This year during Delaware's #DoMore24 we come to you with heavy hearts—last week, Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) — one of the three agencies that CCJ funds support — received news that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had abruptly cancelled their Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) funding. This is a three-year grant with $425,000 allocated to CLASI annually to enforce the Fair Housing Act in Delaware, to ensure that our neighbors seeking housing are not discriminated against based on their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or family status. What does this work look like every day? Currently, CLASI has 80 open Fair Housing cases, the majority of which involve discrimination based on disability and requests for reasonable accommodations. CLASI recently had a client, a woman with physical disabilities requiring the use of an electric wheelchair for mobility, who was moved out of her accessible unit during renovations at her apartment complex. Unfortunately, the management company then did not move her back to an accessible unit, which left CLASI's client unable to reach the microwave, sink, or stove and unable to shower nor comfortably use the bathroom for months. The client was referred to CLASI after the management company denied her request to move units; she shared that "it no longer felt like home to me because all I could do was sit in a chair." After CLASI intervened, the management company finally agreed to move her to an accessible unit and install grab bars and an accessible shower and toilet in her bathroom. Her CLASI advocate shared: “The client had been very depressed. When she called to tell me that she was able to take a shower, she sounded like a completely different person from when we first met. It made me cry to hear her so happy.” This #DoMore24, we hope you will consider a contribution to the Combined Campaign for Justice to help us continue to fund the critical work of legal aid here in Delaware. A gift of $1900 covers the cost of one case and every contribution, no matter the size, makes a REAL difference. Together, we can ensure that legal aid continues to protect the rights and the dignity of those who need it most. https://lnkd.in/e5geSzBq
