Bittersweet King County Budget

Council Protects Funding for Some Alliance Programs, Not All, in 2011

This fall, the Alliance for Equal Justice came together to protect funding for five King County-funded legal aid providers. We met with Council Members and testified at public budget hearings, and many of you took action online. With the failure of King County Proposition 1, the County had no new revenue to preserve critical services; the final 2011 budget was passed on November 15. Sadly, many King County families will not be able to get legal help to preserve critical income and benefits because funding for the Unemployment Law Project and Solid Ground's Family Assistance Program was eliminated. But there is also good news... Despite the huge budget deficit, the Council recognized the importance of legal aid for domestic violence victims/survivors and vulnerable youth, protecting funding for Eastside Legal Assistance Program, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and TeamChild.

Thank you to those of you who stood up for legal aid - you made a difference in the lives of struggling King County families.

State Budget Bleak, Legal Aid Funding Threatened

When the Legislature convenes in January, it will first adjust appropriations for the current fiscal year with a supplemental budget. State-funded legal aid programs will sustain funding reductions. Facing a deficit in the billions, legislators will then need to balance the next biennium's budget through further reductions to critical services. At a time when families are struggling to survive their own economic crises, your participation during the legislative session is more critical than ever.

What Alliance programs receive state funding? 

• Northwest Justice Project receives state funding through the Office of Civil Legal Aid, a judicial branch agency.
• NJP sub-contracts some state funds to the Legal Foundation of Washington to support state-eligible work of many Alliance members, including many specialty and volunteer lawyer programs across the Washington.
• Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is a state-funded contractor providing naturalization services, as well as services for immigrant survivors of domestic violence.
• TeamChild receives a direct appropriation from the state through the Department of Social and Health Services to provide legal help to vulnerable youth.

To help minimize cuts to legal aid funding, be ready to contact your legislators in 2011. Join the Equal Justice Coalition or update your contact information if you are already a member.

Answering the Call to Action

Generous people in Washington and beyond stepped up last year in response to havoc the recession was making in the lives of the most vulnerable by strongly supporting the 2009 Campaign for Equal Justice, the Endowment for Equal Justice, and the Laurel Rubin Farm Worker Justice Project. Because of their support, families in crisis can return to safe, productive lives through civil legal aid. Read the LAW Fund 2009 Report to Contributors and see a full list of 2009 contributors who dug deep to make a difference, including almost 30 percent of the legal community.

• Election worsens state's budget pain
• KUOW radio spotlights CLS Attorney Merf Ehman: 'I Hope I Never Forget'
• Seattle University School of Law expands post-graduate social justice fellowship program with a generous gift, funding an additional two-year fellowship with an Alliance for Equal Justice organization.
• Upcoming Alliance Events - don't miss anything! Check out the Alliance Event Calendar.

• UW Law School is proud to welcome Aline Carton as the Assistant Director in its Center for Public Service Law. Aline will be coaching law students who desire public interest careers. She will also administer the Pro Bono Honors Program and the Loan Repayment Assistance Program. Aline's most recent position was with WSBA where she managed the Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project and the Moderate Means Project.
• The Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Program has made staff/organization changes. The current staff roster is Laurie Davenport (Program Director), Linda Black (Program Coordinator) and Darlene Teafatiller (Client Services Specialist). Their new address (with the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Foundation) is 621 Tacoma Ave S, Suite 303, Taoma, WA 98402. All other contact information remains the same.
• After eight years at Columbia Legal Services, Access to Justice Board member Ishbel Dickens is now the first Executive Director of the Manufactured Home Owners of America Association, a national advocacy organization working on behalf of manufactured housing communities across the country. 
• Northwest Justice Project Comings & Goings: Lauren Peach joins NJP as an Americorps/Equal Justice Works Fellow, working on the Veteran's Project. Karen Campbell is the new Senior Attorney in the Vancouver office. Graciela Navarro and Gabriel Ravel join the Yakima office. Jason Du Bruille will work with the Wenatchee office and partner with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the Support Center in Omak and New Hope in Moses Lake on the Integrated Rural Legal Assistance Project (IRLAP). NJP said goodbye to Farm Worker Unit Outreach Worker Patty Diaz and Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project Paralegal, Colleen Mold. NJP also bids farewell to Clay Wilson, a long-time CLEAR attorney who is headed to Seattle University to head of the WSBA sponsored Moderate Means Legal Assistance Project.
• Submit your organization's Comings & Goings for the next newsletter.