KENTUCKY EQUAL JUSTICE CENTER

As director Rich Seckel told Consumer Reports, "At our best, and in some of our favorite work, we are creating opportunity." Kentucky Equal Justice Center is a watchdog and advocate for low income Kentuckians.   Our mission is to promote equal access to justice for all residents of the Commonwealth. 

Our founders sought to foster an effective statewide justice community.   To that end, we:

Foster partnerships among legal services programs and community partnersAct as vigorous and constructive advocates in the courts and policy making arenas

Fill the gaps in existing legal services

These longstanding roles come to life today in vibrant and responsive initiatives: Consumer Law:  We seek to protect the assets, earnings and homes of low income Kentuckians from unfair financial practices.



 Health Care:  We work to create access to quality, affordable care and to make public programs consumer-friendly.



 Immigration Law:  We are the administrative home of the primary nonprofit immigration law center in the Bluegrass Region, helping sustain Maxwell Street Clinic and build its staff and infrastructure.



 Workers’ Rights:   We educate low-wage and non-traditional workers about basic work place rights and remedies available if they go unpaid or underpaid in violation of the law.



 We also build capacity beyond our own doors. Director Rich Seckel was a founding board member of Kentucky Voices for Health. Senior Staff Attorney Anne Marie Regan has helped guide the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending.
 


If the track record ahead is as strong as the one up to now, our work in the next five years could lead to:



New protections against the “debt trap” of payday loans New tools to help neighborhoods and cities redevelop vacant housing Health coverage for nearly all Kentuckians, with strong consumer protections
An ever more robust immigration law program at Maxwell Street



Family-friendly work place policies, fair treatment of low wage workers and an end to abusive practices



Our supportive board, energetic staff and dedicated volunteers are ready for the challenges.

Hallmarks of our work include creativity and responsiveness.   That means each initiative under the Kentucky Equal Justice “umbrella” may be unique in its approach.  But common elements include:

Recruiting, launching and supporting talented legal advocates with well-defined projects Building community partnerships necessary for successful advocacy


Tapping national sources of expertise as needed


Speaking clearly and knowledgeably to decision makers, the public and the media
Being a trusted source of help and information



Our rapid growth over the last several years means we must also address sustainability and infrastructure by developing:



An ever more diverse and robust funding base


Enhanced use of a variety of communications tools


"Next level" use of technology like our online legal case management software


New systems for back office support for our advocates



·       Enhanced staffing for administrative functions



We envision tackling all these things in a process of continuous improvement.  Near term projects and activities include:


Upgrades of tech systems at Maxwell Street Legal Clinic and "next level" use our legal case management software


A redesign of our website and movement to a more modern platform
Launch of a new internal team focused on development,  communications strategies and use of social media



In the advocacy realm, initiatives include:



Work in coalition with faith-based groups to address predatory lending
“Boots on the Ground” outreach through local legal services Health Advocacy Teams under a special grant initiative



A robust “211 for immigrants” intake system at Maxwell Street Legal Clinic

They say "the wheels of justice turn slowly."  Perhaps fittingly, we are more tortoise than hare.   We just don’t give up. With modest infrastructure and a small staff we’ve gotten enough done over the years to receive the Consumer Reports Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award. We are now as big as we ever were, even during early years of federal funding, long gone. We have four talented attorneys with varied expertise and a paralegal certified to handle immigration cases. We've launched new part-time staff focused on Health Outreach and social media communications.  We make creative use of AmeriCorps resources, benefit from the dedication of volunteers and have built many constructive partnerships.

Internal resources include:

 Respected advocacy staff:   From Senior Staff Attorney Anne Marie Regan to our newest project attorney and AmeriCorps member, KEJC attracts extraordinary talent. We believe both the mission and the track record attract able advocates.   In turn, they practice their advocacy diligently, knowledgeably and with distinction.

 An ability to launch projects:  During our recent period of growth we found we had the capacity to launch projects and people successfully—in part through a strong and conscious element of “meet and greet” with community partners.
 A diverse and creative board:   Our board members from legal services programs keep up us in touch with our roots.  New community members on the board bring diverse perspectives and ideas. The board’s engagement in strategic planning recently saw us through the most rapid and creative period of growth since our founding in 1976.

 External resources include: 
Partnerships and coalitions:   From health care to payday lending and now to workers’ rights, we have helped build coalitions big and small and have backed them up with the best possible legal and policy expertise.  Trust:  Perhaps part of our success is that we give credit as often as than we take it.   We are a trusted ally to many partners, across sectors from faith-based to labor.

 Constructive relations with officials:   While we don’t “pull our punches” on advocacy—we take positions that are well-founded in law and policy—KEJC advocates are respected for the thoughtful diligence of our advocacy.   We have built constructive relationships with officials, especially around health care and public benefits.

Credibility:   Our approach to media is to earn it. Over the years we have become a trusted source on issues that affect real people and that touch on basic human values of fairness and opportunity—the public interest instead of special interests. We can speak clearly to policy choices and, very often, link reporters with real people.  The main challenge now is to build an administrative infrastructure commensurate with our new size. (In the video produced by Consumer Reports, our Health Law Fellow says, “Rich is our infrastructure.")    We would love to invest “capacity building.”

They say that “eternal vigilance is the cost of liberty.”  During the General Assembly, we are vividly reminded of the importance of our watchdog role. It is unlikely we will work ourselves out of a job.In that sense, the work is never done. The challenge is to fulfill our role as advocates with competence, creativity and care.

 We have a worthy track record. We see progress on policies. We see changes for people. Our capacity is growing.

 This section recaps some of the track record and some of the progress. It points to the fence on a few unresolved issues. And it envisions the growing, vibrant Kentucky Equal Justice Center of the future.

 The track record contains elements of both protection and empowerment. We have helped defeat proposals to double the cap on payday loans. We successfully challenged denials of long term care for several thousand Kentuckians. We helped write and pass Kentucky laws making human trafficking a crime.

 Turning to empowerment, we helped win new policies that let low income parents chose post-secondary education as their required “welfare to work” activity. Through Maxwell Street Legal Clinic, we have helped over 6,500 new neighbors take steps toward the American Dream.

The work continues with new initiatives around access to health care and workers’ rights.

 Along the way, we have grown. We have also helped create capacity outside our own doors. We have helped launch the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Kentucky Voices for Health and the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending—plus a new network of community partners concerned about low wage and non-traditional workers.

 Together with our partners, we may yet see stronger laws enacted on payday loans. We will keep working to ensure that Kentuckians have access to high quality, affordable health care—and are empowered to use it. We want to see hard work earn a living wage.

 For ourselves, we envision a strong infrastructure to sustain our progress, support our work and foster a culture of creative advocacy. That will likely mean a greater division of labor and new staffing for functions other than our advocacy: communications, development, technology, human resources and bookkeeping.

 We have grown from two advocates in 2002 to become a vibrant, multi-project advocacy center. Today, four attorneys and five other staff work on issues from immigration to consumer law to health care and workers’ rights.

 At Maxwell Street, our CLINIC Immigration Fellow helps deliver high quality help to new neighbors. Our AmeriCorps and VISTA members and newly full-time Outreach Coordinator help assure that community members know about help available to workers and families.

 It’s an overnight success years in the making. We have a winner here. We want to make investments that give it a solid foundation for the future.