Poverty and Community Activism


Loffredo presents a case study about the Law Clinic he runs at CUNY law school (clinics are legal services organizations run by law students designed to service poor and other underserved communities ) and the clinic’s relationship with the Welfare Rights Initiative a separate legal advocacy organization. Loffredo has some interesting insights into the interactions between litigation, advocacy, and grass roots organizing, that I think are useful in the discussion of social media activism for legal advocacy organizations. Loffredo calls this “collaborative lawyering” and emphasizes that this collaboration adds significantly to both organization’s mobilization and community organization efforts. He emphasized a campaign where WRI organized female welfare recipients who came to speak to college students about their experience and the types of changes necessary for them to complete their degrees while receiving welfare. As you will see in other posts this sort of narrative advocacy is something lawyers have always engaged in and twitter is another great avenue for dialogue like this.

Loffredo, Stephen. “Poverty Law and Community Activism: Notes from a Law School Clinic.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 150, 2001, p. 173.

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