| Appleseed organizes, supports, and connects the organization’s local Appleseed Centers. Together these centers and the national office form a comprehensive legal advocacy network striving to build a just and fair civil society. Appleseed efforts bear fruit. The hundreds of accomplishments logged by Appleseed’s centers have had a deep and lasting impact on the communities they serve and on national policy. What follows is just a brief sampling of some of Appleseed’s most impressive recent accomplishments. Use the anchor links to navigate. |
| Alabama |
| Constitutional Reform: Alabama Appleseed has been conducting legal research to build a substantive policy foundation to serve as the eventual basis for a new state constitution. It has organized teams of pro bono attorneys to identify necessary improvements in three target areas: democratic representation in local government, education, and economic development. As part of its efforts to mobilize the state’s legal community as a whole, Appleseed held a panel presentation making the case for constitutional reform in front of an overflow crowd at the July 2009 Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting. |
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| Payday Loan Reform: To combat predatory lending practices, the Center analyzed 1000 Chapter 13 bankruptcy files to demonstrate the connection between payday loans and bankruptcy; held a statewide forum on payday loan abuses and reform in Alabama; and convened and coordinated a payday loan reform coalition to spur legal changes beginning in the 2011 legislative session. The goal is to either eliminate payday loans altogether or institute a cap for interest rates on the loans. |
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Protecting Homeownership: Over the past year, the Alabama Center has conducted community education sessions on heir property issues in 50 of the state’s 67 counties; conducted a pilot analysis of the extent and dollar value of heir property in Calhoun County, documenting over 700 parcels worth of heir property worth $30 million; actively participated in the development of a model uniform law by the Uniform Law Commission; and engaged pro bono resources to compare the provisions of the model uniform law with existing state laws on heir property in 22 other states.
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| Chicago |
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Criminal Justice: Chicgo Appleseed provided the impetus for the following improvemnts in the Cook County criminal justice system:
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Eliminating videoconferencing in bond court and converting to in-person hearings; |
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Implementing a pretrial services program in bond court, allowing judges to make informed decisions and thereby reducing the number of people held in jail pending trial; |
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Prompting the appointment of five additional judges, thereby allowing the creation of diversion prorams; and |
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Maintaining a court-watching program and ongoing problem-solving meetings with major stakeholders in the criminal division. |
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Establishing five courtrooms dedicated to dealing with non-violent offenders between the ages of 17 and 22, equipped to link defendants with drug treatment and mental health treatment services.
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As a result of these changes, the population of the CookCounty jail decreased by 1,000 or 10%—saving taxpayers millions of dollars per month.
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Immigration Court Reform: In conjunction with the national office of Appleseed, the Chicago Center completed “Assembly Line Injustice,” a series of recommendations for immigration court reform. The Center has now begun advocating for implementation of the changes with officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in order to bring about an immigration court that is both fair and effective.
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Community Education: Chicago Appleseed produces self-help booklets on the availability of free and low cost legal services (Legal Services Directory) and the rights and obligations of tenants and landlords in Chicago (Tenant Landlord Handbook). It also distributes a series of full color brochures aimed at improving disadvantaged populations’ access to financial services while fighting consumer fraud.
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