Charles Grimsley

The Project

Charles J. Grimsley, (he/him/his) will be working with Community Legal Services to address disaster resiliency issues while assisting to build its Disaster Unit and to expand both public and government awareness of CLS’s legal services Community Legal Services’ Disaster Unit is in its earliest stage of development, so the Unit’s infrastructure, policies and procedures are in the development stage. Charles J. Grimsley and the Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator will be establishing a fully functional unit to serve the needs of low-income survivors of disasters. The Unit will also be interacting with other legal aid organizations to develop a comprehensive, coordinated state-wide plan to serve all Florida citizens.

Fellowship Plans

After meeting with other legal aid organizations and interacting with Equal Justice Works Fellows, Charles J. Grimsley will develop a comprehensive disaster plan for CLS with the assistance of The Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator; document the policies and procedures that will be used in the disaster response plan for both internal and external use; and plan an outreach program to educate Florida citizens and other local, county and state agencies as to the CLS legal services that are available.

Inspiration

As a court appointed guardian for elderly, incapacitated men, and women, Charles gained an appreciation for helping those in need who cannot help themselves. He believes that to help those in their greatest time of need is one of the greatest endeavors that any person can achieve. To include his service to Floridians in their time of need will be one of Charles’ greatest legacies.

To help another human being to resolve a life altering problem during their greatest time of need is one of the greatest experiences a person could ever hope to achieve.

Charles Grimsley /
2023 Fellow in the Disaster Resilience Program

The Project

Remi (she/her/hers) will advance advocacy for children in adult prisons serving life without parole sentences in Louisiana to: (1) improve prison conditions; (2) ensure education and rehabilitation; and (3) develop mitigation.

Despite legal and cultural change, Louisiana routinely condemns children to life without parole. Under recent changes to Louisiana law, some juveniles originally sentenced to life without parole could become eligible for parole hearings, providing an opportunity for release after serving twenty-five years in prison. A child’s success navigating the prison environment is critical to their parole hearing outcome. Remi’s project is designed to provide the necessary structural support to children navigating the adult prison environment and ensuring access to education, self-improvement, and rehabilitation programs.

Remi is inspired to do this work because this is home. “The work of juvenile justice is what I want. And the people of Louisiana are who I want to do it with.”

Fellowship Plans

The overarching goal of this Fellowship project is to ensure that juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) clients are treated humanely and in recognition of the fact that they are, or were, children while incarcerated. Remi will provide legal and informal advocacy for clients while incarcerated to ensure their humane treatment and increase their likelihood of success in their eventual parole hearings. The strategies for achieving this goal will include: (1) providing civil legal and administrative advocacy to incarcerated JLWOP clients, (2) creating a practitioner’s guide for incarceration-based lawyering, and (3) administering Know Your Rights seminars.

The Project

Vanessa’s Fellowship supported socially and economically vulnerable seniors in the rural areas of Palm Beach and Hendry Counties in Florida, by providing assistance through direct legal services, outreach, and education.

After she graduated from law school, Vanessa worked tirelessly to help economically disadvantaged communities. Her first job at Legal Aid involved helping victims of domestic violence who could not afford a private attorney in the areas of family law including, but not limited to, divorce and paternity actions. The biggest challenge of that project was when the victim was still financially dependent on the abusive party and cohabitation existed between the parties. Vanessa assisted her clients in getting injunctions, alimony, child support, and resolving any property disputes. This is the kind of work that makes her feel proud of what she does.

Fellowship Plans

Vanessa’s project aimed to reduce older individuals’ susceptibility to crimes of financial fraud, exploitation, and abuse through trainings and outreach, and to remedy the deleterious effects of these crimes when they occur by advocating for victims’ rights and providing full-scope representation when needed. Vanessa’s outreach activities focused on rural underserved communities throughout the two-county service area and included presentations and distribution of brochures and flyers at senior community centers.

Media

Improving the National Response to Elder Abuse and Exploitation

Tackling the Gap in Civil Legal Services for Victims of Elder Abuse

The Project

Daniela worked to create a comprehensive immigration advocacy program in North Florida to serve immigrants who are low-income and/or crime victims.

The Florida panhandle has a very large agricultural and tourism presence, two industries that draw immigrants in vast numbers. North Florida, however, lacked the institutional memory of a central advocacy organization doing the hard work of outreach to both immigrant communities and service agencies. There was a great need for both free legal help for low-income immigrants and trainings for agencies serving this population.

Daniela, a DACA recipient, knows what it is like to have your life shifted by fear and uncertainty because of the broken immigration system. Her personal and professional experience working with marginalized communities instilled an altruistic spirit that made her uniquely suited for this Fellowship.

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship, Daniela:

  • Provided full representation to over 30 immigrant clients and brief services, advice and/or referrals to more than 130 additional individuals
  • Conducted Legal Services of North Florida (LSNF)’s first immigration legal clinic in Tallahassee
  • Created and developed a shared resource bank of cover letters, sample statements, and attorney checklists for common immigration petitions for all five LSNF offices
  • Collaborated with local advocacy organizations to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine for the immigrant community in Tallahassee
  • Executed a pro se Afghan Legal Assistance Project for Temporary Protective Services in partnership with the FSU Law Immigration Clinic and International Rescue Committee, serving 22 families at one clinic
  • Secured a conditional presence interview with DHS for a labor trafficking survivor
  • Provided 16 community education and outreach presentations, reaching over 450 community members
  • Delivered 40 presentations to other service providers, allies, and LSNF attorneys
  • Collaborated with over 60 groups and attended nearly 200 coalition-building meetings to expand reach and impact of the project

Next Steps

Daniela will remain at Legal Services of North Florida as an immigration staff attorney. She will continue to execute the vision of her fellowship to create a comprehensive immigration advocacy program in North Florida to serve immigrants who are low income and/or crime victims and establish immigration protocols, procedures, and resources for Legal Services of North Florida staff and community partners.

Media

FSU Law Focus Alum Profile: Daniela Donoso

Equal Justice Works Fellows Use Personal Experiences to Impact Legal Aid Work

‘America is a land of dreams’: Local dreamers optimistic following Biden executive orders

FSU Law School grad earns coveted two-year fellowship to work on immigration advocacy

The Inspiration

The Project

Through LAMMP, I will provide dependent and delinquent teen mothers with holistic direct representation, systemic relief through litigation and education. I will represent teen moms on issues such as dependency hearings, family law and child support, domestic violence injunctions, and more. Systemically, I will provide relief to teen moms aging out of foster care and advocate for dependency placements that effectively meet the needs of the teen mother and child. Lastly, I will provide advocacy literature to teen moms and service providers.

The Inspiration

The Project

Thousands of men, women and children arrive in Florida as victims of trafficking each year. Unfortunately, advocacy throughout Florida for those victims is sparse. Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) in Miami has developed a technique of collaborating with social service providers, law enforcement and other agencies to provide holistic representation to clients. This project will adapt that model to provide well-rounded services to victims of trafficking throughout all of Florida.

The Inspiration

The Project

Summer Griggs provided free civil legal services to low-income, eligible clients in seventeen counties of North Florida. The focus of Summer’s projects center on the initiation of clinics and community outreach presentations. Summer assisted clients with common legal problems such as the attainment of a divorce, expungement of a criminal record, and landlord/tenant disputes.

The Inspiration