VA Legal Aid Society seeking comment on new strategic plan

Virginia Legal Aid Society is seeking public comment on a new strategic plan that seeks to guide the firm’s work in south-central Virginia for the next five years.

“Our strategic plan is our road map,” VLAS Executive Director David Neumeyer said in an Aug. 11 press release. “We use it to set priorities on the types of case we’ll take, make fund-raising decisions, and many other critical decisions.”

The 18-page draft plan pinpoints four primary areas: Solve critical legal needs, increase effectiveness, increase community engagement and increase funding. The plan identifies legal needs including helping to ensure housing safety and stability, and obtaining and protecting eligibility for government-funded health care programs.

To increase funding, the VLAS plan targets increasing significant grants and individual giving while maintaining event funding. The plan also aims to boost community engagement and education and to raise the effectiveness of the services provided by VLAS.

“We met with community partners and advocates from across our service area, conducted online and paper surveys, reviewed analyses of Census data and our own case data, and used all these sources to put together a draft plan,” Neumeyer said. “Now, we’re hoping to hear from many more people as we make final changes to the plan.”

The plan is set to be reviewed by the board of directors on Sept. 23 and scheduled to be reviewed for approval on Dec. 6. If approved, the plan will guide VLAS through 2027, which will mark the firm’s 50th anniversary year.

VLAS, a nonprofit law firm, “provides legal information, advice and representation in civil cases to low-income individuals and families.” Since VLAS was founded in 1977, the firm has been the only institutional provider of these services in Central, Southside, and Western Tidewater. Per the firm’s website, the mission of VLAS is “to resolve the serious legal problems of low-income people, promote economic and family stability, reduce poverty through effective legal assistance, and to champion equal justice.”

The draft plan can be found online at http://vlas.org/download/Public-Comment-Edition-draft-VLAS-Strategic-Plan-2023-27-8-10-22-Design.pd and members of the public can comment on the plan at  bit.ly/VLAS-plan-comments.