Worcester, Gardner to get share of $350K grant

By Elaine Thompson
Telegram & Gazette Staff  

Veterans' agencies in Worcester and Gardner along with two in Boston will share $350,000 in state grants to provide legal assistance to hundreds of veterans in need.

The grants will help fund general legal representation for veterans, as well as other services including housing and education assistance, employment, health benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and discharge status upgrade.

Attorney General Maura Healey on Wednesday announced the grants that will be provided to Community Legal Aid, Inc. in Worcester ($95,000), Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center in Gardner ($35,000), and two Boston agencies: Veterans Legal Services ($95,000) and The Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School ($125,000).

"Fulfilling our commitment to veterans means ensuring that they receive the benefits they have earned through their service to our country," Ms. Healey said in the announcement. "With this new grant program, we will be providing hundreds of veterans in Massachusetts with the legal assistance they need to access health care, housing and other services."

Jonathan L. Mannina, executive director of Community Legal Aid at 405 Main St., Worcester, said the grant will allow the 65-year-old agency to get its Veterans Legal Assistance Project off the ground. It's an initiative the agency has been trying to start for some time. The project will be headed by Katrina Conley, an attorney and a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve. Before law school, she was deployed multiple times on active duty including to Iraq. Ms. Conley will conduct "know-your-rights" training for up to 60 veterans and mentor private volunteer attorneys in Worcester, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Berkshire counties.

"She is really someone who is really passionate about the needs of veterans," Mr. Mannina said of Ms. Conley. "Veterans really have a great need for civil legal services for things such as stable housing, evictions and foreclosures, and other issues like less than honorable discharge which prevent them from getting services. This is really going to enable us to really focus on the legal needs of veterans and help them with successful reentry."

William F. Edson, executive director of the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center at 268 Central St., Gardner, said the grant will help provide legal services to at least 44 veterans annually. He said funding is always a challenge for private nonprofits. The $35,000 grant, he said, is a reflection of the confidence the state has in the work the 35-year-old agency does to help veterans.

"We see the award as a motivating factor to continue our good work," he said Wednesday. "In a sense it recognizes that we're effective in what we do."

Mr. Edson said the grant will enhance the center's outreach efforts to reach and assist an under served group of veterans who tend to be suffering from mental health or post combat affliction that causes them to isolate themselves.

"They do not or can not come to the office for help," he explained. "We will send an outreach coordinator, mobile counselor or benefits person to them and help them get over that barrier and help them access the services they require."

By Elaine Thompson
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Veterans' agencies in Worcester and Gardner along with two in Boston will share $350,000 in state grants to provide legal assistance to hundreds of veterans in need.

The grants will help fund general legal representation for veterans, as well as other services including housing and education assistance, employment, health benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and discharge status upgrade.

Attorney General Maura Healey on Wednesday announced the grants that will be provided to Community Legal Aid, Inc. in Worcester ($95,000), Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center in Gardner ($35,000), and two Boston agencies: Veterans Legal Services ($95,000) and The Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School ($125,000).

"Fulfilling our commitment to veterans means ensuring that they receive the benefits they have earned through their service to our country," Ms. Healey said in the announcement. "With this new grant program, we will be providing hundreds of veterans in Massachusetts with the legal assistance they need to access health care, housing and other services."

Jonathan L. Mannina, executive director of Community Legal Aid at 405 Main St., Worcester, said the grant will allow the 65-year-old agency to get its Veterans Legal Assistance Project off the ground. It's an initiative the agency has been trying to start for some time. The project will be headed by Katrina Conley, an attorney and a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve. Before law school, she was deployed multiple times on active duty including to Iraq. Ms. Conley will conduct "know-your-rights" training for up to 60 veterans and mentor private volunteer attorneys in Worcester, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Berkshire counties.

"She is really someone who is really passionate about the needs of veterans," Mr. Mannina said of Ms. Conley. "Veterans really have a great need for civil legal services for things such as stable housing, evictions and foreclosures, and other issues like less than honorable discharge which prevent them from getting services. This is really going to enable us to really focus on the legal needs of veterans andd help them with successful reentry."

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William F. Edson, executive director of the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center at 268 Central St., Gardner, said the grant will help provide legal services to at least 44 veterans annually. He said funding is always a challenge for private nonprofits. The $35,000 grant, he said, is a reflection of the confidence the state has in the work the 35-year-old agency does to help veterans.

"We see the award as a motivating factor to continue our good work," he said Wednesday. "In a sense it recognizes that we're effective in what we do."

Mr. Edson said the grant will enhance the center's outreach efforts to reach and assist an under served group of veterans who tend to be suffering from mental health or post combat affliction that causes them to isolate themselves.

"They do not or can not come to the office for help," he explained. "We will send an outreach coordinator, mobile counselor or benefits person to them and help them get over that barrier and help them access the services they require."