Low-income individuals lack legal services

The survey, conducted for the Community Legal Empowerment Advocacy Resources Project, polled 179 low-income residents in Springfield and found that 67 percent of them needed legal services but could not pay for them.

Julie Conway, communications director for the Ozarks Area Community Action Corp., which participates in the CLEAR Project, said that the group used the survey to gain a better understanding of the key issues for which low-income individuals need legal services.

Housing is one of the main areas in which survey respondents reported a need for legal assistance, with 18.4 percent indicating that legal issues had prevented them from getting housing.

“Primarily, landlord-tenant type disputes,” Conway said.

Other areas in which survey respondents noted the need for legal services included employment and domestic situations, such as domestic violence, Conway said.

The CLEAR Project was organized in 2003 to address a growing need for legal help for low-income citizens.

The group has developed several resources, including a referral service, a legal information resource center and Know Your Rights workshops that address family law, mediation and employment law.

“We’ve had good attendance,” Conway said of the workshops, which average about 12 attendees. “Not huge, but fairly good.”

Other organizations participating in the CLEAR Project include Missouri State University’s Center for Conflict Resolution, the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights, Pro Se Help International and attorneys Roland Comstock, Terry Tolbert and Daniel Parmele.

Conway said that for the survey, completed for the CLEAR Project by an MSU graduate student, low-income was defined by federally established poverty guidelines.

Of the respondents, nearly 95 percent reported monthly incomes of $1,500 or less, or a maximum of $18,000 a year.