Our Community Partners

MLRI is a high-impact nonprofit that bridges the divide between direct service and systemic advocacy by collaborating through coalitions with legal aid programs, social service provider organizations and anti-poverty advocates who work with clients on the ground.  Our systemic advocacy is informed by trends, issues and barriers identified in the field--at the community-level and client-level.

MLRI’s diverse networks cut across many areas that affect individuals and families living in poverty.  These relationships, combined with our deep level of expertise and credibility with policymakers, enables us to be adaptive to the ever-changing needs of low-income and underserved communities and to leverage the power of its networks with key decision-makers.

Our Legal Services Partners:

As the statewide poverty law support center, MLRI serves as the “spoke in the wheel” of the legal services community of Massachusetts and has deep relationships with all the core regional civil legal aid programs, as well as the statewide support programs, funded by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) or the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).  These include:

Center for Law and Education

Center for Public Representation

Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts

Community Legal Aid 

Community Legal Services and Counseling Center

Disability Law Center of Massachusetts

Greater Boston Legal Services

Legal Resource and Advocacy Center

Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Massachusetts Justice Project

MetroWest Legal Services

National Consumer Law Center

Northeast Legal Services

Prisoners’ Legal Services

South Costal County Legal Services

Volunteer Lawyers Project

Our Advocacy Coalitions: 

In conjunction with our direct interaction with legal services field programs, MLRI leads and/or is an active member of several legal services coalitions (which include legal aid lawyers as well as private practitioners and social service advocates) that focus on specialized legal areas that affect low-income and underserved individuals, families and communities.  These include:

Benefits Coalition:  The Benefits Coalition includes advocates who work on EA, and on DTA administered programs (TAFDC, SNAP, EAEDC).

Children’s Law Support Project:  This is a collaborative effort to address the legal needs of Massachusetts low income children.

CORI Coalition: This group is composed of advocates who are concerned about CORI issues. 

DCF /Child Welfare Coalition: This group works on issues involving the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

Elder Coalition:  Legal services advocates whose practice includes representation of elders on benefits and health issues. 

Employment Rights Coalition  Legal services advocates and private practitioners representing low-income employees in employment law cases, including Unemployment Insurance, work-family issues, discrimination, etc.

Family Law Task Force:  The Family Law Task Force coordinates a wide range of family law and domestic violence advocacy efforts in Massachusetts. 

Family Law Task Force Immigration Group: Family and immigration law advocates assisting immigrant clients with family law issues 

Health Law Coalition:  Advocates working on access to health care programs including MassHealth, Commonwealth Care, Health Safety Net, etc.

Housing Coalition:  Housing advocates who represent low-income tenants.

Immigration Coalition: Advocates who work on wide range of issues affecting immigrant populations.

Language Access Coalition:  Advocates interested in addressing language access barriers (affecting immigrant and refugee populations) in accessing the courts as well as legal and social services.

Race Equity Coalition:  Advocates who focus on race and poverty (as well as geography and poverty) and who are developing strategies to address racial and geographic disparities in order to close the opportunity gap.

Our Community Partners/Allies:

In addition to MLRI’s relationships with the statewide legal services community, it has long-standing collaborative partnerships with an extensive and diverse network of local, state and national community organizations, advocacy groups and social service providers that work on issues affecting low-income populations and/or directly with low-income clients. 

Below is a partial list of organizations that are part of MLRI’s network:

AARP-Massachusetts Chapter

ACLU of Massachusetts

ACLU National - Immigrant Rights Project

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD)

Action, Inc

AIDS Action Committee

Affordable Care Act (ACT!!) Today Coalition

African Community Health Initiatives

American Academy of Pediatrics-Massachusetts Chapter

American Immigration Council

American Red Cross Food Pantry

Amnesty International

Asian Task Force Against Violence

ASPIRA

Association of Haitian Women (AFAB)

Berkshire Children and Families

Berkshire Immigrant Center

Boston Area Rape Crisis Center

Boston Center for Independent Living

Boston Children's Hospital

Boston College Law School, Post-Deportation Human Rights Project

Boston Medical Center

Boston Public Health Commission

Boston Resident Engagement Coalition

Boston Resident Training Institute

Boston Workers Alliance

Boston University School of Law

Building Blocks Coalition

Cambridge Economic Opportunity Center (CEOC)

Cambridge Family and Children’s Services

Cardinal Medeiros Center

Casa Myrna Vasquez

Casey Family Services

Catholic Charities (MA, NY, D.C., FL)

Centro Presente

Center for Budget & Policy Priorities (D.C.)

Center for Law and Social Policy (D.C.)

Chelsea Collaborative

Child Health Watch

Children's Hospital Boston

Children’s Health Access Coalition

Children’s League

Children’s Services of Roxbury

Citizens for Citizens, Inc

Citizens for Juvenile Justice

Citizens Housing and Planning Association

City of Boston Elder Commission

City of Boston Emergency Shelter Commission

City of Boston Office of New Bostonians

Coalition Against Poverty

Coalition for Human Needs

Coalition for Social Justice

Coalition to Protect Homeless Children

Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS)

Commonwealth Workforce Coalition

Community Action Agency of Somerville

Community Catalyst

Community Partners

COMPASS

Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries

Criminal Justice Institute

Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU)

Disability Policy Consortium of Massachusetts

Domestic Violence Ended (DOVE), Inc.

East Boston Ecumenical Community Council

Elizabeth Freeman Center

Emerge

Families USA

Family and Community Resources

Georgetown Center for Children and Families

Greater Boston Housing Advocates

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization

Guidance Center

Harbor Communities Overcoming Violence (HarborCOV)

Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic

Harvard Law School, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice

Harvard Law School, Children's Advocacy Program

Harvard Law School, Community Enterprise Project

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau

Health Care for the Homeless

Horizons for Homeless Children

Families United in Educational Leadership (FUEL)

Family Economic Initiative  

Federal Defenders

Finex House

Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FL)

Food Bank of Western Mass

Food Resource and Action Center (FRAC) (D.C.)

Food/SNAP Coalition

Greater Boston Food Bank

Harbor Health Services, Inc.,

HAWC | Healing Abuse Working for Change

Health Care for All

Health Law Advocates

Higher Ground

Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts

Home for Little Wanderers

Hope House

Horizons for Homeless Children

Housing Justice Network

Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ME)

Immigration Task Force

Independence House

Institute for Health and Recovery

Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (CT)

International Institute of Boston

International Institute of Lowell

Irish International Immigration Center

Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action

Jewish Family & Children's Services/Bet Tzedek

JobNET

Joint Committee for Children’s Healthcare

JRI Health Law Institute

Justice at Work

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

League of Community Health Centers

Lutheran Social Services of New England

Martha Eliot Health Center

Massachusetts Advocates for Nursing Home Reform

Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending

Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers

Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy

Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations

Massachusetts Association of Older Americans

Massachusetts Association for School-Based Health Care

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center

Massachusetts Citizens for Children

Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless

Massachusetts Communities Action Network

Massachusetts Coalition for Supervised Visitation

Massachusetts Community Action Program (Mass-CAP)

Massachusetts Councils on Aging

Massachusetts Fair Housing Center

Massachusetts Family to Family Health Information Center at the Federation for Children with Special Needs

Massachusetts General Hospital (social work and children’s health care depts.)

Massachusetts Home Care

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition

Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers

Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants (MORI)

Massachusetts Senior Action Council

Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MPSCC)

Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants

Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy

Medical Legal Partnership Boston

Mental Health Legal Advisors

MetroWest Domestic Violence Collaborative

Multicultural Immigrant Coalition Against Violence

National Association of Social Workers-Mass. Chapter

National Council of La Raza

National Health Law Project

National Housing Law Project (D.C.)

National Immigration Forum

National Immigration Law Center (D.C.)

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild

National Low Income Housing Coalition (D.C.)

National Resident Engagement Group

Neighbor to Neighbor

New England Alliance on Children’s Health/Community Catalyst

New England Law Clinic

Northeastern University School of Law

On the Rise

Parents Helping Parents

Physicians for Human Rights

Political Asylum and Immigrant Rights (PAIR) Project

Poor People's United Front

Project Bread

Public Policy Institute

REACH (Reach Beyond Domestic Violence)

Rosie’s Place

Safe Passage

The Second Step

Transition House

St. Francis House

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

South Shore Hunger Network

Statewide Tenancy Preservation Program Committee

Stavros Center for Independent Living

Strengthening Families Involved with DCF Coalition 

Student Immigrant Movement

Suffolk University Law School

Tapestry Health

Tenant Advocacy Project

Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative

Tri-City Community Action Program

UMass Medical Center

Union of Minority Neighborhoods

University of Massachusetts

University of Miami (FL)

Vera Institute

Veterans Legal Services

Victims’ Rights Law Center

Voices Against Violence

Western New England School of Law

Worcester Food Policy Council

Youth Village Inc.

YWCA of Western Massachusetts