Community Legal Aid

Community Legal Aid offices are closed Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29, 2025 in honor of Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!

‘Helter-skelter’ housing: Chicopee Housing Authority tenants describe life under former executive director By Namu Sampath | MassLive.com CHICOPEE — For nearly a decade, Mia Gomez has lived in a two-bedroom apartment at the Chicopee Housing Authority, now with her 9-year-old son. The conditions, she said, have been bad since she moved in — and they are getting worse. “There’s mold in the bathroom, my basement floods when it rains heavily, and my kitchen ceiling is caving in,” said the 31-year-old while sitting on a warm fall day on the front steps of the apartment with her sister, Maribel Gonzalez. Gomez said the housing authority has known about issues in her apartment since she moved in, but has barely made any improvements. The only good thing about living there, she said, is that she has a roof over her head. “I was homeless before,” she said. In 2021, a relative of Gonzalez’s husband filed a complaint against Monica Blazic, the former executive director of the Chicopee Housing Authority, and the housing authority itself, claiming that Blazic had discriminated against tenants who were Black, Hispanic or disabled. The plaintiff, one of three on the lawsuit, reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that Blazic had refused to transfer her apartment for years while she was suffering with end-stage renal disease. The complaint was handled by HUD’s civil rights compliance unit, which ensures housing authorities adhere to fair housing laws. Then, she took her case to federal court. She claimed that the discrimination began in 2013, eight years prior to filing the lawsuit. The tenant needed a different apartment to accommodate an at-home dialysis machine, which was what her doctors said was a safer and preferred treatment, said Jane Edmonstone, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs on the case and litigation director at Community Legal Aid in Springfield. Her apartment was on the second floor, didn’t have access to an elevator and was “too small and ill-equipped for a dialysis machine,” Edmonstone explained. Instead, the tenant, who was frail and had difficulty breathing, was forced to take the stairs, court documents said. While the Chicopee Housing Authority acknowledged the tenant had a need for a new apartment, the tenant did not get one for several years, even after she filed a federal lawsuit, Edmonstone said. “The Chicopee Housing Authority failed to make a reasonable accommodation request,” she said. Read more: https://lnkd.in/evdUWpjF

5 Worcester Nonprofits To Support This Holiday Season By Chris Ratigan | Patch.com WORCESTER, MA — If you’re like many of your Worcester neighbors, you may spend a good part of the holiday season with your credit card in hand buying gifts for family and friends. Coming up soon is a chance to give back to the local community. Giving Tuesday, which in 2024 falls on Dec. 3, is a day dedicated to supporting nonprofit and community groups. Since 2012, nonprofits worldwide have used the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to galvanize fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes. Maintaining funding is a constant challenge for many nonprofits that fill gaps and meet other needs in the Worcester area. Here are five local nonprofits to consider getting behind on Giving Tuesday: The Regional Environmental Council is bringing people together to create a just food system and to build healthy, sustainable and equitable communities. Abby's House provides shelter and affordable housing, as well as advocacy and support services, to homeless, battered, and low-income women, with or without children. The Greater Worcester Land Trust is a small non-profit organization created in 1987 to purchase, hold, advocate for, preserve or transfer, critical open space parcels in the Greater Worcester area. AIDS Project Worcester provides comprehensive client service programs and prevention and education services for people living with HIV. Community Legal Aid is the free civil legal aid provider for residents of the five counties of Central and Western Massachusetts. You can give to Community Legal Aid at https://lnkd.in/gQbvp-Tp. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eNDcGbZC

The November 2024 edition of Justice Matters is out NOW! Happy Thanksgiving! https://icont.ac/50U56

Thank you Baystate Health for supporting Community Legal Aid's Family Preservation Project!

On Tuesday night, Community Legal Aid (CLA) celebrated our annual Access to Justice Campaign at the JMAC in downtown Worcester. A few of our outstanding volunteers were recognized for their hard work and steadfast dedication to CLA. The event was hosted by our Worcester Access to Justice Committee, where the Committee Chair, Lynette Paczkowski, Board President, Hon. Luis Perez (Ret.), Pro Bono Director Meredith Palmer, and former CLA client and board member Livia Gonzalez spoke about the importance of CLA's work. The first award of the night was given to pro bono volunteer Attorney Akosua Agyepong (pictured (right) next to Pro Bono Director Meredith Palmer (left)) for her service to CLA's pro bono program, including the Worcester Probate and Family Court Lawyer for the Day program and the UMass Memorial Health Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP). The second award of the night recognized Attorney Elizabeth Morse, of Wickstrom & Morse, LLP. Attorney Morse has served as a member of the Worcester Access to Justice Committee since its inception in 2009, and by our calculations has personally raised tens-of-thousands of dollars for CLA and the clients we serve. The third and final award of the night was given to Attorney Pamela Heacock, Associate General Counsel for @umassmemorialhealth. Attorney Heacock has been one of the hardest working committee members since she joined the committee almost ten years ago, always going above and beyond what is asked of her. While Pamela could not attend the event, we were pleased to recognize her dedication and support.

Will you be joining us for Ripples of Justice at the JMAC this evening? We can't wait to celebrate CLA Pro Bono Attorney Akosua Agyepong as well as our other volunteers and partners in the fight for justice in Worcester County! What: Ripples of Justice - An Event Celebrating Access to Justice Where: Worcester PopUp at the Jean McDonough Arts Center, 20B Franklin Street, Worcester, MA 01608 When: TODAY, Tuesday, November 19, 2024 from 4:30 to 7:30 P.M. Haven't RSVP's yet? No problem - let us know you are coming: https://lnkd.in/egSPbbBH

In one Family Preservation Project case, two young sisters, ages 4 and 10, were in danger of being placed in foster care after their mother left them and moved away. Because the father’s name had been removed from the lease, the landlord started the eviction process to remove the family from the subsidized apartment. Along with initiating an action in housing court, the landlord had gone so far as to lock the father out of the mailbox and claimed he was trespassing. With the girls at risk of losing their place to live, DCF referred the case to the Family Preservation Project to help the family. CLA’s Housing and FPP teams stepped in and worked together to advocate for the family. They worked with DCF, the subsidy agency Wayfinders, and the landlord to allow the father and the children to stay in the subsidized apartment. Thanks to their efforts, DCF is in the process of closing this case. This project is made possible by many different funders, thank you to the Charles H. Hall Foundation for being one of them!

Will we see you next week?! Let us know if you can make it!

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