Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS) launched the Community Legal Advocacy in School Settings (CLASS) by introducing outreach into the Cunningham Elementary School in Pawtucket that provides a legal component to an existing Child Opportunity Zone program. CLASS seeks to improve educational outcomes for children by providing parents with legal assistance in areas that can destabilize families and to increase the provision of legal services to the underserved Cape Verdean community in Rhode Island. CLASS, based on an ABA model for the provision of school-based legal assistance, builds on existing services offered through the Child Opportunity Zone which include a school-based health center, a dental program, an adult literacy program which includes ESL classes and GED classes, and an after school and summer program for children. Rhode Island schools currently host 10 Child Opportunity Zones in low-income communities across the state and the Child Opportunity Zone program hosted at Cunningham Elementary began in 1994. In doing so, Child Opportunity Zone programs work to ensure both children and parents can access the services they need in order to support each child's efforts to succeed in school.
This project is coordinated and staffed by a Skadden Fellow who speaks Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. Upon the initial launch of the project, the project coordinator delivered presentations to the various adult education classes offered through the Child Opportunity Zone explaining the services offered by RILS. Clients set up appointments with the project coordinator and may either visit RILS' Providence office or meet with an attorney at the Child Opportunity Zone in the evening where RILS is provided office space. The project coordinator also offers regular community legal education seminars at the Child Opportunity Zone on common legal problems such as landlord/tenant matters. Depending on a client's English language abilities, the project coordinator either represents the client herself or refers the client to the appropriate RILS unit. RILS provides full representation in the vast majority of these cases which are primarily housing cases, family law cases, and public benefits cases. Since the launch of this project, RILS has increased its services to the Cape Verdean population by roughly 250%. This collaboration between RILS and a Child Opportunity Zone provided a unique opportunity to integrate legal services delivery into an existing community program to work towards addressing the holistic needs of RILS' clients.
Contact Information:
Monica Teixeira de Sousa Rhode Island Legal Services, Inc. 56 Pine Street, Suite 400 Providence, RI 02903 Phone: (401) 274-2652 Fax: (401) 453-0310 Email
LSC:
America's Partner for Equal Justice 