Community Legal Aid Services

The place to be today was the MAPS Air Museum for the annual Serving Area Military (SAM) Center Veteran Resource Fair. Our Veterans Assistance Project team talked with around 100 attendees about our services. The fair also includes free haircuts, dental care, and information from other veteran service organizations. Missed it? The fair takes place again on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Our 2025 annual report is arriving in mailboxes now! It's a brief overview of our impact on the region's civil legal needs, with client stories, data points and acknowledgments to those who help us do the work. We'll be sharing some of the stories and info from it over the next few weeks, but you can also read it online at www.communitylegalaid.org/our-impact

Paralegal Kelley Molla is marking her 35th anniversary with Community Legal Aid today! A dedicated member of our Canton office staff, Kelley is also active in the local community, serving on the board for the Alliance Area Domestic Violence Shelter and with the Victims' Rights Coalition and the Stark County Domestic Violence Collaborative. Thank you, Kelley, for all you do for our clients and people in our communities!

Our offices are closed today for an all-staff meeting. We will reopen on Oct. 1 at 8:30 a.m. Our online application for help is always available at communitylegalaid.org/apply.

More than 100 people joined us on Sept. 28 for our virtual SAFE Day training event, featuring Jennifer Becker and Annie Struby from the Battered Women's Justice Project. They shared more about the risk of fi****ms in the context of intimate partner violence. Thank you to all who took part and to our presenters for an insightful afternoon.

We partnered with the Ohio Women's Bar Association to host a wills and estate planning clinic at Destiny Church in Twinsburg this week. Thank you to the attorneys who spent their Saturday helping people in our communities to prepare these essential documents!

Welcome (back) to Maria Duvuvuei, our new Chief of External Affairs! Maria, who previously served with us as Director of Communications & Development, will now provide strategic leadership for Community Legal Aid's philanthropy, external affairs, community partnerships, and stakeholder engagement functions. She most recently served as the Communications Strategist for the Legal Services Corporation, the largest national funder of civil legal aid for grantees providing civil legal services. We're grateful to have Maria return as we plan for our upcoming 75th anniversary celebrations next year. Help us give her a warm welcome in the comments!

We're hiring Staff Attorneys! Transform the lives of clients through effective legal advocacy. Applicants interested in housing and general law are welcome to apply. Find out more at https://www.communitylegalaid.org/careers

On Friday, Oct. 2, Summit County residents can find free legal help at the next Summit County Pro Bono Collaborative clinic. Staffed by local attorneys volunteering their time and started by Summit County Common Pleas Court Judges Joy Malek Oldfield and Jennifer D. Towell, the clinic provides help on issues such as child custody/visitation and child support, collections, driver's license suspensions, evictions/foreclosures, expungements, and more. Learn more and register at info.communitylegalaid.org/scpbc

Congratulations to JP Morgan, who was honored as our 2026 Pro Bono Project volunteer of the year at the Trumbull County Bar Association's annual dinner on Sept. 17. Attorney Morgan has volunteered for more than 15 years and has handled 29 cases for us over the past two years. We appreciate his service to our community! Staff Attorney Patrick McCarthy presented the award to Attorney Morgan, who was joined by his wife and two of his children.