Free legal clinics offered by the Syracuse Say Yes to Education program, in partnership with the Syracuse City School District, opened Tuesday night. This marks the fourth year Say Yes has offered the clinics, which are located in seven different locations throughout the district, to students and families in the program.

Say Yes to Education is a national nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the academic performance of students in urban areas. Syracuse adopted the program and reached out to all public schools in the city, providing programs and services to families and children in the area. The clinics will be open until May 25, 2012, and the hours of operation vary between the different locations.

Heidi McCormick, executive director of the Family Law and Social Policy Center at Syracuse University, coordinates the legal clinics for Syracuse Say Yes. McCormick said law firms and attorneys from the area volunteer to work at the clinics and help give advice to students and families — who do not have to make appointments to visit the clinics.

McCormick said the legal clinics help support Say Yes’ mission of removing as many barriers as possible that keep kids from doing well in school.

‘We see legal barriers as something that can affect a child’s ability to do well in school,’ McCormick said.

Pat Driscoll, director of operations for Syracuse Say Yes, said the legal clinics add another dimension of support to students and their families.

‘It’s actually intertwined with Say Yes’ theory of action,’ he said. ‘It speaks to the support system that Say Yes can provide.’

McCormick said last year there were approximately 100 attorneys, including private attorneys, who volunteered at the clinics. This year, four large law firms from the area are volunteering at the clinics: Bond, Schoeneck and King; Harris Beach, Green and Seifter; and Hiscock and Barclay.

Driscoll said close to 120 families or individuals sought advice from the legal clinics last year. In 2010, the legal clinics at Dr. Martin Luther King School and Elmwood Elementary School had the most people. Driscoll said he was not sure which legal clinic saw the least number of people last year.

People come to the legal clinics to seek advice on housing issues, such as tenants and landlord problems or need something fixed in an apartment, McCormick said. The clinics also see a lot of family issues like child support and custody problems, she said.

McCormick said the legal clinics have been very successful among families.

‘The parents who have utilized the program have been very happy to have an option available to them,’ she said.

Driscoll said Tony Marshall, legal support task force chair for Syracuse Say Yes, has been a huge advocate for the legal clinics.

Marshall is a member of the Harris Beach firm, one of the four large firms that volunteer at the legal clinics. He said Say Yes recognizes that just giving kids the ability to go to college tuition-free is often not enough. Say Yes supports students throughout their entire academic career by providing health and wellness support, after-school programs, tutors, summer programs and legal assistance to all 22,000 students in the school district, he said.

Marshall said he got involved with Say Yes because of a request from the president of the national Say Yes to Education foundation and from SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

‘You don’t say no to Say Yes, and you certainly don’t say no to Nancy Cantor,’ he said.

The decision to get involved with Say Yes was easy, Marshall said.

‘We have a responsibility to each other,’ he said.

Marshall said he wanted a platform in Syracuse for lawyers to be involved in the support of inner-city kids. This was the perfect link between the educational support system of Say Yes and the meshing of lawyers and legal assistance to the students in the program, he said.

‘It just made sense to me because I guess I had always recognized that our inner-city kids need support, and how do you help these kids out?’ Marshall said. ‘What’s really going to pull a lot of these kids out of the circumstances they’re in is education.’

snbouvia@syr.edu 

Published on October 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephanie: snbouvia@syr.edu | @snbouvia