Legal Services/Education

5 organizations offer legal services and legal education to Westside residents:

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Chicago Legal Clinic
F.A.I.T.H. Inc.
Mother to Mother
Rape Victim Advocates
Women of Faith for Prison Justice

Chicago Legal Clinic

Address:
118 N. Central Ave.
Chicago, IL 60644-3101
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Phone: (773) 854-1610

Fax: (773) 287-0059

Mission: The mission of the Chicago Legal Clinic, Inc. is to identify legal needs and to provide community-based quality legal services and education to the underserved and disadvantaged in the Chicago area, thereby promoting justice through greater access to the legal system.

Services: The Chicago Legal Clinic provides free educational seminars to groups on the topic listed below. The seminars are available in English and Spanish. Please contact Diane Carrizales at (773) 731-1762 if you are interrested in scheduling a seminar or learning about the program.

    Legal Seminar Topics:

• Careers in Law
• Elderly/Aging issues
• Employment
• Environmental justice
• Family/domestic issues
• Housing

F.A.I.T.H. Inc.

Address:
5437 W. Division
Chicago IL 60615-1312
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Phone: (773) 378-0233

Fax: (773) 378-5035

Mission:  For Action In Togetherness Hold Fast (F.A.I.T.H) is a community-based organization comprised of concerned community residents, professionals, offenders and ex-offenders, who have come together, utilizing their gifts and talents, in assisting those just leaving the Illinois prison system to find their way though the difficult process of re-adapting to community life.  F.A.I.T.H., Inc. also endeavors to empower community members to work towards the prevention of their entry into the criminal justice system and in diminishing the overall spread of violence.

Services:

• Screening, testing, and referrals to job training centers
• Counseling and spiritual guidance
• Group counseling
• Transportation
• Pen-pal and emergency phone calls from inmates
• Visits to inmates for spiritual guidance and counseling
• Information and referral to other services
• Court, probation and legal advocacy services

Mother to Mother

Address:
2200 Roosevelt Rd., Suite 15
Broadview, IL 60155-3833
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Phone: (773) 542-1199

Fax: (773) 542- 1188

Mission: At Mother to Mother, we have networked with diverse organizations, school, hospitals, treatment facilities, Daycare centers, and the Tenth & Eleventh district police departments in order to provide visionary and comprehensive resources as well as a transitional living program for our clients. Our program is designed and tailored to fit all women regardless of creed, race, or circumstance. We understand the needs of all women, and will not discriminate.

Mother-to-Mother also assist with women's mental health issues with trained and licensed personnel. We also do home and hospital visits to our clients, while providing transportation to and from appointments. Mother-to-Mother specializes in women who have DCFS cases, and will provide a court advocate to assist our clients during court proceedings.

We provide services for women with or without children as well as providing childcare in our living facilities.

Rape Victim Advocates

Address:
228 S. Wabash St.
Chicago, IL 60604
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Telephone: (312) 663-6303

Fax: (312) 663-6302

Web Site:  www.rapevictimadvocates.org

Email: rva@interaccess.com

Mission: RVA is an Illinois non-profit organization with two primary goals: to assure that survivors of sexual assault are treated with dignity and compassion, and to change the way the legal system, medical institutions and society as a whole respond to survivors.

RVA focuses on both social service and social change. Through our presence in Chicago area emergency rooms, we provide nonjudgmental emotional support to victims of sexual violence, enabling them to become survivors. By providing basic legal and medical information, and referrals to other service organizations, we help the survivor make informed decisions. We also offer survivors continued support through telephone follow-up and our staff of counselors and legal advocates. Through these services, we enable survivors to regain control over their lives as quickly as possible. Through our work with the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and other area institutions, we strive to improve the treatment of survivors as a group in our society.

Services:

• Counseling (individual and group)
• Advocacy (legal and medical)
• Education & training.
• Legal information

Women of Faith for Prison Justice

Address:
C/O Lutheran Social Services
11607 S. Bishop
Chicago, IL 60643-5022
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Phone: (773) 468-2667

Mission: We, the women of faith for prison justice, recognize the injustices and unmet needs which threaten the health and well being of women and their families affected by incarceration. Therefore, we commit ourselves to challenge all women of faith to educate themselves and society about the realities of the restorative justice in this system.

Services:

• Community-Based Sentencing
  Family unity programs allow women who are convicted of none-violent offenses to remain with their children and receive appropriate programming while they serve their sentences in a secure residential center. These centers save money, reduce repeat offenses, and keep family intact.
• Health care
  We advocate for improved access to both mental and physical health care for women prisoners, and for adequate standards of care. Women must be allow to see competent medical and mental health care providers in a timely manner, and correctional officer must comply with medical orders. At present, inadequate staffing causes substantial delay in access to health providers, even women with life threatening illnesses.
• Sentencing
  Women of faith for prison justice works with the Illinois clemency project for battered women on behalf of women incarcerated for fighting back against their abusers. We oppose mandatory minimum sentencing and collaborate with the IL coalition against the death penalty to research and publicize cases of woman on death row in Illinois.
• Legislative Advocacy
  Through our advocacy network, we work to build support for legislative policies, that improve conditions for incarcerated women, and we organize opposition to legislation that negatively impacts women and their families.
  

CONTACT PERSON:
Rochelle Henderson
Coordinator
Phone 773-468-2667