Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania completes comprehensive Legal Needs Assessment
(Nov. 30, 2024)
Legal Aid of Southeastern PA Needs Assessment | 2024 | Read or download the 92-page report.
Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (LASP) has concluded a comprehensive needs assessment to identify service gaps and barriers faced by low-income individuals and families in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties.
Read the report (92-page PDF).
About the Needs Assessment
Conducted by Kōmĕngé Consulting, the Needs Assessment aligns with LASP’s mission to provide equitable access to justice, enhance the scope of its services, and improve service delivery. The Needs Assessment used advanced data-driven methods and included surveys, interviews and demographic analyses.
Goals
The purpose of the assessment was to identify the legal needs of low-income individuals and families in the counties LASP serves, and to determine how LASP can better address those needs. The assessment identified gaps in services and potential barriers to accessing legal aid.
The assessment focused on three objectives:
Identify community needs, assets, and partnership opportunities.
Determine opportunities to expand case types, increase accessibility of current services, and educate community partners on the scope of services.
Identify how LASP may better address greater systemic and economic issues underlying clients' current needs.
Highlights
Substantive Needs: LASP’s existing services meet critical needs in the service area, but each service is not universally available to residents in each county. The four counties have clusters of low-income areas without close proximity to LASP offices, showing the need for targeted outreach and resource allocation.
Structural Needs: Streamlining the intake process and improving services to non-English-speaking people were identified as priorities.
Systemic Needs: Community members called for LASP to lead efforts in tackling systemic inequalities and partner in efforts toward systemic change.
Recommendations
To address these needs, LASP seeks to:
Reduce structural barriers to legal aid.
Build deeper community partnerships.
Lead advocacy for systemic change.
Expand capacity to meet unmet legal needs in the region.
Moving forward
The Needs Assessment will serve as a blueprint for LASP’s strategic planning process. It will inform ongoing efforts to provide equitable legal support and effect community-driven change. The findings also underscore the importance of collaboration with local stakeholders to ensure justice for all.