Leaders from the Veterans Services Community Join the House Access to Civil Legal Aid Caucus and LSC for Veterans Day Event
Contact
Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
rauscherc@lsc.gov
202-295-1615
WASHINGTON – The House Caucus on Civil Legal Aid and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) will co-host a briefing on veterans’ access to vital legal services November 9 from 1-3:00 p.m. ET. This is LSC’s fourth annual Veterans Day program, and this year it is being co-sponsored by the Congressional Caucus.
Participants, many of whom served on LSC’s Veterans Task Force, will share findings from the task force’s report and provide insights into the civil legal challenges veterans face and how legal aid providers can better serve them.
The House Caucus co-chairs, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1) and Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-5), will provide opening remarks. They will be joined by Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA-8), Chairman of the U.S House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which approves LSC’s funding. LSC Chairman John G. Levi; former Pennsylvania congressman Patrick Murphy, managing director of Ankara and former Under Secretary of the Army; and DLA Piper LLP Partner and Veterans Task Force member Jim Brogan will also share remarks. DLA Piper provided financial and other support to the task force.
The first panel discussion will examine how collaborative partnerships can enhance veterans’ access to comprehensive legal aid. The panelists are Debbie Deegan, director, Errera Community Care Center in Connecticut; Darren Pruslow, supervising attorney, Connecticut Veterans Legal Center; and Taylor Wemmer, associate, DLA Piper. LSC Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel Will A. Gunn, who previously served as general counsel for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), will moderate the discussion.
A second panel will focus on one of the most critical problems facing veterans—homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that on a single night in January 2020, there were 37,252 veterans experiencing homelessness, an increase of 0.4% over the previous year and one that doesn’t reflect the pandemic’s impact on this population.
Speakers for the panel include John Kuhn, national director, Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program at the VA; Richard A.J. Prebil, staff attorney, Veterans Advocacy Project at the Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania; and Jill Williams, board member, Homeless Persons Representation Project. LSC Board Member and Veterans Task Force Co-Chair John G. Malcolm will serve as moderator.
David D. Halverson, a retired Army Lieutenant General, chair and CEO of Cypress International, and co-chair of the Veterans Task Force, will deliver closing remarks.
The event will be livestreamed on LSC's Facebook page.