Descriptive Transcript of Video: “Working Together for Justice”
[Opening video of rural and city street scenes in Vermont.]
A voice says: Nationally, there's no question that the needs of low-income people for legal services are hugely undermet.
[A man is speaking in an office. The text on screen says 92% of legal needs of low-income Americans are unmet or undermet. The man is then identified as Sam Abel-Palmer, Executive Director, Legal Services Vermont.]
Sam says: According to the Legal Services Corporation, 92% of the legal needs of low income people either are not met at all or are inadequately met. Every person living under the federal poverty level has typically at least one major legal issue that they are facing during any given year, and sometimes it's 4, 5, or 6 different legal problems at the same time that people don't have the time or the resources to handle these things themselves because they're just trying to keep a roof over their heads and trying to put food on the table. And that's where we come in.
[Video of outside of Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont offices. Then a woman with short hair is speaking in an office. She is identified as Bessie Weiss, Interim Executive Director of Vermont Legal Aid.]
Bessie says: We are the largest and broadest provider of free legal services in the state of Vermont.
[A woman with long hair and glasses is speaking in another office. She is identified as Deanna Hartog, Poverty Law Fellow, Vermont Legal Aid.]
Deanna says: Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont provide free legal services to those who need it and might not be able to access legal services elsewhere.
[Another woman with shoulder-length hair is speaking in another office. She is identified as Taleia Barksdale, Staff Attorney, Vermont Legal Aid.]
Taleia says: The existence of free legal services is really crucial to making sure that we don't continue to grow the disparities that already exist between people.
Deanna says: Historically, systems of power have been designed to exclude low-income and other marginalized populations. One way to regain that power or to balance that power is to provide legal services to those who have been excluded.
[Another woman with shoulder-length hair is sitting behind her desk in another office and speaking. She is identified as Barbara Prine, Staff Attorney, Vermont Legal Aid.]
Barbara says: One of the great things about Vermont legal Aid is we do individual representation of people on their individual problems and have success. But within that, we see patterns of problems that give rise to our systemic advocacy, our work in the legislature, our work at the Vermont Supreme Court.
Sam says: Nobody else is doing that comprehensive look at “what are all the needs that that need to be addressed?” and are able to deploy resources to meet those needs in a systemic way.
[Aerial video over Montpelier, Vermont, and the statehouse.]
Barbara says: During this really unprecedented time, one of the things that's most important about Vermont Legal Aid is that we've been able to be nimble and respond to the needs in front of us, like our immigrant minor guardianship work. This year when deportations increased, our community partners asked us to help make plans for families. The Immigrant Minor Guardianship Project helps undocumented families make a plan in case the parents are deported so that there is a reunification plan for those families. We’ve made plans for over 110 children to be reunified with their parents. Without this project, the kids would go into DCF custody and they would stay in DCF custody until they're 18. This project makes plans so that those children don't have to face that family separation.
[Video shows the outside of the Migrant Justice office. Another woman is seen in this office and she is speaking. She is identified as Marita Canedo, Program Coordinator, Migrant Justice.]
Marita says: We have seen in some cases in Vermont where families have been separated and as a mother myself, I cannot imagine that someone will take me away from my kids. My role at Migrant Justice is to give community members access to services. Because as an organization fighting for human rights, we also need some other organizations that provide the services that are going to put our families and our members in a situation that they can feel free to speak up, free to participate. Families should be together, so having a plan for parents to be reunited really shows the big impact that collaboration between organizations, collaboration with communities, is bringing solutions in difficult times.
[Video shows sun shining through leaves in trees outside Vermont Legal Aid.]
Barbara says: I've worked at Legal Aid for 30 years, and this is the hardest time. I mean, the elimination and reduction of programs for our clients, the stress that other nonprofits are under, the falling apart of government systems, and our own reduced staffing.
Sam says: The people who are looking for help is much greater than it was five years ago at the same time that our resources to address those needs are either the same as they were before or at the moment decreasing, which means it's harder for us to address that gap.
Bessie says: We realized at this time that we need to be proactive about our funding. We need to be less dependent upon federal grant sources. That's what our clients deserve. Our clients need us to always be here. We're asking Vermonters to help support our vital services.
Sam says: To my mind, the most important reason to support legal aid is that the cost of not having us there is much greater than the cost of supporting us.
Taleia says: We keep your neighbors housed. We keep your neighbors protected. And by doing that, we help to make the Vermont community safer. But without the funding to continue to do that work, to increase our capacity to do that work, lots of Vermonters are going to be left behind.
Deanna says: This is a moment of time right now that is really painful and really challenging and really scary for a lot of people. And one thing that's brought me comfort is knowing that in all of the darkness, there's a little bit of light, which is the people that I work with that I know will show up every single day to protect the rights that Vermonters have.
[Text on the screen says please join us in supporting access to justice for all Vermonters. The Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont logos are shown. Text says the video was produced by Caroline McArdle of McArdle & Associates LLC.]
End of transcript.