JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After announcing a program that opened for applications Monday to help with rent and utility assistance for those in need because of COVID-19, the city of Jacksonville just opened a similar program for mortgage assistance.
The past year has been wrought with ups and downs. We are impacted by the global health pandemic and by racial tensions. We have challenges with the economy. We have much political tension. We have been mentally and emotionally taxed on various fronts. We have experienced losses. Death of family members and loved ones. Decrease in clients. Changes in operations at home and at work. Managing the emotions of our children. Lots of overwhelm. People are resilient and we keep going no matter what comes against us.
“Marta” has two teenagers whose medical disabilities require such substantial medical equipment that the family needs a three-bedroom apartment on the first floor. She had been on the public housing wait list for more than two years, and when she was finally offered a three-bedroom apartment, the offer was soon retracted. She was then offered a two-bedroom apartment that would not meet her family’s needs.
Before COVID-19 changed everything, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid had a clinic on the third Tuesday of each month where volunteer attorneys assisted low-income clients with the preparation of advance directive forms such as power of attorney and living will documents. With the current safety concerns, the in-person clinic has been on hold for nearly a year. However, many attorneys are still taking these cases pro bono and assisting clients without a fee to get the much-needed documents completed.
When it comes to choosing pro bono work, Carrington “Rusty” Mead looks for the most time-consuming cases that other attorneys are least likely to take, and where the clients would suffer the most dire consequences without a lawyer’s help. “I prefer to do anything that will help people feel safe and help them be able to move forward easily in their lives, so they don’t get stuck in bad spaces. That’s what I prefer to do,” Mead said. “I’m always trying to stick my finger in a dam.”
Rahmaal Fisher, 44, had been a longshoreman at Jacksonville’s port since he was 16, but after serving time in prison, he was barred from the job he loved because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would not issue him the required Transportation Worker Identification Card, or TWIC. “Once I got sentenced to prison, I thought I had it arranged to where it wouldn’t affect my port pass,” Fisher said. “Once I got released, I saw that it had affected it. Because I applied with TSA for the TWIC pass, and they denied it. So, I had to apply again, and they denied it again.”
You can lose your kids, home and freedom without ever seeing a lawyer. It’s a profound injustice. Opinion by the Washington Post
“Shameka,” a single mother of three young children, had been a tenant in her subsidized housing unit for over two years when her apartment’s air conditioner developed a problem that caused a build-up of moisture and a consequent mold infestation. Shameka’s 2-year-old twins suffer from disabling bronchial asthma, which the conditions in the apartment were exacerbating, causing potentially life-threatening symptoms.
Jacksonville attorney Carrington “Rusty” Madison Mead will receive the 2021 Pro Bono Award for the 4th Judicial Circuit from the state Supreme Court at a Jan. 28 ceremony in Tallahassee. He was nominated for the award by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and the state Guardian ad Litem Office.
“Roberta,” a grandmother living in subsidized housing, lived in fear for her life and that of her loved ones after bullets from random, drive-by shootings had twice gone through her house, the second time severely injuring a visiting relative who subsequently had to undergo multiple surgeries. Roberta was diagnosed with severe anxiety after these two incidents. When she tried to break her lease so that she and her grandchildren could move to a safer home, the local public housing authority denied her a new housing voucher because her landlord claimed she owed more than $1,400, an allegation Roberta disputed.
