JusticeCorps Program Wins National Award

In May 2006, the National Association of Counties gave the County of Los Angeles an Achievement Award for its JusticeCorps program

The program is the first of its kind in the nation. It was created by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and Los Angeles Superior Court. The program is funded by AmeriCorps
(www.americorps.org) and the California Administrative Office of the Courts.

The JusticeCorps helps citizens who cannot afford an attorney. It recruits and trains 100 university students to work in legal self-help programs across the County. Eighteen of them work with the DCA’s Small Claims Advisory Program. 

During the eight months since their start, the interns volunteered about 1,300 hours, saving the County $23,000. Another 50 JusticeCorps interns worked 7,500 hours at the Self-Help Legal Access Centers. That saved the County another $132,000.

The JusticeCorps interns working at the DCA office downtown helped 1,000 walk-in clients and another 3,300 who contacted DCA by phone.

The National Association of Counties (www.naco.org) represents the nation’s 3,066 counties. Its annual Achievement Awards encourage innovative programs in county government.

On June 27th the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors honored the first Justice Corps volunteers to complete their training with the DCA.

Shown are, left-to-right, first row: DCA Director Pastor Herrera, Jr., Supervisor Don Knabe, DCA Small Claims Manager Nick Aquino, JusticeCorps intern Maitel Ben-Afraim, DCA Dispute Settlement Manager Debra Williams, and DCA Deputy Director Tim Bissell.
 
Second row, left-to-right, are JusticeCorps interns Jose Mejia, Margie Moseley, Jo Ann Paanio, Adrenae Stephanians, Elaine Byrd, Phuong Nguyen, and Aaron Baird.
 
During the presentation, Supervisor Knabe said: "The Board of Supervisors is happy to honor these JusticeCorps volunteers. They have brought needed skills to our programs of legal aid. It is the first program of its kind in the country, and it will play a growing role in our consumer services." The JusticeCorps was created by the DCA in cooperation with the Superior Court and AmeriCorps, formerly known as Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

For more information, call Espie Hernandez at: (213) 974-9740.