General Relief Advocacy Project (GRAP)
Spring 2010 GRAP dates announced:
Come put your legal skills and voice to service for a good cause!
Did you do GRAP last semester? Were you trained, but didn’t get to attend a Service Day? RSVP to Daniel Ediger with your interest in attending a GRAP Service Day this semester.
We have limited space available for volunteers on the following dates in March and April:
Friday, March 5
Thursday, March 11
Friday, March 26
Friday, April 2
Friday, April 8
Friday, April 16
For each date, the Service Day will start around 2 or 3 pm and end after 6 or 7 pm.
Please email Daniel Ediger and indicate which dates you would like to attend. Also, indicate whether you would like to know about other possibilities in March and/or April, if you are unable to make the dates above. We will do our best to accommodate everybody’s schedule.
GRAP is a unique opportunity for students to perform legal advocacy on behalf of people in L.A. struggling with homelessness, starvation, and extreme poverty, and connect them to vital shelter, food, health and transportation services.
1Ls: This is your only chance at Loyola to get out of the classroom and use your legal skills to really help people.
2L/Es, 3L/Es, 4Es: You can earn Pro Bono Hours and also get valuable volunteering experience!
What GRAP Volunteers Do
Members of GRAP are trained in Social Welfare Law and Policy including L.A. County General Relief and Federal Food Stamps Programs. Participants in GRAP then travel to Dept. of Social Services Offices to advocate for applicants to receive the assistance to which they are legally entitled. Under the supervision of a licensed attorney, advocates will also assist clients by providing them with referrals to organizations and service providers who can help with the clients’ other legal, medical, and social service needs. The need for volunteers is significant especially in these tough economic times.
Please review the public interest handbook on pro-bono requirements to ensure that you can receive pro-bono credit for participating.
About
GRAP is PILF’s most successful direct service project to the community. Through GRAP, law students visit Los Angeles County Department of Social Services (DPSS) locations in order to advocate for applicants of general relief and food stamps. GRAP is a Pro Bono project for practicing attorneys and law students coordinated by Public Counsel pursuant to a court stipulation that addressed the terrible service that applicants to DPSS offices were receiving prior to this stipulation.
GRAP Advocates at Loyola include day and evening law students willing to commit to GRAP trips approximately once per month during the fall and spring semesters. Advocates must attend a one-hour training session, held at various times during the semester, to become ‘certified’ for GRAP trips. Upper division students receive Pro Bono credit for these trips. Although first-years are ineligible for Pro Bono credit, the Project is extremely popular among first-years because it represents the only time during the year that many of them can actually advocate for real clients in a real world setting.
