2023-25 Strategic Plan

I. Statement of Intention

Recognizing that there are significant unmet legal needs across our community and that the traditional approaches of attempting to provide more free or lower cost legal representation to some, offering a limited range of tools without the companion services needed to make them useful and effective, and asking the justice system to transform itself to meet the needs of the people it now serves, have so far failed to meaningfully meet the legal needs of the public, the Legal Assistance Center seeks to innovate and expand to better serve the current and future legal needs of our community.

The Legal Assistance Center intends to serve as a single site resource for all those who need civil legal help. Having served the community for over 20 years as a personal service, legal self-help center, the LAC now seeks to define and create the next generation community legal center. We do not presume to know now the full scope of such a commitment but do pledge to set a course in that direction, to ask and seek answers to essential questions, and to experiment on a path to success. With this 2023 through 2025 Strategic Plan, we seek to continue and expand the conversation about advancing justice and fairness and our role in truly meeting the civil legal needs of our community. We intend for this plan to lead, energize, inspire, and guide our organization and all those who work in it, care for it, and support it

II. Vision BHAG

The Legal Assistance Center is a comprehensive community legal center, offering the continuum of legal services necessary to assure that everyone gets the legal services they need when they need them.

III. Mission

The Legal Assistance Center works to meet the legal service needs of our community by empowering people to face and resolve civil legal challenges, to advance justice and fairness, and to thereby enhance individual, family, and community stability and prosperity.

IV. Manifesto

  • We believe in justice for all.
  • We believe in fairness.
  • We believe that the justice system must work for everyone.
  • We believe that justice and fairness require access.
  • We believe everyone is entitled to use the courts.
  • We believe that limited resources should not impair justice, fairness, or access.
  • We believe in empowering people to solve problems.
  • We believe that serving people directly has deep value.
  • We believe that everyone is entitled to our respect and compassion.
  • We believe that our services and resources must work for the people who use them.
  • We believe that solving problems improves lives and families.
  • We believe that improving lives and families makes our community a better place

Excellent Legal Services

We are committed to excellence, assuring the highest quality customer and legal self-help services.

  • Create a culture of excellence. Everything matters.
  • Assure that the LAC has the legal expertise to support the services provided.
  • Assure that all staff and volunteers have the legal knowledge and customer service education and training to provide the highest quality customer service.
  • Assure that staff and volunteers are familiar with patron challenges including the impact of stress, trauma, and cultural and economic circumstances on problem solving. ▪ Assure that staff and volunteers engage with patrons in ways that are welcoming, kind, respectful, empathetic, and empowering.
  • Explore the role of AI in legal service delivery.

Increase Capacity

We are increasing our service and organizational capacity to meet the legal needs of more people.

  • Assure that we have the staff and volunteers needed to meet current patron needs and build the capacity to serve more people.
  • Assure that we optimize available service space and technical tools to serve patrons efficiently and effectively.
  • Pursue expanding and reconfiguring service space to meet future service needs.
  • Explore opportunities educate the community on legal needs and solutions.
  • Assure the resources needed to meet and expand capacity.

Scope of Service

We are expanding the depth and breadth of services to better meet community legal needs.

  • Provide service in an increasingly expanding range of services as we can competently and effectively provide, prioritizing the areas of greatest need.
  • Build a unique, innovative suite of basic tools and resources.
  • Build a comprehensive, accessible reference and resource library.
  • Use increased capacity to expand the level of service provided to each patron.
  • Use increased capacity to expand the suite of tools and resources.

Next Generation Community Legal Center

We are building a comprehensive, community legal services center.

  • Identify and address the essential questions inherent in significant growth.
  • Engage in and support innovations in the delivery of legal services.
  • Collaborate with stakeholders about legal needs and innovative legal services solutions.
  • Prepare for the opportunity to offer new, innovative legal services.
  • Explore how to provide or assure additional help, legal advice, and legal representation to those who need it.
  • Create a vision and model for a comprehensive com