Georgia State Law Students Spend Spring Break with AVLF
ASHLEIGH STARNES | April 30th, 2019
As a part of Georgia State’s Alternative Spring Break program, a dozen law students joined our Safe and Stable Homes team for a week of service learning.
Georgia State’s Center for Access to Justice Pro Bono Program offers a unique opportunity to law students in the springtime: to spend their vacation with us.
Each year, several students join our Safe and Stable Homes team for a week of service learning. The program was designed for students to learn about the far-reaching effects of housing instability – and the role they can play as attorneys to stop it.
Students were immersed in an intensive study of the current housing landscape of Atlanta. They learned how low-income Atlantans are left vulnerable to harmful housing conditions that cause longterm health issues and pervasive instability.
One of the students, Gilbert Morales, told us he’ll be going into real estate law – and that understanding the landscape of housing in Atlanta will help him make informed decisions that lift up his community.
“I wasn’t expecting the scale of the issues in Atlanta,” says Morales. “I was totally blown away.”
“My goal is learning how real estate transactions affect people in impoverished communities—especially transactions involving affordable housing,” says Morales.
Low income tenants in Atlanta are disproportionally exposed to deplorable housing conditions, like mold, infestations, and other forms of neglect. At AVLF, we work to protect tenants’ rights under the law, and make sure everyone can have access to a safe and healthy home.
“I wasn’t expecting the scale of the issues in Atlanta,” says Morales. “I was totally blown away.”
These problems aren’t solvable by our efforts alone. It takes collective effort to make meaningful change – and spending Spring Break in service is a great place to start.
We’re honored for the opportunity to educate Atlanta attorneys-in-training on the urgency of housing issues in our city, and we hope that they will carry what they learn into their communities.
Read more about last year’s Alternative Spring Break with AVLF.
Ashleigh Starnes
Communications Manager (Interim)
As AVLF’s Interim Communications Manager, Ashleigh works in website content development, social media outreach, and various other forms of communication with our clients, volunteers, and supporters.
Ashleigh is ever-eager to share the remarkable stories of our work, and the impact of AVLF’s staff and volunteers on our community.
Before joining AVLF, Ashleigh was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey. She holds a BA in English and Linguistics from the University of Georgia. She is also a performance artist, and can occasionally be seen performing movement pieces, poetry, and combinations of the two around Atlanta and beyond.
