Housing Works - Thanks to Legal Aid

By Gregg Lombardi, Executive Director

Word on the street is that The Kansas City Star will be running an editorial this Sunday about the improvements that Kansas City has made in public housing largely as a result of the Tinsley v. Kemp litigation that was brought by Legal Aid in the early 1990’s. In that case, the court put the Housing Authority into receivership and ordered it to make public housing safe, clean and liveable.

The receivership continues on to this day, and the results have been dramatic. When the lawsuit was filed the condition of public housing in Kansas City was abysmal. More than half of the public housing units in Kansas City were unoccupied, many of the remaining units were rat infested and generally in very poor condition; and crime was rampant. Today, Kansas City has some of the best public housing stock in the country. The units are, for the most part attractive, livable and well maintained. The occupancy rate is 97% and the crime rate is down dramatically.

Check out The Star on Sunday for more. And have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Legal Aid's Longtime Employees

by Gregg Lombardi, Executive Director

One of the greatest resources that Legal Aid has in representing our clients is the experience and leadership of our staff. We have nine attorneys and one support staff member in a broad range of practice areas who have been with Legal Aid for more than 30 years. And we have another 15 staff members who have been with us for more than 20 years.

What’s more, not only are our staff experienced, they have stayed on the cutting edge of their areas of expertise. Many are nationally or regionally recognized as some of the best attorneys in their fields. So, regardless of whether our clients need help with Medicaid or SSI issues, public housing problems, immigration questions, foreclosure prevention or help in eradicating urban blight. We have talented, experienced casehandlers to help them.

At this year’s Justice for All Luncheon on June 15, we’ll be honoring the Legal Aid veterans who have been with us for more than 30 years. They are:

Effie Day (Medicaid and other state public benefits)
Suzanne Gladney (Immigration)
Michael Duffy (Community Development)
Bill Shull (Managing Attorney Warrensburg Office)
Jane Worley (Public Housing and private landlord-tenant issues)
Julie Levin (Public Housing and private landlord-tenant issues)
Susan Kephart (Foreclosure prevention)
Sam McHenry (Employment and guardianship issues)
James Marshall Smith (Federal benefits)
Yolanda Hernandez (Bilingual legal secretary)

These seasoned advocates are also great teachers and are bringing along many talented newer attorneys at Legal Aid to follow in their footsteps.

We’ll also be honoring two retirees who were with us for more than 30 years: Dick Halliburton (former Executive Director and consumer law) and Fred Rich (mental health and special education).

Morris Dees, the co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center will be our speaker. Please join us if you can. It will be a great event.

Visit http://www.lawmo.org/JFA_MorrisDees.htm to reserve or purchase tickets. Please contact Karen Cutliff at kcutliff@lawmo.org with questions.

Fun with Legal Aid

by Gregg Lombardi, Executive Director

We had two great fundraising events over the weekend. Friday night was the first annual Volunteer Attorney Project Team Trivia Night contest. 120 participants tested their knowledge of the arts, literature, food and bearded coaches in the NCAA basketball tournament-- among other things. It was a blast.

The competition was intense but Mizzou Minutiae a team organized by stalwart VAP supporter Tim Monsees emerged victorious.

And in the beautiful weather on Sunday morning, 175 runners and walkers participated in the Lawyers’ Association of Kansas City’s Run for Justice on the Plaza. Proceeds from the event go to support Legal Aid. Many thanks to the LAKC’s Kent Erickson, Corey Unrein (who was on sight at 4:30 in the morning getting things set up) for their work in organizing another great run.

I am also pleased to report that we had two Legal Aid runners win their age division. Amber Cutler won the women’s 25-30 category and Dick Halliburton completed the course in under 25 minutes to win the men’s 70 and over category. In addition to being a fundraiser for Legal Aid, this was also a Legal Aid Wellness Committee event and we had lots of runners and walkers out soaking up the beautiful morning.

Thanks again to everyone who worked on these events.