Community Spotlight
This space highlights organizations Adeszko, Abate & Green are passionate about helping. If you would like your charitable organization highlighted in this space, please contact us!
The Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based legal organization with a mission to build democracy. The CAC provides its services through a community lawyer model that operates on two fronts: The first is empowering community members to build the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to be active participants in the democratic life of their community. The second is by pushing public institutions toward greater accountability, transparency, and accessibility by removing undemocratic barriers rooted in local or state laws that prevent meaningful participation in the democratic process (such as access to those related to public participation, open government, government-held information, the ballot, the airwaves, and the courts).
The CAC’s mission and community lawyer model are rooted in the idea that the citizenry needs a free, legal resource to effectively navigate the red tape of government decision-making through legal and civic democratic tools, and to hold those in power accountable to the people they serve. Most people do not understand how to navigate issues of concern effectively when they want to make their voice heard or when facing government entities that have policies and practices that are antagonistic to citizen participation, regardless of substantive issue of public concern or the community being rural, suburban, or urban. The result is that generally people have a diminished sense of their own capacity to effect change and a low level of confidence that government is operating in the people’s best interest, and that is where free legal assistance can make a difference.
The CAC has a long history of collaboration with pro bono divisions of law firms because the demand for our services far outpaces our capacity. Rather than focusing on individual representation, CAC helps individuals address issues of public concern through a broad spectrum of services that includes legal assistance. Pro bono collaborators have done legal research, engaged with government bodies directly to enforce or secure legal rights, provided technical legal assistance to individuals and community groups looking to have their voice heard on an issue, conducted policy advocacy at the local and state level, filed administrative appeals and, as an avenue of last resort, jointly represented individuals on impact litigation to clarify ambiguities in the law or create new rights related to access to the democratic process. Substantively, pro bono lawyers address a wide range of issues that can involve helping individual and community groups gain access to public information and government meeting as well as a wide spectrum of First Amendment issues covering free speech, the right to petition and the right to assembly to government ethics, to issues involving land use, ballot access, economic development, government ethics and prohibited political activity, and more. Come and make a difference!
For more information about CAC’s work and the kind of legal issues addressed by our pro bono partners, visit www.citizenadvocacycenter.org or email us at cac@citizenadvocacycenter.org