LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice is one of the recipients of the Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program through the United States Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice Legal Assistance Project (LACLJ-LAP) will provide legal and holistic services to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking victims.
“The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice is thrilled to be among one of the 77 recipients of the grant. This grant allows us to add desperately needed immigration services to the essential legal services that we currently provide in family and housing law ,” said Hellen Hong, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice.
LACLJ-LAP will increase the availability and accessibility of free holistic direct legal assistance to low-income survivors in the underserved areas of Southeast Los Angeles County, where individuals are unable to pursue legal remedies to reduce violence due to geographic locations, special needs, language or cultural barriers.
The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, Human Services Association, East Los Angeles Women’s Center and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles are part of the Legal Assistance Project, which will provide a wide range of holistic services to the underserved population. In addition to legal services, the LACLJ LAP partnership will provide: safety
planning, case management, individual/group counseling, life-skills and referrals. Moreover, legal issues regarding divorce, child custody/visitation, child support, spousal support, protective orders, immigration relief through U Visas and VAWA self-petitions, housing issues and public benefits will be addressed.
The Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program funded a total of $32.5 million in 2010 to be distributed over 24 months to 77 programs in 39 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. According to the Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program, recipients vary from domestic violence service agencies to law school clinical programs to nonprofit legal service organizations. The variety in grant recipients results in programs providing highly diverse legal services in areas where it is needed the most.
Los Angeles County is home to one of the largest immigrant population in the nation. Statistics show that in 2004, Los Angeles County accounted for more than 26 percent of all domestic violence calls in the State of California.
“The problem is compounded because immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, do not know that they have rights,” said Hong. “They not only fear the violence but also fear that speaking up may jeopardize their immigration status. Often times, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking are not taken seriously and there may be no legal recourse in their countries of origin.”
For more information on LACLJ-LAP, please call Hellen Hong at (323) 980-3500. For more information about domestic violence services, contact the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or online at www.ndvh.org.
To learn more about The Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program visit http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/.
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