ALL YOUTH DESERVE LEGAL PROTECTION  AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE.

Youth experiencing homelessness have a critical, but oftentimes overlooked, need for legal services. Lack of legal support can impact a young person’s ability to access housing, employment, healthcare, education and services.

In partnership with the Community Law Division at Metropolitan Public Defender and the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, the New Avenues for Youth Legal Clinic provides pro bono legal services to young people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

Clinic services include:

• Criminal record clearing: expungement, felony reduction
• Criminal justice fines and fees
• Name and gender-marker changes
• Restraining orders
• Eviction defense, clearing old eviction judgments
• Civil debt negotiations
• Closing open warrants
• Disability benefits
• Unemployment benefits, unpaid wages
• Family law: custody, guardianship, paternity, divorce, child support

We’ve seen first-hand the critical role lawyers can play in improving outcomes for the youth we serve – in our pilot project year, we provided legal assistance to more than 150 young people.  If you are an attorney interested in volunteering with our clinic or providing support, please contact Victoria Sanstrum at vsanstrum@newavenues.org.  And if you’d like to make a contribution to support the work of clinic, CLICK HERE.

If you are a young person experiencing or at-risk of homelessness and are looking for legal assistance, contact our Drop-In Day Services Program for clinic hours or to make an appointment at 503- 517-3919.