Legal Services Corporation to Hold Event on Legal Needs of Rural Veterans

Contact

Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
rauscherc@lsc.gov
202-295-1615

WASHINGTON—The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is holding a Veterans Day event on Thursday, November 17 from 2:00 - 3.30 p.m. ET. This year, building on the work of LSC’s Rural Justice Task Force and Veterans Task Force, the event will focus on the efforts to address the unmet legal needs of veterans living in rural areas.

LSC’s recent Justice Gap report found that in 2021, 76% of low-income veteran households experienced at least one civil legal problem in the past year, and 27% of those reported experiencing 10 or more problems.   

 Low-income Americans in veteran households indicated that they had not received any or enough legal help for 88% of their legal issues. The most common civil legal problems they experienced were related to consumer issues, health care and income maintenance.  

 U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan and U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (VA-3) will share recorded remarks at the event. Live remarks will be given by John G. Levi, chairman of LSC’s Board of Directors and partner at Sidley Austin LLP; Ronald S. Flagg, LSC president; and John Malcolm, LSC Board member and vice president of the Heritage Foundation Institute for Constitutional Government.

LSC’s General Counsel Will Gunn will moderate a panel, “Uplifting Initiatives to Support Rural Veterans,” that will explore the barriers that rural veterans face, and the role that collaborative partnerships play in increasing veterans’ access to vital legal services. The panel features:

Dawn M. Brdicko, Social Work Executive; LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator, Mental Health Point of Contact, VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Nicole Golden-Bouchard, Managing Attorney and Stateside Legal Coordinator; Pine Tree Legal Assistance (Maine)
Peter J. Kaboli, MD, MS, Acting Executive Director; Office of Rural Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Jayne Wagner, Interim Managing Attorney; Health, Education, & Law Project (HELP), Legal Aid of Nebraska

Tune in to watch the livestream on LSC’s Facebook page. The full event program is available here.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 131 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.  