Kate McGarvey: ALC ChangeMakers Podcast Interview
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Audio Only - All Participants: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to the ALC Changemakers Podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Sconyers, and today I'm here with Kate McGarvey. Hi Kate. Hi Jennifer. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So for listeners, Kate and I worked together for a few years. Um, really I'd say during the COVID era, really I would say 20 20, 21, um, working with her team, um, a lot of skill building work.
DEI work over the years and I got to learn the amazing work they do at LASCO. So, Kate, welcome to the podcast and tell us a bit about you and your leadership journey. Yeah. Thanks Jennifer. Thanks again so much for having me. It's nice to see you. Um, I've always appreciated our time together. So as you mentioned, I'm the executive director of LASCO or Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, um, as it is fully known.
So we are a nonprofit law firm that provides civil legal [00:01:00] aid and advocacy to overcome unfairness and injustice. To reduce poverty and increase opportunity. So we provide free non-criminal help in 36 counties in Ohio, and that's with the whole range of civil legal issues from, um, foreclosures to bankruptcies to evictions, domestic violence education, um, reentry, the whole host of things on the civil side.
I've been in this role now for about seven years, um, but I've been with Legal Aid, uh, for many years starting out as a law clerk, going to a staff attorney, managing attorney, um, and sort of up that direction. So I have a long history, with Legal Aid. Yeah. Thank you for that, Kate, and for listeners, you know what I was so struck by with the work that you do at LASCO, you know, so for listeners I've, you know, you know a bit about my background and history.
At ALC we do work with legal services, but it's so different than like, big [00:02:00] law. Like, like the big law firms you see on suits or something like that. Like this is totally different. Um, and what I appreciate is. There's so much, um, attention and care that your team has about the work. Um, there's such values like they have with the clients and the work that you do.
It really, I don't know, it just feels like a labor of love or a passion for people to be in legal services. Can you talk about the uniqueness of what makes legal services, what it is, and how it's so different than maybe other legal entities that are out there? I think it is very different. And thank you for noticing that.
I think for many of us it is a calling and so it, it is different than, many of the law firms and it is, uh, a really giving back and being of service to, individuals who are not otherwise able to get access to justice. And so. [00:03:00] Both for our clients, for our communities, and really being thoughtful and intentional in how we serve them, both in terms of the work that we do, um, but individually how we interact with, um, our clients and communities are things that we are very purposeful about.
I think everyone who is here is here because they care about our mission, and that is from the person who is at the reception desk, um, to the staff attorney, to, um, somebody who's in a more senior leadership position. Um, it's hard work. I don't think that it is something that is easy to do without that purpose and calling.
And so it is very mission driven. Yeah. Well I love that. And I think that's so true for some of the groups we work with at ALC there, it's purpose driven. It's a calling for people, no one's getting rich. Right? Right. Working in these spaces. Right. So there's gotta be something that really pulls you. Um.
Something that really struck me in our work with you was the ways in which your team is agile to the times. So when we start review is [00:04:00] COVID, you know? Yeah. And your team was so agile in terms of the way that you met client needs. Can you speak to what your team is doing now, just given the greater conditions and how are y'all kinda working through just the challenges of the moment we're living in.
So we do try to be flexible, both in terms of how and where we're providing services, but also the type of services that we provide. And we do the standard strategic planning and needs assessment every few years. Um, but we also very regularly re um, review our internal data, work with community partners to see what those needs are.
And so, for example, you know with the government shutdown and food stamps, we have changed our intake eligibility so that things are getting through that might not have before, but we know there's changes and we know we need to be responsive to that. Meeting the different partners in the community because that has just [00:05:00] shifted so quickly and then looking at what those advocacy opportunities are.
Mm-hmm. And so you can see this, whether it is with our immigration team and creating that team. Um, a few years ago, uh, the demographics and Ohioans particularly Central Ohio changed, um, some of our community economic development work, which is newer, but has really helped support some of our communities in wealth building.
And so when we look back, many of our teams do look different than they looked five years ago, 10 years ago. Um, it's a broad mission, and so we do our best to adjust with the resources that we have to best meet the needs of the present moment. Yeah, and I just wanna just hat tip to that, right?
Because that, that's a skill in of itself to have a large team as yours and, um, be able just to pivot and to be agile. Um, it was also clear to me that, you know, the team would just really be in deep relationship, right? So it [00:06:00] would be with community partners. Community members and clients. Um, and that was something that I thought was also just really intentional and really special.
I'm super curious because I know, you know, you all called us, it was like post George Floyd, right? Mm-hmm. And, and I'm just curious for listeners, what was the impetus to say, okay, we need support in this way, and how, and how that support impacted your team. I think there were a number of different things.
And so we are now an officially merged program, but we have been an affiliated program for some time. And so there's been this gradual process of bringing together multiple different programs as well as eight offices in 36 counties. Um, there were also leadership changes, so I mentioned I've been in this role for about seven years.
We also had a lot of retirements and change in the rest of our senior leadership and a lot of change in our middle management as well. Because of just some of that, that natural process. And so we were [00:07:00] having new folks who, you know, we knew we had, uh, both some needs in terms of training, but also some opportunity in terms of where we were headed.
I think there were probably some cultural things that we wanted to adjust just based on the times, um, and wanting to make sure that we were responsive to that for our staff and for our communities. And so, I had gotten, I think your name as a referral. And so reached out and wanted to see, um, how you all could help us, support us in that process.
And it was really helpful, I think from everything from conversations with me to small group sessions with our managers, which they really, really appreciated that level of support, whether it was working through individual issues that arose. Or collectively thinking about what is really the culture that we want for the organization.
Mm-hmm. And how do we intentionally get there. Mm-hmm. Which is something that is hard to prioritize when you have clients calling and emergent needs. Um, but it really gave us some space and some leadership to work in that direction. Yeah. Thank you for [00:08:00] that. And your team was just so great to work with. I think people just came with curiosity, you know, to the experiences and did their best to apply the learning, the coaching that we provided, um, in our time with you.
So I'm curious, what do things look like today? You've got this agility, you're doing this adaptability. What are some of like the big moves or changes you're making and what are you seeing on the horizon for LASCO and the work that you're doing? Yeah, so we are, I think there's a few things coming up. So we have a sister program though, high poverty law center, that we are looking at structurally how do we work together and what does that relationship look like?
So how do we best support each other? What should that look like moving forward in a landscape where there are, limited funding but a lot of need. So that is one particular thing. We are also looking at doing a needs assessment, um, in a different way than we've done before. So we have 36 counties and Franklin County looks [00:09:00] very different than Benton County does.
Yeah. And so we have applied for some additional funding to really do county based. Um, work so that we are sure that we're responding to all of the service area in the way that we should. Um, yeah, and so that will probably take up the next year. Um, but hopefully it will put us in a very good spot for our next strategic planning.
We do expect that demand is gonna continue to rise. We only meet a very small percentage of the demand overall, generally, um, because of, um, limited staffing. Um, but um, you know, we certainly expect that the phone calls and eviction numbers will continue to rise, um, over the next year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think what's so interesting is the work that you do is so needed, right?
And we're living in a time for listeners recording this during government shutdown. You know, and there's like the SNAP funds, right? And all these things are happening and this [00:10:00] impacts Las Go's clients. These are your people who, who need these services. So, um, yeah, just really hearing you in terms of the things that you need to do.
Yeah. Well, and just to level set for everyone. Yeah. Um, I think there's oftentimes confusions about what is available to people and what is not. Yeah. And so in a criminal context, you do have a right to an attorney. Mm-hmm. In a civil context you do not. Mm-hmm. And so if you are losing your home, if you are losing your children, um.
If you have lost your food stamps or your Medicaid, you do not have a right to an attorney under those situations. And so we do our best to fill in, um, in every place we can because we know that the outcomes are dramatically different. And an eviction, for example, if you're represented by an attorney, you're 92% more likely to have a non A, not to have a disruptive displacement.
So that's such a huge difference, and you can see that same difference. Whether it's on the consumer side, the domestic side, um, [00:11:00] it just really makes a big impact. So there is some movement towards right to counsel, um, in different areas, but we are certainly not there now. And a lot of people don't understand what their rights are and so they get in the situation where they need someone.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm wondering, can you speak a little bit to listeners, like for folks who might not know a lot about Legal Aid or LASCO, like what are some, what's some education people can get to just better understand that, that need that right to counsel? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we have some information on our website, particularly around eviction and the study that we did in Franklin County.
Looking at the impact of having counsel in those cases. But the Legal Services Corporation, which is one of our federal funders, has also done a lot of work in this area in terms of the justice gap. Mm-hmm. And so looking at legal services, corporation's website, that's fairly prominently, um, focused on there.
And so that would be another resource for folks to look at. Great. As we wind down our [00:12:00] time together, Kate, I'm just curious, what are some. I don't know, factoids or maybe any calls to action you have for our listeners if they want to be engaged with you? Yeah, or just important information to know about LASCO.
Yeah, so calls to action. One of mine is to understand more about this issue. I think that access to justice affects everyone, but oftentimes we think of it as just a lawyer problem. It is not just a lawyer problem. Is it a problem for everyone who gets a notice from a court or has a dispute with the IRS or some other adverse action that has a legal remedy and they're not able to get counsel?
So I think the first thing is. Being better informed, and whether that's by looking at our website, whether that's looking at the Legal Services Corporation website, just to really better understand that, um, but also to understand what resources are available so that if you have, if you yourself. Have an issue, or if you have a friend or family member who's having an issue that they know that they can call us and we will do our best to help where we can.
So the first is really just learning more, [00:13:00] sharing the resources. We've got, you know, a newsletter that we send out each month. There's ways in which, um, you can just get better informed and we're happy to share more of that inform. The other thing I would say is get involved. So while we are lawyers, we have volunteers who have done everything in the world.
So we have high school students, we have had younger students than that. Um, we have volunteers, um, who are retired, who are bankers, who are, you know, the whole sort of spectrum. If you are interested in the issue, there is a place in which we can get you involved. Um, and we do clinics for reentry where. You know, someone will walk in at the beginning of the morning and they walk out, um, with their records sealed.
Mm-hmm. And so you really have the opportunity to be involved in something where you can make a difference and you can, you know, in some of those situations, see the difference in a, a pretty short period of time. So getting informed, getting involved and then of course my development director would be upset if [00:14:00] I didn't say, if you can't get involved, there's also always the opportunity to get on.
Because we do help only a small percentage of people who are eligible. We expect that funding is going to get tighter as we go into these next couple of years. Um, and so if you are in a position where you are able to donate, we certainly welcome donations and that is a part of how we provide these services.
Of course, love all that, Kate. Um, where can people find you and LASCO to learn more? Yeah, so lasco.org, so that's LASCO.org. Is the website probably the best starting point? We have our social media links on there so you can find those there. We do have eight offices, those are also on that website, so you can see where our physical locations are.
And then we do rotating services through all of the other counties as well. Wonderful. Well, this has been such a great conversation, Kate. We'll have to have you back to learn even more about what you all are up to. So [00:15:00] thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Happy to be here. Of course. And for listeners to learn more, you can always go to jennifersconyers.com. Until next time.
