On this Memorial Day we remember those who have served our country and paid the ultimate price for our freedom and security. All of our brave veterans are heroes. Unfortunately some of them return home and face both financial and legal hardship. The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic is proud to partner with an organization called Helping Veterans and Families (HVAF). HVAF refers veterans directly to the Clinic for help with a variety of legal needs. 

While INHP works to keep families safely and affordably housed, ultimately their efforts are about more than just putting a roof over someone’s head. “Being a homeowner is a lifelong dream for so many of the families that come to INHP,” says Rob. “So often, they are first-generation homeowners, meaning nobody else in their family has been able to achieve that before. And it represents a place to call their own.”

I remember the look on his face. It was a mixture of shame, sadness, and regret. His eyes twitched as he told me his story. He looked up and down, right and left. But he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Many people know the story of how Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic came to be born, how it sprang from the words of a pastor who cast a bold vision from the pulpit of the big stone church at 34th and Central. What might be less known is how the roots of the Clinic reach deeper into time, to the 1960s, when an all-white congregation refused to submit to white flight. Or even further into the past, to the 1920s, when a downtown church saw an emerging neighborhood as an opportunity for outreach. As such, Tabernacle Presbyterian Church’s seemingly out-of-the-blue decision to start a legal clinic decades later was not so out-of-the-blue at all, but rather, wonderfully consistent with its history.

In 2008, College Park Church forged a partnership with Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic to help improve and strengthen the Brookside neighborhood on the near east side. We have enjoyed the grace they bring to our community through their efforts towards justice. And we support one another in offering love and care to our neighbors in need.

Amy describes their Advocacy Program as the backbone of their work. “We assist individuals who believe they may have been a victim of housing discrimination to determine if there is in fact evidence of a violation of law or not,” she says. “If we find evidence of an unlawful practice, we then become an advocate for that victim and assist them in getting justice.”