Legal Economic and Educational Advancement Project (LEEAP)The Corporation for National and Community Service has awarded the Feerick Center a three-year AmeriCorps VISTA grant to launch the Legal Economic and Educational Advancement Project (LEEAP). LEEAP seeks to direct the energy, skills, and experience of senior lawyers to volunteering activities in three discrete focus areas:• Education, counseling, and assistance on consumer credit; LEEAP seeks to match senior volunteer attorneys with community-based organizations to create sustainable public services such as adult credit counseling programs and high school and college application workshops. LEEAP will build on the Feerick Center’s involvement with the Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office (CLARO). The CLARO programs operate clinics throughout New York City staffed by volunteer attorneys who provide limited legal advice to low-income New Yorker’s being sued by debt collectors (www.claronyc.org). In continuing to recruit, train, and place senior volunteer attorneys in a pro bono capacity, LEEAP will further strengthen the Feerick Center’s partnership with the Attorney Emeritus Program (AEP)—a program established in 2010 by New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman that connects senior lawyers with legal services organization and court programs to provide legal services to unrepresented New Yorkers (www.nycourts.gov/attorneys/volunteer/emeritus). The Feerick Center is delighted to have VISTA members Laura Backus, Brandon Ruben, and Anting Wang co-directing LEEAP. If you are a community-based organization, or a senior attorney seeking to volunteer, and you are interested in partnering with LEEAP, please contact leeapproject@fordham.edu. |