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. With the exception of July and August, these free clinics have alternated continuously 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 19 months, roughly 75 clinics assisted well over 250 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
• Probate matters, including name changes

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. Law firms and bar associations that have participated through June, 2011 include:

• Bracewell & Giuliani
• Brown Rudnick
• Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section
• Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association
• Day Pitney LLP
• Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge
• George W. Crawford Bar Association
• Krutick Craig Law LLC
• Murtha Cullina LLP

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 Fund for Greater Hartford, the Melville Charitable Trust and the Stanley A. Fisher Family Foundation enabled Appleseed to handle these administrative tasks.

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

Law firms and bar associations have already committed to staffing weekly H.E.L.P. clinics from September through December of 2011, 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 and training for the early months of 2012.