LAF October eNewsletter
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A special message from LAF Executive Director Diana C. White
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Every year, fall arrives with a long to-do list. That is certainly true at LAF. If you have joined us at an event recently, or have been following us on Facebook, then you know that it is incredibly busy around here these days. If you haven't heard already, LAF is in the midst of a major makeover. I hope you'll take a moment to read through this newsletter, and learn more about all the changes we’ve made, and the ones that are on the horizon – all with the goal of providing better, smarter service to our clients in tough times.
- Instead of staffing a downtown location and a few neighborhood offices, we're moving into one central Loop location at the end of this year.
- Our many special projects and our general poverty-law practice have been folded together into 5 Practice Groups: Children & Families, Consumer, Housing, Public Benefits, and Immigrant & Workers' Rights. Other programs around the country that have created practice groups find that they make for better training, more efficiency, and increased impact in their casework for clients. Those are our goals, too.
- We have also created a new Community Engagement Unit, consisting of 8 full-time staff members and a volunteer researcher, all with access to Zipcars, and portable offices. Their job is to make sure LAF is even more visible on the ground in our clients’ communities throughout Cook County, working with other social service agencies to provide know-your-rights presentations, pro se clinics, and (for clients who find it hard to get downtown) intake closer to home.
- Lastly, we are in the middle of a rebranding effort, which will encompass everything from our logo to our name to our website -- all changes you will start to see after we move into our new home at 120 S. LaSalle in December.
As always, thank you for your continued support of LAF!
Best,
Diana C. White
LAF Executive Director
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LAF Helps A Family Make A Fresh Start
For one veteran and his family, the end was just the beginning...
We all know about the overwhelming difficulties military families face as a result of constant deployments, and everyone at LAF is particularly proud when we can help these families who are giving up so much for their country. Christine and Israel Muniz are one example. The parents of 3 children, the Muniz family lives in the South Suburbs of Chicago. Israel serves in the Illinois National Guard, and he has had multiple deployments overseas.
During the difficult economy of the past few years, Israel had his hours at a trucking company reduced, and so it became difficult for the Muniz family to afford their mortgage. They filed bankruptcy to try to save their home from foreclosure. They were then contacted by Midwest Equity Consultants, a high-volume rescue company which persuaded the Munizes that, through their program, they could get out of bankruptcy, rebuild their credit, and get a new, affordable loan.
What Midwest did not tell the Munizes is that they were actually transferring title to their home (they were selling it), under circumstances virtually guaranteeing they would never get their home back, and would lose all of their equity. When the Munizes found out they had lost ownership of their home they came to LAF, and we filed suit against Midwest and its principals, who had been sued elsewhere and found to have violated state consumer protection laws.
As we began the case, Israel was redeployed to Afghanistan, and Christine was home taking care of their children and caring for her mother, who was battling cancer.
Nonetheless, throughout our case, the Munizes faithfully saved the equivalent of monthly mortgage payments. Initially, our goal was to get their home back secured by a new mortgage they could afford. But as the condition of their property deteriorated (they could not do major repairs since they no longer owned it), and as housing prices fell, it made more sense to take their savings and buy a new, more affordable home. We were able to do this by settling our case against the bank which had financed the rescue deal: we dismissed our claims and the bank paid the Munizes $11,000, at which point they could afford a downpayment on a new home.
Six months ago the Muniz family found a new home, got a new, affordable loan, and moved on with their lives. None of this would have been possible if LAF had not helped them navigate through a process that is intended to be complex and confusing to homeowners panicking at the prospect of foreclosure. With our help they are able to make a new beginning in a new, affordable home.
Click here now to watch Christine & Israel's story.
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LAF Golf Outing a Success!
FROM LAST TO FIRST!
In 2010, Steve Lane's foursome came in dead last at LAF's Inaugural Golf Outing. This year, Team Lane came back and won it all! Congratulations to the winning foursome (l to r): Dave Bossy, Brian Fargo, Steve Lane and Brian Ahern.
GET READY FOR NEXT YEAR!
Team Lane has already vowed to defend their title in 2012. LAF will be back at the Chicago Highlands Club on Monday, September 10, 2012 - so mark your calendars now!
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LAF Volunteers Honored at LSC Board Meeting
John Held and Malou Roth recieve awards for services
We are pleased to announce that John Held and Malou Roth have been selected by LAF and Legal Services Corporation to receive awards honoring their pro bono work with LAF. The awards were presented at the LSC Board Meeting on October 17 here in Chicago.
 John Held has been a volunteer attorney at LAF since October 2002. Over those nine years, John has provided pro bono service to literally hundreds of low income residents of the Chicago area. Working as many as three or four days per week, John has represented clients with problems ranging from family law to foreclosure to unemployment compensation benefits to consumer cases, and most recently, in Social Security cases. He functions as a “quasi staff attorney”, and provides extended representation to clients we might not otherwise be able to represent. Prior to coming to LAF, John’s experience was mostly in federal court as a named partner in one of Chicago’s leading intellectual property firms, McAndrews, Held, & Molloy.
 Malou Roth is an experienced Human Resources Executive who worked for a number of large, international companies, including Kirkland & Ellis. She has helped LAF with a great many aspects of our reorganization so that we can continue to provide first-rate services to clients in a time of exploding need and declining resources. Malou has spent 800-1000 hours with LAF in the last 18 months helping us to improve evaluations for supervisory attorneys and upper management, design job qualifications and interview questions for many new positions, think through the process of re-organizing into practice groups, train staff leadership in how to run effective and productive meetings, and coach individual employees. Malou has provided her expertise in areas that LAF doesn’t have and couldn’t begin to pay for.
LAF would like to congratulate John and Malou, and thank them both for their tremendous work on our behalf!
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Contribute to LAF Now!
Support LAF today with a tax-deductible donation
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llinois Legal Aid Online
has launched its
Spanish language website!
Check it out at AyudaLegalIL.org
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