FY24 ANNUAL REPORT
July 1,2023-June30,2024
Imagedescription:14membersofBeyondLegalAid’sstaffposing foraphotoinfrontofaBeyondLegalAidbackdrop.
Boardof Directors
Secretary
ELIZABETH ARUMILLI
LEMINHHOANG
LIZAJAGER
LINH-TRANG WILLIAMS
RUCHIECHADHA
JOSHTAYLOR
GLENDAWARD
NADIASINGH NATALIELUNDAK
LUISAMEZQUITA-VELASCO MARABLUMENSTEIN
Lett theP
Dear Beyond Legal Aid supporters,
I am thrilled to celebrate with you a significant milestone: our 10th anniversary of providing community based legal aid to Chicago! Over the past decade, we have dedicated ourselves
to ensuring expanded ou
We are partic year Many o southern bor through our specific prog immigration emergency fu to empower legal services
Imagedescription:HeadshotofBeyondBoard President,ElizabethArumilli,againstthebackdropof alake
I also want to years, Lam h services to the communities without them Thank you Lam for all you ve done! Finally, I am thrilled to welcome Beyond Legal Aid’s new Executive Director, Bindhu Vijayan I look forward to seeing how Beyond Legal Aid will grow and thrive under her leadership
To our supporters, thank you for being an essential part of our journey over the past decade
Together, we are making a difference in the lives of those who need it most, and I am excited to see what we can achieve in the years to come
Elizabeth Arumilli
ElizabethArumilli Board President
Imagedescription:HeadshotofBeyondExecutive Director,BindhuVijayan,inagarden
Letterfrom theDirector
Dear Friends of Beyond Legal Aid,
I write this with deep gratitude and excitement as I step into the role of Executive Director at Beyond Legal Aid I want to begin by acknowledging our founder, Lam Ho, whose vision and dedication built Beyond into the powerful organization it is today I am honored to carry this legacy foward.
Ten years ago, Beyond then the Community Activism Law Alliance was founded on the belief that the power of the law should be shared with communities most affected by injustice Today, with over 26 programs and partnerships across Illinois, we are a movement creating real change thanks to our community partners and your unwavering support
This year, we provided over 2,093 instances of legal support in immigration, criminal, civil, and housing cases A key highlight was our groundbreaking partnership with the Chicago Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (CIWOC), where we provided legal support to incarcerated individuals, helping them challenge prison conditions, appeal convictions, and fight systemic injustices This collaboration is a powerful step toward empowering those we had not fully supported before
In collaboration with five community partners, we also hosted 26 workshops and presentations, reaching more than 500 participants on critical topics like immigration rights, labor rights, and housing assistance. Additionally, we launched the inaugural US Legal Empowerment Leadership Course in partnership with NYU Law and the Legal Empowerment Network, equipping lawyers, activists, and community leaders from across the country with tools to apply legal empowerment methods in their communities
We’ve also focused on gathering feedback to improve our work This year, we launched a comprehensive evaluation strategy involving staff, partners, and community members to ensure we remain accountable and responsive to those we serve
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our incredible staff the largest in Beyond’s history our Board of Directors, community partners, funders, supporters, and the community members who trust us with their stories Together, we have built something truly remarkable, and together, we will continue to push beyond boundaries and redefine what is possible
Here’s to the next decade of action
With deep gratitude, onward together,
BindhuVijayan Executive Director
Mission&Model
Imagedescription:BeyondattorneyAlyssaMoinetdoinganintakemeetingwith twocommunitymembersandoneFLAPstaffmember Theyaresittingatatable withalaptopandFLAPtablecloth
Model
Mission
Beyond Legal Aid unites lawyers and activists in a collaborative pursuit for justice by leveraging legal services to empower the most marginalized communities and individuals. Beyond is changing legal aid.
We are changing how lawyers and communities work together. Our lawyers work with activists to support their communities access justice and pursue social change.
Beyond Legal Aid’s community activism lawyering model shifts legal aid toward a more equitable, community-driven method of lawyering. We’re not only closing the justice gap; we’re redistributing the law’s power into the hands of our community partners, supporting the people most impacted by injustices to be leaders in social change instead of recipients of transactional legal services.
Through transformative partnerships with communities, combining our lawyering with their activism, we achieve more impact than lawyers working alone.
Beyond Legal Aid collaborates with communities through the process of building locallyowned legal aid programs.
The community owns these programs; community members and leaders staff and run the programs in partnership with Beyond’s legal team. All legal work is collaborative, and conducted within partners’ spaces.
Our team commits to a critical starting point: We can achieve social justice only when lawyers work with—and are directed by— community members, leaders, and activists. The community controls our work; they decide the areas of law we practice and determine the cases we take—and even how we handle them. Beyond's role is to support, empower, advise, and follow their decisionmaking.
Community Partners
Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment
Albany Park Defense Network
Arab-American Action Network Arise Chicago
Autonomous Tenants Union
Blocks Together
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
Centro de Información
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos
Enlace Chicago
Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project
Healing to Action
Increase the Peace
IWOC-Chicago
Jane Addams Senior Caucus Mano a Mano Family Resource Center
Organized Communities Against Deportations
Revolution Workshop
Sex Workers Outreach Project Chicago
Tenant Education Network
Únete La Villita
Vietnamese Association of Illinois
Case Demographics
TypesofImmigrationCases CaseBreakdown
2,093 Total Cases
198 Helpline Calls
26 Workshops
Finding Liberty
Imagedescription:fromlefttoright,Beyondattorney,AJJohnson-Reyes,communitymember,Juan, andtwoEnlacestaffmembers, poseforacelebratoryphotoafterJuangothiscitizenshippapers
It’s often easy to overlook certain privileges, but community member, Pablo, will always be grateful for the privilege of US citizenship. Pablo came to community partner, Enlace Chicago, in 2023 to renew his lawful permanent resident card (LPR) and apply for citizenship. There, he met and worked with Beyond and Enlace attorney, AJ Johnson-Reyes. Pablo said, “I wanted to become a citizen so I could have liberty in this country.”
After a few months of preparation and patience, Pablo was officially a citizen of the United States! As he reflected on his case, he said, “I’m so grateful for Enlace, my attorney AJ, and the help I have received here. I didn’t know about this resource here in Little Village, but now that I know about it, I tell everyone!”
One of the first things Pablo did when he became an official citizen was exercise his right to vote. It’s something he’s wanted to do for years, so now he will not take it for granted. He said, “I just voted for the first time recently. As a citizen, I feel so free and secure. I’m happy I’m able to do these things now. I used to feel ashamed that I couldn’t vote.” After his case was closed, Pablo expressed that he wants to help spread the word so that Beyond and Enlace can continue to support other community members like him.
Imagedescription:Communitymember,Juan,posingforaphoto
Pleasant Surprises
Financial stress is something many people experience in their life, and it frequently puts strain on relationships. Unfortunately, community member, Juan, experienced this first-hand. He came to the legal clinic at our community partner, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, in 2018 to receive assistance in collecting unpaid wages. For 6 months, Juan worked, wasn’t paid the agreed upon wages, and was repeatedly lied to about payment.
This act of wage theft destroyed his relationship with his wife, “it ended my 17-year marriage because my wife thought I was recklessly spending. I was afraid to speak up and tell her what was really happening until it was too late,” said Juan. Additionally, he hasn’t been able to get in contact with his children since the divorce.
In October 2020, a judgment was entered in federal court against the employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Illinois Minimum Wage Law for $24,318. During this time, Juan had little hope. “I didn’t think they could help me because of my legal status. The case was taking so long, so I didn’t think it would work out.” In 2022, Beyond attorney, Deb Garrigus, discovered that a property owned by Juan’s former employer was in foreclosure and she filed a lien on it. In August 2023, after 5 years of waiting, Juan was finally able to recover some of his stolen wages when the property was sold. He said this was a pleasant surprise as he had already resigned himself to not seeing any money:
“my expectations changed of [Beyond]. I didn’t think they would help me, but then I realized they really do help the community.”
This money won’t repair the damage done to Juan’s family, or relieve him of the years of stress, but it did restore his faith in fighting. Juan reminds us all to “have faith in this organization. It might take a while, but they are on your side, and they produce results.”
Letterfrom ourFounder
Dear Beyond Community,
Imagedescription:Beyondfounder,LamHo,pictured ataprotestholdinga“NoDeportations!”sign
After much deep reflection over the past few months, I have made the decision to step down as Co-Director of Beyond. For nearly a year, I have had the great honor to co-lead this incredible organization with my dear friend and brilliant colleague, Bindhu Vijayan. During this period of impressive growth and responsiveness to community needs at Beyond, I have been able to witness her incredible talent, commitment, and compassion as she oversaw our continued expansion into the Western suburbs, developed and implemented our response plans to support newly-arrived migrant families, and the launch of our new partnership with CIWOC (Chicago Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee)—Beyond’s first program to provide desperately-needed legal services and empowerment to prisoners.
Thus, it was with both sadness for leaving the organization I founded and love enormously after over ten amazing, invaluable, and utterly incomparable years; and also incredible excitement that Bindhu will have the opportunity, recognition, and capacity to lead the organization. I am filled with immense satisfaction, pride, and most importantly gratitude, as I appreciate: how lucky Beyond is to have the perfect person to trailblaze the next chapter of Beyond. I am so excited for Beyond 3.0 and its awesome successes and collaborations with the most underserved communities in Illinois.
Beyond has never been about one individual; it is an organization with an exemplary and dedicated team, a passionate community, and a radical mission. Under Bindhu’s leadership, Beyond will remain dedicated to our organizational priorities, commitments to our community partners, and a vision of growth and expansion into the suburbs, other legal deserts, and nationally. I hope that you will continue to support its vital work empowering underserved communities to create their own community-located, community- operated and owned, and community-directed legal aid programs to the best of your ability. In particular, I hope that you will consider contributing to the Beyond F3 Fund for Beyond’s 10year anniversary campaign. The F3 Fund will raise money for work that is very precious to me: changing the legal aid system and lawyers to shift legal power into the hands of communities.
Solidarity in Resistance….Lam
mily’sPursuit forJustice
ma is a new community member in Chicago. A her hoping to secure fundamental rights for her her family, she sought out immigration support m one of Beyond’s community partners, Enlace cago. Securing a legally-protected immigration us in the US is a central goal for many who ply aim to become active members of their new mmunities, to work, to build a life, to live with
curing status also meant being able to stay with enship. Status would also give Norma the ability . This latter concern proved pressing: Norma’s gh without status, traveling to reunite with her on and deportation upon her return. Tragically, Norma’s mother, and Diana’s grandmother, passed before either of them could say goodbye.
Facing this significant loss to her and her family, Norma ultimately decided to continue pursuing her rights under the law. After meeting with Enlace, she was assigned to work with Beyond attorney A.J. Johnson Reyes on her case. Reflecting on her experience, Norma noted that “it was like working with an angel. This is a miracle. I thank God and A.J. that I didn’t have to go through immigration on my own.” Throughout this difficult period, A.J. worked with Norma to assess her options, identify her goals and the outcome she desired, and ultimately, they filed her immigration application to secure her status.
Working with Beyond Legal Aid changed Norma’s opinions of attorneys. She was surprised that someone else could care so much about her case. Her daughter, Diana, also echoed this sentiment:
“For the first time ever, my mom has heard ‘yes we can help you out.’ It was exciting to see her have that hope. It’s awesome that there is someone out there who cares about people like us. We are excited to be at this point. As a little girl, I struggled with the thought that [my mom could be deported.] I’m happy for my mom.”
With A.J.’s support, Norma’s case proved successful. She is currently planning a trip to Mexico to visit her mother’s grave site as soon as her green card arrives. She and Diana will finally be able to say goodbye.
COMMUNITYEVALUATION
The evaluation centers on redefining attorneys' roles, addressing legal and extralegal needs, and strengthening Beyond's impact and relationships with its community Expanded from the 2020 Evaluation, it gathers numerous inputs to develop a more inclusive and collaborative system Moreover, it seeks to guarantee that Beyond's model continues to be productive and beneficial by emphasizing community empowerment, equitable connections, and responsive programming
Servicescommunitymembersreceived atBeyond: Communitymembers' intakeappointmentwaittime: Areyourneedsinthispartnershipbeingmet? Whatisonethingyouwouldchange abouttheintakeprocess? We
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Foundations
Alphawood Foundation
Illinois
Hughes
Corporations
Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Individual Donors
Imagedescription:volunteers,NanciaandBeth,pose foraphotoatBeyond’s9thanniversaryfundraiser.
THANKYOU,VOLUNTEERS!
Beyond would not be where it is today without the support of our wonderful volunteers. This organization was built by the collaboration and hard work of our volunteers and we are forever indebted to them. Beyond has various types of volunteers that includes language justice volunteers, legal interns, community empowerment volunteers, immigration helpline volunteers, development interns, and more. If you are interested in volunteeringwithus,pleasevisitbeyondlegalaid.org.
Imagedescription:Beyondvolunteersworkingatable ataworkshoplocatedinaschoolgymnasium.
Image description: Beyond volunteers pose for a photowhiletablingforimmigrationlegalaid.
Image description: Beyond volunteers, Irakere and Emily, working the check-in desk at the 9th anniversaryfundraiser.
Image description: Beyond volunteers working on a communitygardenforEarthDay.
Image description: Beyond volunteer appreciation eventatabowlingalley.
