Legal Clinic for the Disabled Inc

The Legal Clinic for the Disabled's (LCD) mission is to deliver free, quality Legal services to people living with physical disabilities, chronic health conditions, and mental health diagnoses and the deaf and or hard of hearing community to help them overcome Legal obstacles that would otherwise affect their independence, health, safety, or quality of life. Qualified clients live at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. LCD was founded in 1987 by magee rehabilitation hospital, now jefferson moss-magee rehabilitation hospital (magee) in collaboration with the young lawyers divisions of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia bar foundations. LCD is CO-located with magee/jefferson health and provides Legal services for patients at magee and at the riverfront outpatient rehabilitation center. Working closely with magee since its founding as the first medical-Legal partnership (mlp) in Philadelphia and one of the first in the nation, LCD is unique as one of the only organizations in the five-county Philadelphia region that is dedicated exclusively to providing direct Legal services tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities. In 2024, LCD served 1,508 clients and 2,679 additional household members, for a total of 4,187 people served. Unlike traditional delivery of Legal services models, LCD employs a community-based approach. LCD's programs continue to focus on "going to the client" in the communities where they live and receive their care. This allows LCD to reach more people in the disability community who may need Legal services, while continuing to conduct telephone intake and provide Legal services from LCD's home base at magee/jefferson health. The majority of LCD's cases came out of Philadelphia county and consisted of people seeking Legal services for family law issues, public benefits, housing and eviction issues, and planning documents. LCD's other programs are described in part iii, line 4a.