I am very pleased and excited to announce to all our blog readers that I recently accepted a summer internship position with Philadelphia VIP. While this means that we will not be back in Minnesota for the summer, it is a huge burden off my shoulders to have our summer plans at least half figured out.
In honor of my impending internship, and because I already have a spotlight segment on the blog, today's post will shine a spotlight on the work of Philadelphia VIP.
Philadelphia VIP stands for the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program. You are all probably much smarter than me, but just in case you also did not know what Indigent meant (I just learned it earlier this school year), here is the definition from dictionary.com: Experiencing want or need; impoverished (as an adjective); A needy or destitute person (as a noun).
The organization carries out its mission of "promot[ing] equal justice for the poor by providing civil legal services not otherwise available, collaborating with other legal services organizations and promoting a culture of volunteerism by educating and exposing attorneys and law students to issues of poverty." Basically, this means that Philly VIP accepts referrals from a couple of the area legal aid services; determines if the client's issues are legal; and if the issue is best resolved through the legal process, facilitates the handling of the case by a private or public lawyer in need of a pro bono project. All lawyers are required to continue doing pro bono hours after practice because the American Bar Association (ABA) wants lawyers to give back to the community.
Throughout the process, Philadelphia VIP is responsible for the initial prep work, follow up with both the client and the lawyer on the case, and providing any educational materials the lawyer or client may need on the issue. The types of cases fall into four general categories: 1) Supporting Family Stability; 2) Preventing Homelessness; 3) Maintaining Family Income; and 4) Promoting Community Economic Development. The specific issues within these categories range from child custody to mortgage foreclosure to small business or nonprofit organization and everything in between.
Another important aspect of the work, besides promoting volunteerism within the legal community, is the educational aspect. This takes two forms. First, Philadelphia VIP helps train lawyers on the specific issues facing the clients to better prepare the lawyers to take on the cases pro bono. Second, Philadelphia VIP prepares educational materials for the clients themselves if the issue is one which may be settled pro se (that is if the client can represent him/herself in the matter).
Finally, the organization has an understanding that not all issues are best solved through the legal process. Therefore, if the specific client issue is best pursued through non-legal avenues, Philadelphia VIP works with the client to find and refer out to other nonprofit service providers that are not legal in nature.
So, you may be wondering what all of this means for me and what my position will look like this summer. Well, the variety of experiences I expect to gain from this position is the biggest reason I decided to take the position. I will get to work on a minimal amount of direct client interaction through the intake process (my Spanish skills may come in useful at this stage!). Then, a lot of my work will be doing the initial preparation on client cases - meaning that I will be responsible for doing the initial research to see if the issue is best resolved legally or non-legally, and if legally what are the major issues involved in the case and the next steps. If the client will be pro se in a case, or there is a type of issue that comes up often, I will be responsible for developing the client educational pieces around these issues. Additionally, Philadelphia VIP works hard to structure the internship so that the interns can get out of the office and into the community - going to other nonprofits, court hearings, re-entry programs, lawyer meetings, etc. They really want to get the interns exposed to many different areas and fields and be making connections within the community.
Anyways, I think Philadelphia VIP is doing some great work in the community and I am very excited to be a part of it this summer!
Cheers,
Danielle
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