this is Pensacola, FL 32501 and inform others something I can get help with.” about these events and the Smart Intake tool, and contemplate their GO BENEFITS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION: potential to make Meet your clients where they are. a difference in improving lives in Increase the effectiveness of your outreach. our community Become a part of the new model for human • Become a services delivery. Smart Intake partFor more information or to register your organization, ner, to help spot visit www.escambiaproject.org clients’ or neighbors’ legal problems and connect
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