City Council Needs to Hear From Us: Funding for Legal Aid

[Jimmy]

This economy is taking its toll on our friends and neighbors in Jacksonville.  It’s gotten so bad that it’s began to also take its toll on the people who stand in the breach to help those who live in the pervasive grip poverty.  The social safety net, tattered and threadbare after ten years of war and two years of recession, is theatening to come apart altogether.

I have spent nearly eleven years standing in the breach as a legal aid lawyer.  The majority of that time was spent working at JALA, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.  The JALA family is approaching a crisis situation with their funding.  That’s where you come in.

I am asking you to do something radical.  I want you to click a link that follows below.  That link, through the wonder of the internet, should open your email program and tee up an email to the City Council of Jacksonville.  There is a bill pending before the Council that will create a dedicated revenue stream for JALA through the use of a certain fee that is charged to those people who are found guilty of crimes. 

Click here to help.

Outlook users click here.

If that didn’t work, I’d like you to go the extra mile.  Copy/paste the following email adddresses into the To field of an email:

Clay@coj.net, WBishop@coj.net, RClark@coj.net, Redman@coj.net, AShad@coj.net, Webb@coj.net, Gaffney@coj.net, EDLee@coj.net, WAJones@coj.net, RBrown@coj.net, Holt@coj.net, doylec@coj.net, DickB@coj.net, Corrigan@coj.net, RonnieF@coj.net, JRC@coj.net, Joost@coj.net, KHyde@coj.net, GloriousJ@coj.net

And then copy/paste this text into the body:

Dear Honorable Council Member,

I am writing to ask you to support legal services for the poor in our community and vote in favor of ordinance 2010-766.   

All segments of our community need to understand the critical importance of having a solid foundation for providing legal services for the poor.  In the current economy, contributors must include philanthropic organizations, individuals, law firms, the local government, and the courts.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. (JALA) has always been very proactive about developing a diverse funding portfolio, and has always striven to do more with less.  However, JALA is facing an approximate $1,000,000 reduction in funding from the Florida Bar Foundation in 2012 due to low interest rates.

This means JALA may have to lay off one-half of the attorneys on staff.  This means over 6000 low-income residents of Duval County and their families will not receive the help they desperately need to avoid homelessness, maintain their income, or escape domestic violence.

The demand for JALA’s services has never been greater.  The decimation of JALA’s staff will result in extraordinarily negative outcomes for thousands of Jacksonville residents and their families.

It’s up to you, our City Council, to act on behalf of all our citizens.  The Governor has put the funding of legal services in the hands of local governments and has eliminated state funding.  The Florida Legislature has given you a vehicle for local funding in the surcharge on criminal convictions. 

The surcharge will not be levied on the poor/indigent or on juveniles, and it will have a sunset. 
Indigent status may be easily determined in Court using a form already in use in each case, or via inquiry by the Court during the defendant’s plea colloquy or sentencing.  Additional staff isn’t needed to administer this surcharge.
Please use this resource to help stabilize legal services for low-income persons in Duval County.

Supporting JALA not only helps poor individuals in our City:  According to Florida TaxWatch, the total economic impact of civil legal assistance on the Florida economy is significant:

Created over 3,300 jobs in the state economy
Produced $250 million of output in the state economy
Provided $297 million of disposable income
Moreover, Florida TaxWatch found that legal aid services to low-income persons generate $4.78 of economic impact for every $1 donated to legal aid programs.

This means our community receives a 378% return on our investment in JALA.

Please vote in favor of ordinance 2010-766.

Thank you for your consideration,

Whichever method you use, add your name and click send.  Feel free to personalize it. But please help today.  The Council will take up this measure at its meeting on 6/28.

I thank you for your help with this vital bit of activism.

Best, Jimmy

[manasia]

For those of you using email clients like outlook these email address will need to be followed with semicolons instead of commas, I have did the legwork for you:

Clay@coj.net; WBishop@coj.net; RClark@coj.net; Redman@coj.net; AShad@coj.net; Webb@coj.net; Gaffney@coj.net; EDLee@coj.net; WAJones@coj.net; RBrown@coj.net; Holt@coj.net; doylec@coj.net; DickB@coj.net; Corrigan@coj.net; RonnieF@coj.net; JRC@coj.net; Joost@coj.net; KHyde@coj.net; GloriousJ@coj.net

[Jimmy]

Wow, thank you!!  I'm so used to gmail that I didn't even think about Outlook's formatting.

[manasia]

No Problem.

[Jimmy]

Updated with a new link for easy use of Outlook users.

[manasia]

Here is a reply:


Thank you for your email regarding 2010-766.

As you may know, this legislation was scheduled for consideration at our last City Council meeting on June 14.  Prior to taking a vote, Chief Judge Don Moran was provided an opportunity to address the Council.  During his comments, he stated that criminal defendants were already paying substantial court costs and any additional fee would be adding to an already difficult financial burden.  The Chief Judge asked the Council President to postpone further consideration of the legislation and the Council President tabled the matter for two weeks.

Please know that I voted in favor of the legislation in committee (the previous week) and was prepared to do likewise at the City Council meeting on June 14.  However, I have always been troubled by the fact that only the criminal side of the courts will be required to levy a fee to assist legal aid while the civil side of the courts does not.  While I realize there may be no statutory ability to levy such a fee on the civil side, I nevertheless consider the same to be a glaring inequity, particularly when legal aid services provided by organizations such as Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) are always for “civil” matters.

In closing, please know that my personal knowledge of and experience with JALA is limited.  Although I have met with JALA’s Executive Director (Michael Figgins) on several occasions during my tenure as a City Council member, I have only referred one constituent to JALA for assistance.  (That individual was seeking assistance with a possible bankruptcy.)  Unfortunately, that single referral was blown off by JALA staff and (to the best of my knowledge) the constituent wasn’t even provided with any suggestions of how to proceed further.  I found that incident to be troubling.


John R. Crescimbeni
City Councilman, At-Large, Group 2
Office of the City Council
City Hall at St. James
117 West Duval Street, Suite 425
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
(904) 630-1381