Published in the Ada News

Legal Aid of Oklahoma’s McAlester office was recently awarded a $5,000 grant by Legal Services Corp.

LSC is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 that provides financial support for civil aid to low-income Americans who lack access to justice.

In 2016, LSC established a program, Rural Legal Summer Corps, that places 30 law students in rural communities around the country annually, which includes Eric Di Giacomo at the McAlester office this year. In exchange for offering students their first practical experiences in the legal world, students must perform a project in these rural communities that serve the needs of underserved people in their region.

Throughout the summer of 2018, the project will be focused on discovering and fighting violations of the federal Fair Housing Act in southeastern Oklahoma counties (including Pontotoc County) based on people’s membership in protected groups, such as race, familial status, disability, religion or national origin. By doing extensive outreach work with this grant … Legal Aid of Oklahoma hopes it will be able to litigate on behalf of local citizens who normally do not receive any legal recourse in housing disputes.

For more information about this program, please contact Eric Di Giacomo at Legal Aid Services Of Oklahoma’s McAlester office by calling (918) 423-2030, or call the Legal Aid Application Hotline toll-free at (888) 534-5243. Legal Aid Services Of Oklahoma’s McAlester office is located at 321 S. Third St., Suite 6., McAlester.

The office and the hotline will operate from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. until noon Friday.