Jeremy Strauss, Legal Administrative Assistant

Each year, Legal Aid partners with Whitman Walker Health to help hundreds of low-income Medicare recipients navigate the complex system of choosing a Medicare prescription drug plan (also known as Medicare Part D). Beneficiaries receiving the hospital (Part A) and medical (Part B) components of Medicare must independently select a Part D plan during the “open season,” which commences slightly earlier than usual this year, running from October 15, 2011 to December 7, 2011. Due to the fact that many plans change their drug coverage formularies from year to year, switching to a new plan that offers the best coverage at the lowest price is often a necessity for many beneficiaries. 

Legal Aid and Whitman Walker, along with attorneys from area law firms working pro bono, will be meeting with Medicare beneficiaries this fall and winter to help them determine – based on their individual drug lists and dosages – the plan that will best meet their needs and to complete the plan enrollment. 

Beginning November 4, Legal Aid will be sponsoring six free walk-in clinics for low-income Medicare beneficiaries:

 Friday, November 4, 2011: 10am – 1pm, at the Legal Aid Society of DC, SE Site
2041 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave, SE, Room LL-1 – Metro: Anacostia 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011: 1pm – 4pm, at the Legal Aid Society of DC, NW Site
1331 H St., NW, Suite 350 – Metro: Metro Center or McPherson Sq. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011:  10am – 1pm, at the Legal Aid Society of DC, NW Site
1331 H St., NW, Suite 350 – Metro: Metro Center or McPherson Sq. 

Friday, December 2, 2011: 10am – 1pm, at the Legal Aid Society of DC, SE Site
2041 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave, SE, Room LL-1 – Metro: Anacostia 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011:  5pm – 7pm, at the Bread for the City, NW Site
1525 Seventh St., NW – Metro: Shaw-Howard University 

Tuesday, December 13, 2011:  9am – Noon, at the Bread for the City, SE Site
1640 Good Hope Road, SE – Metro: Anacostia

 For more information, call (202) 628-1161 and ask for Jeremy Strauss.

Eric Angel, Executive Director

At the 22nd Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner last Thursday night, we had the privilege of honoring four outstanding individuals and celebrating the commitment and dedication of D.C.’s legal community to Legal Aid’s mission of making justice real for our clients.

The Servant of Justice Awards are presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated faithful dedication and remarkable achievement in ensuring that all persons have equal and meaningful access to justice. This year’s honorees, Brooksley E. Born of Arnold & Porter LLP and The Honorable Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, truly exemplify this ideal. Ms. Born and Mr. Perez shared inspiring remarks on the work in which they have each engaged throughout their lives to achieve equal justice and civil rights on behalf of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens of our country. Ms. Born was introduced by her long-time friend Marcia Greenberger, founder of the National Women’s Law Center, and Tom Perez by his colleague (and former Legal Aid Executive Director) Jonathan Smith.

Aryeh Portnoy, Brooksley E. Born, Ed Lazere, Thomas E. Perez

The evening began with the presentations of the Partnership Award, presented to a non-legal organization whose work directly advances Legal Aid’s ability to serve its clients, and the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence, which recognizes an attorney who has made a significant volunteer contribution to Legal Aid. When accepting the Partnership Award on behalf of his organization, DC Fiscal Policy Institute’s Ed Lazere emphasized the continuing challenges of D.C.’s low income community as the city once again strives to balance its budget by cutting services to those who need them most. And Klepper Prize recipient Aryeh Portnoy of Crowell and Moring energized the crowd with a passionate speech about his commitment to family law pro bono work.

As readers of this blog know, we at Legal Aid simply could not do the work that we do without the generous support and commitment of so many across the District—our many and generous organizational and individual donors, our amazing cadre of volunteer lawyers, our Board of Trustees, our many partner organizations, our outstanding staff, and, of course, our clients. The Dinner provides us with a wonderful opportunity to thank those across the Legal Aid community who help us in our work to make justice real. Thanks to all who joined with us to celebrate this year. It was a wonderful, memorable event. We hope you will plan to join us for next year’s Dinner on April 26, 2012 when will be celebrating our 80th Anniversary.

Eric Angel, Executive Director

Legal Aid is pleased to announce the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) as the 2011 recipient of Legal Aid’s Partnership Award. Legal Aid’s Partnership Award was created to recognize non-legal organizations or individuals whose work directly increases our ability to serve our clients. Ed Lazere, Executive Director of DCFPI, will accept the award on the organization’s behalf at Legal Aid’s Servant of Justice Awards Dinner, scheduled for Tuesday, April 28, 2011 at the JW Marriott Hotel. Brooksley E. Born, of Arnold & Porter, and The Honorable Thomas E. Perez, of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, will be honored at the same event.

The DC Fiscal Policy Institute is an extraordinary resource for anyone concerned about policy analysis in the District. DCFPI conducts research and public education on DC budget and tax, with a particular emphasis on issues that affect low- and moderate-income residents. By preparing timely analyses that are used by organizations such as Legal Aid – as well as policy makers, the media, and the public – DCFPI informs public debates on budget and tax issues and helps to ensure that the needs of lower-income residents are considered in those debates. DCFPI’s areas of work include: analyzing the impact of tax and other revenue policies on the District’s long-term fiscal health and on the equity of its tax system; working to ensure that programs serving low- and moderate-income residents are well designed, effective, and adequately funded; and conducting research on income and poverty trends in the District and on serious problems facing low-income residents, such as the growing shortage of affordable housing.

DCFPI’s extraordinary, sustained commitment to providing accurate, detailed, practical, and effective policy analysis on issues affecting Legal Aid’s client community have been invaluable to our efforts to serve our clients and better protect their rights. One of Legal Aid’s signature advocacy efforts—to preserve and enhance the workings of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program—is one of among many initiatives that has benefited from DCFPI’s work over the past several years. DCFPI’s research has dispelled damaging myths about District families who rely on TANF, educated policymakers and advocates about best approaches to the program, helped stave off some of the most punitive and ineffective approaches to moving families off TANF, and inspired a program redesign that should be more responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable District families.

 We are truly delighted to be able to present this award to DCFPI and hope that you will join us on April 28 for what promises to be a wonderful event!

Eric Angel, Executive Director

We are delighted to announce that we will be honoring Brooksley Born, a life-long champion of women’s rights, consumer rights, civil rights, and the rights of persons living in poverty, as a Servant of Justice at this year’s Servant of Justice Award’s Dinner on April 28.

A retired partner of Arnold & Porter LLP where she practiced for more than thirty years, Ms. Born currently chairs the board of the National Women’s Law Center which she helped to found.  She has also served on the boards of other important public interest organizations, as well as the American Bar Association, the American Bar Foundation, and ALI-ABA.  She has chaired a number of ABA entities including the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, the Women’s Caucus, and the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary.

Brooksley Born

During her time at Arnold & Porter LLP, she was head of the firm’s derivatives practice, chaired its pro bono committee, and served on its policy committee.  From 1996 to 1999 Ms. Born was chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that oversees futures and commodity option markets, and strongly advocated the need for federal regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market.  That unregulated market played a significant role in the recent financial crisis.  From 2009 to 2011, she served as a Commissioner on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which in January 2011 issued a powerful report on the causes of the crisis.

She has received awards recognizing her public service including the Profile in Courage Award of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Public Interest Advocate of the Year Award of the National Association of Public Interest Law (now Equal Justice Works).

Ms. Born received her law degree from Stanford Law School where she was President of the Stanford Law Review and received the Outstanding Senior Award.  Prior to joining Arnold & Porter LLP, she was a law clerk to Judge Henry W. Edgerton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

We hope you will plan to join us on April 28 to celebrate Ms. Born’s remarkable achievements.  She will be introduced by Marcia Greenberger, the founder and co-president of the National Women’s Law Center.  The creation of the Center over 35 years ago established Ms. Greenberger as the first full-time women’s rights legal advocate in Washington, D.C.  Ms. Greenberger has been recognized numerous times for her achievements on behalf of women’s rights; indeed, she once was aptly described by The New York Times as “guiding the battles of the women’s rights movement.”

Jonathan Smith, Executive Director

District of Columbia law requires that the City provide overnight shelter on cold nights to people who are homeless.  Each year, the District develops a hypothermia plan to coordinate services and ensure compliance with this mandate.   The plan is often incomplete or ineffective.   It is especially of concern this year with reduced services and homelessness on the rise.

The Committee on Human Services for the D.C. Council is holding a hearing on the plan for the winter season that begins on November 1, 2010.   The notice of the hearing is copied below.  We can only hope that Council scrutiny will help the District get it right this year. 

Council of the District of Columbia
Committee on Human Services
PUBLIC OVERSIGHT ROUNDTABLE
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 117, Washington, D.C. 2000
 _____________________________________________________________

THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES

TOMMY WELLS, CHAIR

 ANNOUNCES A PUBLIC OVERSIGHT ROUNDTABLE ON

“THE STATUS OF THE 2010-2011 WINTER PLAN”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010 — 1:00 P.M.

THE JOHN A. WILSON BUILDING

1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W.
ROOM 500
Washington, D.C. 20004

Councilmember Tommy Wells, Chair of the Committee on Human Services, announces a Public Oversight Roundtable on the Status of the 2010-2011 Winter Plan.  The roundtable will be held on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 1:00 p.m., in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building. The roundtable will provide the District government with the opportunity to brief the Committee on the status of their plans to develop a winter plan to protect the lives and address the needs of the homeless population during hypothermia season. The Winter Plan, also referred to as the “Hypothermia Plan”, reflects the District’s effort to coordinate service delivery among local agencies and providers who participate in providing hypothermia shelter to individuals and families who are homeless. The 2010-2011 Winter Plan is scheduled to be in place from November 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011.   Hypothermia services will officially begin when the actual forecasted temperature, including the wind chill factor, is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

Those who wish to testify should contact Ms. Vivian McCarter of the Committee on Human Services by e-mail at vmccarter@dccouncil.us or by telephone at (202) 724-8191 by Monday, October 4, 2010.  E-mail contacts to Ms. McCarter should include the residential ward, full name, title, and affiliation — if applicable — of the person(s) testifying.  Witnesses should bring 15 copies of their written testimony to the roundtable.  Those testifying will be allowed a maximum of three (3) minutes for oral presentation.

If you are unable to testify at the roundtable, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record.  Copies of written statements should be submitted to, Secretary to the Council, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 5, Washington, D.C. 20004, no later than 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 13, 2010.

Jonathan Smith, Executive Director

DC The District’s primary election is soon upon us. The vote is being held in the aftermath of the economic crisis. The reality in the District is that:

•  one in every five people and one in every three children live in poverty, 
•  the recession is lingering in low-income communities causing real suffering, 
•  unemployment rates among African American and Latino District residents rival rates during the great depression and, 
•  the social safety-net has suffered from budget cuts.

One could imagine that these issues would dominate the election. However, the candidates for Mayor and other offices have said little and offered few specifics about how they will address this crisis. Defeat Poverty DC is organizing an alternative to the typical candidate forum. This forum will provide residents an opportunity to voice their views — to make proposals that they wish the candidates had made.

Date & Time:    September 13, 2010 – 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location:           Busboys & Poets, 1025 5th Street NW (5th & K), Washington, DC
RSVP:                  Liz at Kendig@cbpp.org

Jennifer Mezey, Supervising Attorney

In partnership, Legal Aid Society of DC, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and Whitman-Walker Clinic are pleased to announce our Public Benefits Trainings series again this Fall.  We encourage case managers, legal services lawyers, pro bono lawyers, or anyone who works with low-income clients to attend these sessions.  The trainings are free and an opportunity to learn about eligibility, benefits, application procedures, and practical tips on how to help your clients navigate the system. 

We are requesting that anyone interested in attending RSVP to Jeremy Strauss at jstrauss@legalaiddc.org   since we have some space limitations and need counts on materials.  We greatly appreciate the DC Bar Pro Bono Program for partnering with us and hosting this training series.

 1st Training:  Disability Benefits:  SSI/SSDI/IDA on Tuesday, September 14 from noon – 2 pm.

Please help us get the word out.  Please distribute this e-mail (and attached flyer) widely.  We look forward to a strong turnout! 

Thank you in advance for your help.

Erin Loubier, Whitman-Walker Clinic
Scott McNeilly, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Jennifer Mezey, Legal Aid Society of DC

For a detailed review of what is at stake, go to:  http://www.dcfpi.org/category/blog.   You can watch the Council meeting, which begins at 10 at:  http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/watchhearinglive.

Why? Because the Mayor's proposed budget for FY2011 makes cuts to vital programs like child care vouchers, adult job training, and domestic violence services. Our safety net is already in tatters, after more than $100 million in cuts in the last two years. We can't afford to cut any more.  

What? Rally in front of City Hall. Hear Councilmembers speak at the rally about their plans to save the safety net through progressive revenue proposals. Visit Council offices to show the community is behind safety net programs.  WEAR RED!!! 

When? 11:30-1:00 Wednesday, May 5th 

Where? 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW. Close to Federal Triangle (orange/blue) and Metro Center (red, orange/blue).

Please contact Kristi Matthew to RSVP and get additional information: Kristi@legalclinic.orgor 202-328-1262.

Note: We will not hold a Fair Budget general membership meeting that day.

Joni Podschun

Campaign Manager, SOS-DC
202-553-7248

@SaveDCSafetyNet

With the District’s budget in free fall, the next few months will be critical to preserving safety-net programs.   Please consider attending this important briefing:

 ******************************************
What’s In Store
For FY 2011?

 A forum on the D.C. budget outlook
for fiscal year 2011.

 ******************************************

 Monday, March 8, 2010

Registration and Coffee: 9:00 a.m.
Program: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Charles Sumner School, Great Hall
1201 17th Street NW

Speakers include:

•  Ed Lazere, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy Institute
• Eric Goulet, Budget Director, Council of the District of Columbia
• Fitzroy Lee, Chief Economist, Office of the Chief Financial Officer
• Dawn Slonneger, Chief of Staff, Office of the Honorable Vincent C. Gray
• T.J. Sutcliffe, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, The Arc of the District of Columbia

 R.S.V.P. requested to Tina Marshall, marshall@cbpp.org

Sponsors:

The Arc of DC
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Fair Budget Coalition
Think Twice Before You Slice