Pursuing Justice Newsletter February 2025

IN THIS ISSUE:
New Year, New Opportunities: Amplifying Our Work Through New Partnerships | LASCO Poised to Expand Impact in 2025 Thanks to New Funding Partners | Opportunities to Help Out | Exciting Opportunities for Law Students to Work with Legal Aid | Pro Bono Initiatives Featured in Columbus Bar Lawyers Quarterly | Take the 25-in-’25 Pro Bono Challenge! | Legal Aid in the News

New Year, New Opportunities: Amplifying Our Work Through New Partnerships

By Kate McGarvey, Executive Director

Happy New Year! At LASCO, we are very excited about a few new partnerships that are kicking off in 2025. Those include a Justice in Recovery project in 21 of our counties. The project, which is funded through two grants from the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, will allow us to work with recovery providers and other community partners to ensure that individuals and families impacted by the opiate epidemic are able to obtain help with their civil legal issues. By helping to preserve housing, seal or expunge records, obtain public benefits, and secure debt relief, the project will support Ohioans along the road to full recovery. In addition, we will be starting a pilot project with the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) working with parent ambassadors for families in need of civil legal services. The goal of the project is to provide legal support to families, increasing their chance of success and decreasing the likelihood that any children in the household will end up in foster care. Our attorneys will have the opportunity to help with the full range of civil legal issues for those involved – from representing children in need of an Individualized Education Program, to improving housing conditions and reducing exposure to violence. We are thrilled to be able to work with DCY on this pilot, which will have such a big impact on the lives of the children involved.

By meeting families where they are in the community and providing holistic civil legal services to meet their needs, we are confident that both projects will have a profound effect on those served and on the surrounding communities. And while those projects are new, we are as always grateful for all of our ongoing partners whose commitment and work helps to overcome injustice and increase opportunity.

All the best in 2025.