Our board adopted our strategic plan for legal advocacy for 2025-2027 in March 2025.
Except for the strategic advocacy priority focused on Artificial Intelligence, the strategic advocacy priority categories mirror the Community Legal Aid Practice Groups. The Practice Groups, under the leadership of the Advocacy Director and Practice Group Chairs, will work with the Director of Client Services and Managing Attorneys to incorporate the strategic advocacy priorities into the work of the Projects and monitor progress.
The strategic advocacy priorities do not replace the Priorities for Cases and Matters adopted by the Board of Trustees annually. Community Legal Aid will continue to provide essential legal services to help our clients resolve their legal issues so they can live safer, healthier, and more financially stable lives following the Priorities for Cases and Matters. The strategic advocacy priorities reflect the Priorities for Cases and Matters but focus on systemic advocacy goals that can be achieved over the next three years.
Strategic Advocacy Priorities
Housing
• Establish Right to Counsel in Evictions in at least one jurisdiction.
• Work collaboratively with local and statewide partners to eliminate barriers to housing including eviction record sealing, credit records, application/junk fees, and outdated zoning restrictions.
• Address the increasingly unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions experienced by low-income tenants.
Family
• Increase holistic representation to survivors of violence to ensure safety and self-sufficiency, including financial and housing stability.
• Expand assistance to self-represented litigants in visitation, custody, and divorce matters.
• Train and support more professionals who serve survivors of violence through growth and Expansion of Break the Silence, Safe Day, and other training events.
Education
• Utilizing the Ohio Medicaid School Program, establish an effective school-based Medical Legal Partnership in at least one school district.
• Address the growing truancy and absenteeism problem through partnerships with juvenile courts and schools.
• Address the improper use of school disciplinary processes against students with special education needs.
Public Benefits
• Continue participation in Ohio’s modernization effort for the unemployment compensation computer system.
• Develop pro bono capacity to provide assistance in public benefits matters.
Criminal/Driving Records
• Expand and develop partnerships with organizations supporting reentering citizens and those in recovery.
• Increase assistance to self-represented litigants in criminal record sealing and drivers license reinstatement matters.
Tax
• Continue education of lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Taxation of the benefits of providing taxpayers access to a full accounting of withholdings held by the Ohio Treasury and of automatically adjusting a taxpayer's tax liability or refund amount.
• Increase education and outreach for tax preparers of low-income taxpayers, e.g., VITA and AARP, to identify tax controversies for referral to Community Legal Aid and how to properly claim undocumented tax withholdings.
Consumer
• Address systemic debt issues and consumer rights violations including fines and fees and collection practices.
• Develop pro bono capacity to assist in consumer debt matters.
Immigration
• Expand assistance to immigrant victims of serious crime to obtain legal status in the United States.
• Address special needs of immigrants with cognitive or physical disabilities, including exceptions to naturalization testing, and accommodations for alternatives to in-person court and agency hearings and appointments.
All Practice Areas
• Utilize artificial intelligence and other available technologies to close the justice gap.
Note: Artificial Intelligence and related technologies promise to transform how Community Legal Aid provides legal services, especially for low-income Ohioans that Community Legal Aid is currently unable to assist because of limited resources.
Projects
Legal Aid's projects organize our legal work, collaborative partnerships, and outreach activities to most effectively meet the needs of our clients while also being stewards for positive change in our community.
Population-based projects provide holistic legal services to specific at-risk populations. Several other projects are aimed at mitigating a threat or barrier specific to low-income residents.
Each project has a core mission of how it supports the organization’s overarching vision.