Legal Assistance to Micro-Enterprise Project
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources - 020042
Abstract Number: 020042
September 2008
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) and Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources (Texas C-BAR) created the Legal Assistance to Micro-Enterprise Project (LAMP) to provide legal services to indigent small business owners along the Texas/Mexican border and throughout TRLA's service area. LAMP classifies microenterprises as small businesses, which satisfy the following requirements:
the entrepreneur is the sole employee or has fewer than five employees; the entrepreneur has no access to capital through traditional loans; the neighborhood or city is usually the market area.
TRLA began this program in 2001 and modeled the project off of micro credit programs implemented throughout the developing world. TRLA observed that the Texas/Mexican border shared some characteristics with the developing world such as a widespread lack of capital to promote business, often times the woman is the sole breadwinner, the general population has a low level of formal education, and it is common for many people to earn much of their income through informal markets.
Consequently, many small business owners do not understand legal requirements of running businesses and this can lead into exploitive situations where individuals sign exorbitant leases or businesses are shut down due to lack of permits and compliance with state and federal regulations.
Low-income entrepreneurs throughout TRLA's service area often also lack access to traditional forms of capital to promote, begin or expand their businesses, have a low level of formal education, and often times function in informal markets. Often times, low-income individuals facing barriers in seeking regular employment that pays a living wage, such as educational levels, low English proficiency, lack of marketable skills, lack of access to child care or transportation, will begin entrepreneurial activity as a method to feed themselves and their families. These entrepreneurs often do not have an understanding of the legal requirements of running a business, the regulatory scheme in which they are operating, or their local, state or federal tax obligations.
TRLA assists low-income business owners by providing direct legal assistance as well as providing business law education to assist these business owners in the development of their businesses. By partnering with microenterprise development organizations to leverage resources and provide otherwise inaccessible services, LAMP provides the legal means for microenterprises to maximize their chances of success and growth.
Microenterprises offer a way for low-income individuals to escape poverty. According to the Aspen Institute, 72% of low-wealth entrepreneurs increased their income over five years; the average change was from $13,889 to $22,374, and 53% of low-wealth entrepreneurs moved above the poverty line, with reliance on food stamps, TANF and other forms of public assistance dropping by an average of 61%.
TRLA attorneys provide transactional legal assistance, as well as basic legal education on federal and state regulations, and limited litigation on high-impact matters. To learn more about this project, please visit our websites at: "www.trla.org" and "lamp.texascbar.org.
Contact Information:
Andrea Beleno
LAMP Attorney
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
4920 N. IH-35
Austin, Texas 78751
Phone: (512) 374-2713
Fax: (512) 447-3940
ABeleno@trla.org
Additional Information:
Updated 2008
back to top ^ |
LSC:
America's Partner for Equal Justice 
153k) 