Page 50 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

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About half of the cases handled during the first reporting period were “immigration matters; family, consumer, income maintenance, and housing constituted about thirty percent of the cases; the remaining twenty percent involved a great variety of concerns, including civil rights, education, health, child welfare, employment issues and other miscellaneous .”28
By so doing, the CRLS partners recognize that we have as much to learn as we have to offer, and we can only make a difference on important community struggles by working alongside the people whose interests we represent . By meeting people where they are, both literally and figuratively, we are better positioned to assist refugees in overcoming their struggles and accessing justice .
We are providing on-site services and outreach programs in shelters, homes, churches and other places where people in need congregate . Also, we are seeking to establish a level of trust among community leaders, law enforcement and ourselves that should support the growth of further collective efforts .
Such a collaborative approach is effective, and legal service providers are playing a vital role . Committed to provide free legal assistance to individuals with limited English proficiency (“LEP”), the CRLS partners are aware of refugees’ struggles to adapt, adjust, cooperate, and comprehend the values and culture of their new society . This commitment to relationship-building is making possible a deeper awareness of refugees’ social realities, such as language barriers .
To overcome language and cultural barriers, over the past few months, we have made a concerted effort to hold cultural competency sessions, as well as develop personal and professional relationships in the refugees’ communities . We have also developed a Language Access Plan involving different approaches .
First, several partners have hired bilingual staff from immigrant communities to assist with cases when their language skills are needed (the author of this essay being one of them) . Second, partners would hire interpreters through local programs for more in-depth conversations . Lastly, we have been using telephonic language access services for emergency circumstances . As state- funded agencies, we were entitled to telephonic language services at a reduced rate per minute, improving the time we could speak with clients .
To sum it up, the community lawyering approach has been useful and productive to develop relationships with refugee community organizations, familiarize ourselves with their struggles, and empower them . Thus, identifying, developing, and maintaining community partnerships and collaborations enhances capacity and extends services that would help refugees in accessing justice .
b. Immigrant and Refugee Community/Family Court Collaborative Effort
Recognizing how important it is that the court system proactively address the new issues faced by people from diverse backgrounds, Honorable Lisa Bloch Rodwin, Erie County Family Court Judge, launched in 2010 the first Immigrant and Refugee Collaborative in New York to help immigrant families who land in the justice system .29
28 Id.
29 See Michael Petro, Erie County Judge Named to State’s New Immigration-related Advisory Board, buff. l. J. (Oct. 28, 2015), http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/buffalo-law-journal/2015/10/erie-county-judge-named-to-state-s- new-immigration.html.
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice