A Year of Lawyers in Schools: Here’s What We Did

Published: June 5, 2017   |   No Comments  |  Read more

When AVLF launched the Standing with Our Neighbors program in September 2016, there were a lot of things we didn’t know, but one thing we did: families needed help. With enrollment turnover surging to 40% during the 2015-2016 school year, we knew families needed help to keep their kids in school. Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far, by the numbers.

SWON Staff Members Reflect on First School Year

Published: June 5, 2017   |   No Comments  |  Read more

These seemingly small actions – a call to a landlord, a demand letter sent – change the lives of the people we work to help. They are already facing huge obstacles in their day-to-day: they don’t have the income to meet their own daily needs and are not respected in many spaces.

Some Things Really Are Life or Death

Published: May 23, 2017   |   No Comments  |  Read more

Julie came into the Safe Families Office four days after her boyfriend held her hostage in their shared home. She had watched as he destroyed all of her clothes, cutting them into ribbons before burning them with cigarettes. He repeatedly threatened to kill her. On the third night, a cell phone slipped from her boyfriend’s hand while he slept. She called for help.

AVLF to Host Georgia Latino Law Foundation Fellow

Published: April 28, 2017   |   No Comments  |  Read more

Now in her first year of law school, Gabriela Medina-Nuñez previously spent a year teaching Spanish in a predominantly African-American, low-income middle school in Augusta. This experience moved her to go to law school. As she put it, “The kids came to school to eat and feel safe.”

The Power of Knowing Your Rights

Published: April 10, 2017   |   No Comments  |  Read more

After fourteen years, Mr. Reece’s landlord decided not to renew his lease. Mr. Reece couldn’t find a place to move by the deadline his landlord gave him. Three days later, he came home to find the locks had been changed – with all of his belongings still inside. The property manager insisted that the law was on the landlord’s side, but Mr. Reece knew his rights.