Community Legal Services and Counseling Center

CONTACT:

1 West Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-661-1010
www.clsacc.org

Leslee Klein, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Community Legal Services And Counseling Center (CLSACC) was founded in 1970 as a grassroots effort to provide comprehensive civil legal assistance and psychological counseling services to low-income people in trouble -- battered women, abused children, homeless families, refugees, immigrants, people with mental illness, or disabilities -- in the Greater Boston area.

By providing both free civil legal assistance and affordable psychological counseling, CLSACC addresses its clients’ most pressing needs. It also helps them meet basic needs: adequate income, affordable housing, food, healthcare, personal safety from violence and abuse, and family stability.

CLSACC runs a lean operation. Since its founding, only eight FTE staff, supplemented by 100 volunteer lawyers and mental health professionals, serve more than 1,300 families annually. In 1999, the volunteers handled 83% of the counseling cases and 36% of the legal cases. This is an excellent giving opportunity, because donors can be assured that their dollars will be well-spent, and on services to the needy.

(2000: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)