Language access is essential for families in Massachusetts who are better served in a language other than English to avail themselves of benefits and services for which they are eligible.

MLRI improves language access for people who are best served in a language other than English and for Deaf or Hard of Hearing people in the courts, government agencies, schools and other institutions.

Our language access advocacy focuses on:

• Ensuring courts, schools, health care providers and public-facing state agencies comply with language access laws
• Educating the bar about language access law and accessing and working with interpreters in various fora
• Partnering with advocates across the state to promote access to services for individuals who are better served in a language other than English
• Drafting and advancing legislation to expand language access in the state
• Empowering Massachusetts communities who are better served in a language other than English about their right to language access

A significant number of low income people in Massachusetts are unable to access a lawyer; approximately two-thirds of low income residents are turned away each year due to lack of civil aid resources. In addition, many low income people fall through the cracks because they are above-income for legal aid programs (e.g., above 125% of federal poverty level) but too poor to afford a lawyer.

As a result of this justice gap, vulnerable people are left without access to legal advice and, as a result, navigate legal situations without knowing their rights or options. Massachusetts has embraced the goal of providing “100 percent access to justice” through a continuum of meaningful and appropriate services. The use of technology is critical in closing the justice gap.

Launched in 2005, the Massachusetts Legal Aid Websites Project is a special statewide initiative funded by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation.  The Websites Project is developed and maintained by MLRI and provides online legal information and other resources to the general public and to the Massachusetts advocacy community.

The Project includes two statewide legal information websites:

• MassLegalHelp.org: a legal information site written in “plain English” and targeted to low income Massachusetts residents and non-lawyer advocates
• MassLegalServices.org: a website targeted to poverty law attorneys and advocates, this site includes issue specific legal resources, case libraries, listservs, and other advocacy resources

These two websites are viewed millions of times each year by people seeking trusted, reliable information about critical legal issues that affect low income people.

The Websites Project also oversees:

• MassLRF.org, the Massachusetts legal services triage and online referral portal
• MassLegalAnswersOnline.org, an innovative virtual legal helpline to provide targeted legal advice to low income people.
• MassProBono.org, an online resource for legal professionals who want to give their time to meet the legal needs of people with low incomes in Massachusetts. On Mass Pro Bono, volunteers can search among more than 50 organizations across the Commonwealth to find a pro bono opportunity that suits their skills, interests, and availability. Mass Pro Bono was originally launched a decade ago through a Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grant and was administered by the Volunteer Lawyers Project.

Victims of crime are often left with significant legal needs that result from their victimization beyond those addressed in the criminal legal system. The civil legal needs faced by many victims following a crime include child custody, child support, immigration, healthcare, and access to stable housing.

The Civil Legal Aid for Victims of Crime (CLAVC) Initiative is a statewide legal aid project created in 2017 to increase access to civil legal services for vulnerable crime victims.

MLRI provides programmatic coordination of the Initiative, which is supported by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance through a Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. MLRI serves as the co-manager of this initiative, along with the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation.

Over 24 legal advocates in programs across the state are providing legal services through CLAVC. The attorneys are based in 6 regional legal aid offices throughout Massachusetts well as 3 statewide legal aid programs

For more information, or to refer victim of crime to CLAVC, visit www.massclavc.org

The connection between race and poverty in America is undeniable. It is rooted in years of systemic discrimination and biases that created conditions of inequality. Understanding and addressing issues of race, implicit bias, and developing an agenda to affirmatively advance racial equity is critical to ensure economic and social justice.

MLRI’s Race Equity Project was created to identify issues impacting the state’s communities of color and to devise strategies, in collaboration with communities, to diminish systemic barriers and promote equal rights and equal opportunities.

Our racial equity project focuses on:

• Forcefully challenging structural racism and implicit bias embedded within public systems, policies and practices
• Working collaboratively with legal services and community based organizations to advance a social justice agenda and to create a racial equity lens to legal aid advocacy
• Actively engaging in statewide and national coalitions to advance racial equity

Immigrants face substantial barriers when trying to survive and thrive in the United States.

MLRI secures and defends the social and economic rights of low-income immigrants in Massachusetts through coalition building, impact litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy, and partnership with community leaders.

Our immigration advocacy focuses on:

• defending against unfair and discriminatory federal policies that unfairly target immigrants, particularly immigrants of color, and harm immigrant children, and divide immigrant families.
• developing and coordinating statewide strategies to respond to the immediate legal needs of immigrants whenever harmful federal immigration policies are proposed.
• ensuring fair and equal treatment and due process by immigration authorities regardless of immigration status, by federal, state and local government entities.
• protecting the economic rights of immigrants, including eligibility and access to critical safety net programs.
• acquiring and preserving legal immigration status and the ability to work in the U.S.
• expanding college access and removing barriers to higher education for low income immigrant youth.

Safe, affordable, and dignified housing is necessary for economic stability. The lack of affordable housing for low-income people, inequitable housing practices and policies, and displacement interfere with employment opportunities, disrupt educational access, and create long-term economic, health, public safety, educational and other social costs.

MLRI works with tenants, community groups, legal aid advocates, policymakers, and a broad range of organizations to advance healthy, safe, and affordable housing for all.

MLRI’s housing advocacy focuses on:

• strengthening the rights of low-income renters.
• preventing displacement of low-income residents especially in gentrifying communities.
• furthering fair housing.
• ensuring meaningful access to the court system by low income tenants.
• advancing preservation and production of truly affordable housing.
• preventing homelessness and removing barriers to shelters.

Everyone in Massachusetts should have affordable, quality, and equitable health care.

MLRI focuses on the health benefits programs administered by the MassHealth agency and the Massachusetts Health Connector that currently provide affordable coverage to over 2.4 million state residents.

Our health care advocacy includes:

• eliminating administrative barriers that discourage or deny individuals from securing state subsidized health coverage for which they are eligible.
• addressing gaps in coverage individuals experience when transitioning between different state programs.
• promoting equitable access to affordable health coverage by addressing racial disparities in health and tackling policies with racially disparate impacts.
• expanding access to affordable quality health care for all, including immigrants, postpartum and pregnant people, children, and people with disabilities.
• fighting policies that will restrict access to coverage and care.
• reducing justice-involved individuals’ barriers to accessing health care, led by the communities that are most directly impacted.