Ohio Legal Aid Taskforces
Advocates from the Alliance of Ohio Legal Aid member organizations participate in statewide taskforces to identify and address systems and practices that unfairly impact low-income Ohioans.
Statewide Taskforces
Community Economic Development Taskforce
Members of the Community Economic Development Taskforce are working in communities across Ohio to strengthen local economies and improve community wellbeing by partnering with community members who identify and initiate solutions to economic, social, and environmental issues. Community Economic Development advocates provide legal support to small businesses; nonprofits; food, transportation, and green energy co-ops; and more.
Consumer Taskforce
The Consumer Taskforce builds capacity to help those living in poverty retain assets in order to build and maintain individual, family, and generational wealth. Advocates share litigation and advocacy strategies related to debt collection, bankruptcy, foreclosure and homeownership, automotive sales/lending, predatory lending, estate recovery, and other consumer advocacy issues.
Education Law Taskforce
The Education Task Force is a group of attorneys, paralegals, and advocates from Ohio legal services organizations and Ohio nonprofits who work together to identify and respond to systemic education issues across the state.
Employment Taskforce
The Employment Law Taskforce focuses on unemployment insurance, reentry, driver's license reinstatement, and other areas identified as barriers to employment. Our goal is to improve access to benefits, remove barriers, and improve the quality of our legal services.
Family Law Taskforce
The Family Law Taskforce is made up of legal aid advocates across the state who help low-income individuals and their families stabilize income, protect against violence, and navigate child custody and kinship care arrangements.
Health & Public Benefits Taskforce
The Health & Public Benefits Taskforce advocates for the equitable and efficient administration of public benefits, including Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and state and federal cash assistance programs. To increase and stabilize income for Ohioans living in poverty, taskforce members participate on State administrative committees influencing benefit reforms, advocate with county and State agencies for enhanced accessibility and responsiveness, and comment on proposed rule changes. Additionally, taskforce members share strategies for resolving challenges to accessing benefits, helping clients successfully appeal benefit denials and reductions, and advocating for improved administration of Medicaid waivers and Medicaid managed care plans. Current subcommittees include the Medicaid Unwinding Workgroup, Medicaid Waiver Workgroup, and SNAP Language Access.
Housing Taskforce
The Housing Taskforce engages in advocacy and litigation strategy related to eviction defense, tenants’ rights, emergency rental assistance programs, preservation of affordable housing, housing protections for domestic violence victims, utility reselling, eviction record sealing, and other housing-related legal concerns. Taskforce members monitor institutional investors, the implementation of the HUD Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and the Ohio Housing Finance Agency’s Qualified Allocation Plan, which calls for the fair and equitable distribution of housing credits including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Current subcommittees include the Rural Housing Workgroup and the Mobile Home Workgroup.
Immigrant Advocacy Taskforce
Members of the Immigrant Advocacy Taskforce share advocacy and strategies for helping immigrant clients access public benefits, attain employment authorization and other immigration relief, with a focus on representing victims of domestic violence or other crimes.
Lead Advocates
The Lead Advocates group connects legal aid employees across the state working to improve and ensure compliance with lead regulations and protect children and families from lead poisoning.
Medical Legal Partnership Affinity Group
Medical legal partnerships (MLPs) integrate the unique expertise of legal aid attorneys into healthcare settings to help clinicians, case managers, and social workers address structural problems at the root of so many health inequities. The objectives of the Medical Legal Partnership Taskforce are to provide mutual technical assistance and support to and develop rapport among MLPs in Ohio, to build meaningful relationships with our medical partners, to ensure coordination of statewide MLP activities, and to identify and develop opportunities for statewide collaboration in areas including evaluation and advocacy.
Racial Justice Taskforce
The Racial Justice Taskforce elevates statewide racial justice advocacy by educating legal aid advocates and promoting and engaging in racial justice advocacy. The Racial Justice Taskforce holds bi-monthly roundtable forums open to all Alliance member employees.
Tax Law Workgroup
Members of the Tax Law workgroup share advocacy, litigation strategies, and best practices for serving clients impacted by adverse tax situations including tax fraud and tax preparation scams, tax debts, and missing and denied refunds.
Veterans Advocacy Workgroup
Members of the Veterans Advocacy Workgroup share strategies and tools for outreaching to, advocating for, and serving veterans.
Connect with a Taskforce