January 11, 2023, marks the start of the Virginia General Assembly legislative session and LAJC is ready.   Our teams have worked with community groups and advocacy partners throughout the past year to identify priorities and issues of concern that are likely to arise as members bring bills to committees and…

Big news! We are excited to announce the launch of LAJC’s newest program: the Worker Justice Program!  A key part of our 2022-2026 strategic plan, our new Worker Justice Program is rooted in the longtime efforts of our farmworker team, who as part of our Immigrant Advocacy Program have spent…

In the past few months we have been joined by a number of fantastic new staff members! Meet the staff who have started with us since July: Emily Smith (she/her) – Attorney, Economic Justice Program Emily joined LAJC in June 2022. Prior to working at LAJC, she worked for the…

When the pandemic caused mass layoffs in 2020, hundreds of thousands of Virginians found themselves out of work and struggling to pay rent, buy food, afford prescriptions, or make loan payments. The struggle many didn’t expect? Trying to access unemployment insurance funds through the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Instead of…

DOJ, Immigration & Fair Housing Groups Provide Support The plaintiffs in a long-running housing discrimination case are seeking to overturn a district court ruling that would allow the Waples Mobile Home Park in Fairfax, Virginia, to evict tenants based on a family member’s immigration status. The appeal, which is being…

We are delighted to announce two new members of the Legal Aid Justice Center team, Fallon Speaker as Legal Director of our Youth Justice Program and Fanny Brisker as our first-ever Director of Human Resources. Fallon Speaker – Legal Director, Youth Justice Program Prior to joining LAJC, Fallon served as…

In the past few months we have been joined by a number of fantastic new staff members! Meet the staff who have started with us since March 2022: Favio Gonzales (he/him) – Communications Associate Originally from Peru, Favio received a B.A. in Audiovisual Communication at the Peruvian University of Applied…

Federal Court Settlement Places Strict Limits on ICE Detention at ICA-Farmville WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a settlement agreement on claims for injunctive relief was reached in Santos Garcia et al. v. Wolf et al., a case filed by the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), and Gibson,…

When the Governor recently introduced a budget amendment that would reinstate presumptions against bail, we fought back. The Pretrial Justice Coalition (which LAJC is a founding member of) helped to repeal the presumptions in 2021 and knew defending the victory was key to continuing to make our pretrial system more…

Every legislative session in Virginia culminates in a brief “Reconvene” or “Veto” session where the General Assembly considers any vetoes or amendments from the Governor. On April 27th, legislators gathered to act on approximately 100 bills that Gov. Youngkin proposed amending, as well as 26 bills that he vetoed. Several of…

Virginia has received national attention in recent years for shifting its approach to juvenile justice from a punitive, carceral system to a more rehabilitative, restorative, and community-based model. The bipartisan passage of HB 1197 continues this trajectory by establishing a stakeholder workgroup to initiate the transfer of the Department of…

Outstanding bills for medical treatment are one of the leading causes of debt and bankruptcy, and medical debt is one of the most common debts for which Virginians are sued. Governor Youngkin’s vetoes of Del. Clark’s HB573 and Sen. Deeds’ SB297 have derailed critical, popular, and thoughtfully crafted bipartisan consumer…

In the past few months we have been joined by a number of fantastic new staff members! Meet the staff who have started with us since October 2021: Hannah Flamm (she/her) – Attorney, Immigrant Advocacy Program Hannah Flamm joined the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Program as an immigration…

Today, 109 organizations, coalitions, and law firms from Virginia and around the country, including LAJC, joined together to demand that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas close the privatized ICE detention center in Farmville, Virginia and release every detained immigrant. You can read the letter here. For over a decade, Farmville has been a site of well-documented abuse, mistreatment, and medical…

We are incredibly excited to announce Danielle Taylor as our new Deputy Director of Operations! This brand new role will design, build, and oversee systems and infrastructure to promote a healthy working environment and to support our advocates in achieving LAJC’s mission. Danielle Taylor is a global development strategist and human rights activist…

Today the Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC) filed a Housing Discrimination and Rental Assistance Demonstration Program complaint against The Michaels Organization, the current owners of the Fulton and Randolph/Idlewood affordable housing complexes, on behalf of two families. The complaint details how, when residents notified the property managers about serious health…

Legal Aid Justice Center Plans Expansion of Services and Other Community-led Efforts Thanks to an Historic Unrestricted Gift.     Charlottesville/Richmond/Falls Church VA – The Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC) today announced that a long-time donor to the organization, Philanthropist Sonjia Smith, has given LAJC a one-time gift of $10,000,000. This historic show of support for LAJC’s efforts towards…

As we grow our work, we have also been growing our team! Welcome to our new staff members who have started work with us in the past three months – you can read more about them here:  Kendra Hudson (she/her) – Attorney – Petersburg Kendra joined Legal Aid Justice Center in…

Anna worked for over a decade as a Public Defender at the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, Office of the Public Defender. There, she represented low-income people charged with felonies in jury trials and appeals. She used the participatory defense model to partner with her clients and their communities to shift the…

The Legal Aid Justice Center greatly appreciates Charlottesville City Council’s commitment to housing justice in Charlottesville, and we applaud their recent vote to approve funding for an eviction prevention program. We also want to express our gratitude to the very courageous and incredibly effective advocacy by our partners and allies…