WISH LIST $175: cost of 1 case, serving 1 family; $547: cost of materials to fully investigate all cases during 1 semester; $2,697: cost of operating LSIC for 1 day

Legal service providers throughout Washington have identified the need for affordable housing as the single biggest challenge facing poor people in the District. So here’s a partnership that just makes sense: law students from some of DC’s finest schools—Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, and Catholic Universities—pair up with some of DC’s neediest citizens to address their housing issues. Students receive course credit and learn valuable lawyering and courtroom advocacy skills; their clients receive quality legal advice and assistance from the largest legal service provider helping low-income tenants in Washington. Typically, less than 1% of such tenants have attorneys, compared to 86% of landlords. LSIC ensures that tenants' voices are heard and, in many cases, prevents tenants—many of them single mothers—from becoming homeless. The program also conducts training sessions on landlord/tenant and criminal law matters, and on ways to apply special defenses to benefit the mentally fragile. Most cases are won or otherwise successfully concluded. Since 1968, LSIC has prevented thousands of DC residents from being wrongfully evicted, each year offering legal help to almost 6,000 Washingtonians and dedicating over 16,000 volunteer hours to clients. Now that’s philanthropy at work!

Mary C. Brittingham, Executive Director 806 7th Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 202 638 4798 ext 209 www.dclawstudents.org