Related Link: Recent Accomplishments

HARTFORD H.E.L.P.

U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey organized the first Homeless Experience Legal Protection (H.E.L.P.) program in 2004 to provide pro bono legal assistance to the homeless in New Orleans and has since expanded it to 15 other cities. Prompted by a January, 2009 visit from Judge Zainey, Connecticut Appleseed began developing a H.E.L.P. program for Hartford.

H.E.L.P. Project Launched October, 2009

Hartford H.E.L.P. started providing free legal assistance to homeless individuals at two Hartford shelters in October, 2009. For nine consecutive months, these free clinics alternated between Mercy Housing and the House of Bread on Tuesday mornings. Between one and three attorneys staffed each clinic each week and were assisted by two students from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

During the initial 9 months, 33 clinics assisted more than 130 homeless individuals with the issues that troubled them and thwarted their independence. The issues most commonly raised, in descending order, were:

• Social Security Disability (applications, claims and/or appeals)
• Housing Issues (landlord/tenant, Sec. 8, liens/evictions, shelter placement)
• Missing Identification
• Pardons/Expungements, including outstanding warrants
• Drivers License reinstatement, including driving history issues

Connecticut Appleseed’s Administrative Role

Connecticut Appleseed led the recruitment of local attorneys and law students, prompted and oversaw development of a training manual for the volunteer lawyers, helped recruit trainers for the volunteer attorneys and assumed ongoing administrative responsibilities for the program. Those responsibilities include motivating, scheduling, reminding, debriefing and thanking the participating volunteer attorneys.

Appleseed also ensures ongoing communication with shelter management, collects and manages feedback from participating attorneys by means of a survey and reports on the Hartford H.E.L.P. project through the website (www.homelesslegalprotection.org) for the national H.E.L.P. program. Generous support from the Hartford Courant Foundation, the Melville Charitable Trust and the Stanley A. Fisher Foundation enabled Appleseed to handle these administrative tasks.

Taking Hartford H.E.L.P. Forward Into 2011

Law firms and bar associations have already committed to staffing weekly H.E.L.P. clinics from September through December, assisted as usual by students from UCONN Law School. Each volunteer attorney participates in a training course and receives a manual preparing them for the topics typically raised by homeless individuals. In October or November, the Hartford H.E.L.P. team will begin recruitment for the early months of 2011.