Budget cuts have recently forced the state’s largest civil legal aid program to lay off lawyers and staff.
New Hampshire Legal Assistance represents seniors and low-income residents in cases dealing with evictions, domestic violence and unemployment.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports that the organization has cut services, but has a few ideas how to bring in more money.
John Tobin has run New Hampshire Legal Assistance for 12 years.
He understands how precarious funding is for a non-profit, particularly in tough economic times.
That’s why he’s proud of NHLA’s money streams.
TAPE: the Consumer Federation of America. The Endowment for Health...The Greater Manchester Charitable Trust...The Bar Foundation’s Ialta Program. The Kaufman Fellowship Foundation....The New Hampshire Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services.
In all, New Hampshire Legal Assistance’s funding comes from 35 different places; federal grants, foundations, city government, even the state.
But some of that money is drying up.
In response, Legal Assistance fire five people this fall, and three others who left, weren’t replaced.
Tobin says they’ve instituted an austerity budget, meaning higher employee co-pays for health insurance and dim prospects for any raises.
Overall, the organization will cut services back by at least 10%.
Tobin says this could not come at a worse time.
8:48 right now, if you read the papers, you know more people are unemployed, more people are being foreclosed upon, more people need the kind of legal help we can give htem. And just as the need goes up our capacity to meet the need goes down...that puts a lot of stress on the people who work here.
6:49 you always, as an attorney, feel like you can do more. That there’s always more you could have done on a case. The more cases you have, the more you have that feeling.
That’s staff attorney Dan Koslofsky.
Koslofsky jokes- sort of- that he’s trying to not feeling guilty when he takes an evening off to watch a movie.
Koslofsky says in addition to a bigger case load, he’s also working on some of the organization’s grant applications.
But that’s not the most difficult change in his job.
It’s turning away people whose cases he would have accepted last year.
20:46 it is incredibly difficult to tell someone, I have had some very difficult sconversations, tell someone who is in need, to tell them, I hear you, I am listening to you, I sympathize with you, and I recognize that everywhere you have gone, you have gotten the run around and that no one is willing to help you. But I am not going to help you either...b/c I don’t think your case, your problem is crucial enough, or vital enough. That is a difficult thing to say to someone.
Another legal aid organization, the Legal Advice and Referral Center, has also laid off three attorneys this year.
The New Hampshire Bar Foundation, which sent $1.7 million dollars to legal aid programs across the state this year, expects to have less money going forward.
These developments tell New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice James Duggan there’s a crisis going on.
1:11 we have about out of 1000 cases, 2-300 cases with people representing themselves in the NH Supreme Court, or trying to. We anticipate that number will increase....we are going to see more people without lawyers. And a system that doesn’t have lawyers is really not a fair system.
Duggan says access to lawyers is one of the Supreme Court’s top priorities.
He says he and other Justices have begun to encourage lawyers to increase their contributions, to take on additional pro bono cases.
New Hampshire Legal Assistance has got its own initiative, the Campaign for Legal Services, to help raise money.
Executive Director John Tobin says he doesn’t think the campaign will solve the problem but it will help.
He’s also got plans to ask lawmakers for money.
2:26 I don’t know where we could find $1.98 for a program, and certainly not half a million or a million dollars.
Representative Marjorie Smith chairs the House Finance Committee.
The state must make up $85 million dollars by June to balance the books.
3:50 we are getting very good at saying no. it doesn’t make it any easier to sleep at night, but it does mean that we will have an intact government to carry through. We will not be in disorder, we will not be in bankruptcy. We will have a balanced budget.
Tobin says there’s never heard anyone say ‘this is a good year to squeeze money out of the state.’
Regardless, he says he’s got an argument that often works with lawmakers.
21:32 we bring a lot of money into this state. When we win a social security or medicare case, that brings in federal dollars and saves state and local dollars. When we get child support for somebody that saves state and local public assistance dollars. We aren’t shy about talking about that.
Maybe that will help make the case.
After all, after Representative Smith learned about the legal assistance layoffs, she called it some of the most unfortunate news she’s heard in recent weeks.
For NHPR News, I’m DG.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Good Morning, I have had an experience with NH legal over the past couple of years. My x-wife has engaged them in various court procedings against me for years. They have been helpfull in getting her monies and other programs. The other side of the coin is that they have used the funding they recive to tear the children away from thier Dad as well. She had spent all herr monies on two private lawyers before suddenly becoming a "victim of domestic violence" in a succesfull effort to make it fit with NH legal guidleines. I am certain the the many supporters of NH Legal would not support the current use of the funding in this case.I know the supporters would encourage strenghtning of the children's relatioship with the parents rather than facilatate alenitaion of the same/