The Price of Poverty
Please take a moment to listen to our Executive Director, Kate McGarvey, discuss the impact of poverty on our community.
Every day Legal Aid works to increase opportunity for our clients by helping them build safer and stronger futures through civil legal advocacy.
Working for Low-Income Ohioans
Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, formerly Ohio State Legal Services Association (OSLSA), was founded in 1966 by the Ohio State Bar Association. Working in conjunction with our sister organization, the Ohio Poverty Law Center, we are committed to searching out the patterns, causes of, and solutions to the repetitive and fundamental legal problems facing low-income Ohioans and pursuing the legal recourse needed to address those problems.
Our Mission to Reduce Poverty
Since 1966, our organizations have helped thousands of Ohioans in poverty obtain and keep housing, secure public benefits, worked with families to gain and maintain economic stability, and helped domestic violence survivors to live free of fear and abuse and to obtain the resources needed to sustain themselves and their children. Our advocates also serve in leadership roles in community groups, boards, and task forces working to improve the lives of low-income residents at the local and state level.
What is Legal Aid?
Poverty Awareness Month 2026
During Poverty Awareness Month, January 2026, we will be posting stories, data, and other information about the price of poverty on our social media platforms. We will also provide important context for how legal advocacy can interrupt the cycle of poverty.
Interested? Follow us, like, comment, and reshare to support our social media campaign during Poverty Awareness Month!