Adopt-a-Neighborhood legal aid for Center Elementary families adds to area justice programs
Richard Williams knows where the problem properties are in his Center Elementary School neighborhood.
He could take you on a tour driving through this Marlborough Neighborhood he knows so well as LINC’s Caring Communities site coordinator at Center. Or just let him describe them.
Either way, the promise of a partnership with Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Adopt-a-Neighborhood program gives him hope that Center Elementary families can attack a lot of their problems.
Most of the families in the neighborhood rent their homes, and the hazards of properties out of their control, together with landlord/tenant issues, are just the beginning of legal barriers that keep them and their neighborhood from reaching their higher potential.
The Adopt-a-Neighborhood program is launching its collaboration with Center and LINC in a virtual town hall open to all Center Elementary families Nov. 12 to learn how the legal aid program can help them.
“Come voice your need,” Williams said. “Let’s sit down and talk across the (virtual) table.”
The Adopt-a-Neighborhood program, with the help of funding from the Health Forward Foundation, works with area law firms who donate services to help neighborhoods deal with personal and community barriers that hold communities back.
The Stinson law firm in Kansas City has collaborated with the Marlborough Neighborhood since 2009. In teaming with the Center School District and LINC, the program wants to expand its reach to families in Center Elementary.
These are powerful partnerships that Legal Aid would like to expand into more neighborhoods and schools, said Legal Aid Adopt-a-Neighborhood Project Director Kayla Hogan.
“Our team of volunteer attorneys can assist with things like real estate issues, estate planning, debtor defense, certain tax issues, and more,” Hogan said. “Our hope is to meet parents and grandparents at our virtual legal clinic to answer questions and provide assistance when necessary.”
By reaching out to schools, the Adopt-a-Neighborhood program is expanding on other Legal Aid efforts that also try to help qualifying families that may be unable to afford legal services.
LINC helped create and is supporting the Justice in the Schools program serving the Hickman Mills School District, and is also a partner in the Justice in the Schools Program in Kansas City Public Schools.
If more families can get help past barriers before them, and see their neighborhood taking control of scarred properties, hope grows for everyone, Williams said.
“They can see a way to possibly buy a house of their own,” he said. “People want to live in this neighborhood. They want to purchase a home. We need the community to say, ‘This is what we need.’”
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