Archive for the ‘jala’ tag
Who is Kathy Para & What is She Up To at JALA?
These penetrating questions and many more have been answered by the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Jacksonville Convenes Second Foreclosure Summit; JALA at the table
It’s still bad out there.
Two years ago, Bernetha Wise bought her first home. Now she might lose it to foreclosure.
Wise’s story is why Jacksonville city leaders and community members came together for the second time on Tuesday, to discuss possible solutions to the city’s foreclosure problem.
According to Forbes Magazine, the river city is on track to be the foreclosure capital of the United States this year.
Wise knows how difficult a foreclosure can be for a homeowner.
“It has been a very emotional experience — not knowing from day to day when they’re going to come and bang on your door and tell you to leave,” said Wise.
The 63-year-old, who is on disability, couldn’t afford her house payments after her ex-husband stopped his alimony payments.
Wise is now getting free help from Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.
It’s my friend, Jamie Ibrahim
Otherwise titled, “Jamie Ibrahim Profiled.”
The Daily Record in Jacksonville is good about including Legal Aid lawyers in its attorney profiles feature. This time, it’s my friend Jamie’s turn. She is a family lawyer at JALA.
Jamie Ibrahim
Ah, those were the days.
JALA CARE set to launch
When I worked at JALA, the Consumer Unit was beginning to assemble a truly innovative project to get lawyers involved in educating high school students about the responsible use of credit. That project is ready to launch next month. Check out the whole article in the Daily Record. I’m certain this will be a model program, begging to be replicated in many, many places.
“It is rather difficult for young people to realize what the consequences of overspending can be,” said Duval County Judge Roberto Arias, who is a certified instructor with the program. “For example, what happens a lot of times if you don’t pay one credit card on time then all your other credit cards usually have provisions in their contracts that allow them to increase their interest rates to the maximum amount after they find out you missed a payment on another card.”
Arias decided to get involved with the program because he is a father of high school-aged kids and he saw the credit offers start to come in the mail for his kids. And, many of the cases that are coming into his courtroom involve people who don’t understand credit.
Sarah Fowler Profiled
The Daily Record had a very nice profile of long-time JALA staffer Sarah Fowler on Tuesday. For many years, JALA was the prinicpal sponsor of Jacksonville’a annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Sarah was the chair of this year’s event, which is the focus of this really nice piece.
The event has been held at Metropolitan Park the last five years, following many years at the Jacksonville Landing and is a fun time for patrons following the annual parade — fun for everyone except one of the key people who helps make it a reality each year.
But, the work is well worth it to Sarah Fowler of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.
“I’ll have fun when it’s over,” said a smiling Fowler, chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration committee. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it and I’m always running around during it.”
The event isn’t the only thing that occupies Fowler’s time — she’s also the director of The Public Service Project, a pro bono program of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, at JALA. The program provides attorneys with the opportunity to assist low-income people in need of legal service.
The link between JALA and the annual event is stronger than just Fowler, as the organization sponsored the event for its first 14 years, beginning in 1989. The past five have been sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation.