Out of the Tower, Into the Streets

Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation is bringing its signature Saturday Lawyer Program into Fulton County’s highest-poverty neighborhoods.

For years, AVLF has invited pre-screened clients to our office on Saturday mornings to meet with attorney volunteers. By all measures, the Saturday Lawyer Program is a great success – for those clients who can reach our office. But transportation challenges, health problems, family care responsibilities, and work schedules (among other reasons) keep some clients with strong cases from getting help from AVLF.

6-18 pop up clinic

AVLF volunteer Seun Adebiyi

Now AVLF is beginning to venture out of our seventeenth-floor office suite at Peachtree Center and into the communities we serve, by holding occasional “pop-up clinics” in the neighborhoods of greatest need. On June 18, AVLF’s Cole Thaler and three volunteers held the first pop-up clinic at Community Grounds coffee shop in Historic South Atlanta. The event was publicized through neighborhood organizations, businesses, and service providers, and was geared to tenants having problems with their living conditions or landlords.

Special thanks to volunteers Seun Adebiyi, Carlos Nolasco, and Olivia Carnegie, and to Katie Delp, Executive Director of FCS Ministries, for hosting us and helping us plan. If you are interested in volunteering for an upcoming pop-up clinic, email cthaler@avlf.org.