New Haven Legal Aid Turns 60

Rev. William Barber had a message for dozens of legal aid staffers and supporters: After 60 years of serving New Haven, don’t ​“rest your case” against poverty.

Barber, the co-chair of the revived national Poor People’s Campaign and a professor at Yale, was the keynote speaker at a gala for New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA), an event that filled the beachside venue at Anthony’s Ocean View on Wednesday night.

The legal aid organization — one of the first in the country — is celebrating its 60th year of operations this year. It was founded in 1964 with a mission inspired by the contemporary Civil Rights Movement to provide free civil legal services to low-income clients.

Now, NHLAA provides legal representation to tenants facing eviction, students facing expulsion, domestic violence survivors seeking restraining orders, and immigrants facing deportation, among other clients.

In addition to representing individual clients, the organization works to change policy through both community organizing and legal challenges (to city lead poisoning metrics, for instance, or landlord rules against criminal records).

“Being able to last for 60 years takes lots of people” — and lots of hard work, reflected NHLAA Director Alexis Smith.

“It feels so special that we’ve been such a solid part of the community for so long,” said Deputy Director Elizabeth Rosenthal.

The legal aid staff witness the effects of poverty and family violence on a daily basis, while fighting court cases that often face long odds. Bearing that weight, Rosenthal said, ​“we try to celebrate the wins as much as we can.” Including on Wednesday.

Ahead of the gala, one of six fundraisers this year celebrating NHLAA’s 60th anniversary, Rosenthal asked her colleagues to share excerpts of the thank-you notes they’ve received over the years. The quotes were displayed, anonymously, on screens around the room.

“I want to thank you from my heart and let your group know how much I appreciate everything you have done. A huge weight was lifted from my shoulders,” wrote one client.

At the center of the evening was a speech from Rev. Barber, who wove Biblical references and history lessons into remarks that touched on Medicaid expansion, the abolitionist movement at Yale, and the anti-Haitian hatred flooding the city of Springfield, Ohio.

The heart of his message was that poverty should be treated like an epidemic. ​“Eight hundred people are dying per day from poverty,” he said, echoing data from the Poor People’s Campaign. But compared to public health crises like Covid-19 or vaping, ​“you hardly hear a damn thing” about poverty.

“Poverty is a structural reality, not just a product of individual people’s failings,” he said.

Barber heralded the legal aid staffers for fighting on behalf of people in poverty. ​“You created a feat,” he said of the 60-year anniversary. ​“You all are better than Moses — he did 40 years,” he joked.

In a nod to the staff working behind the scenes, he soon added, ​“The prophets of the Bible were God’s paralegals.”

After garnering two standing ovations from the crowd, Barber remained to sign copies of his book White Poverty.

Both Smith and Rosenthal said that they hope to focus more energy on advocating for anti-poverty policies on a larger scale, on top of fighting for clients one by one.

“We want to be able to last for 60 more years,” Smith said, ​“but we don’t want to be needed.”