Media ContactLisa Ramirez, Communications Director, lramirez@mylegalaid.org
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid will close intake lines and the front lobby doors, 1-3 p.m., Thursday, May 22 in remembrance of George Floyd. We are taking this time as a staff to commemorate his life and legacy as we approach the fifth anniversary of his murder, May 25. With so many others in our community, in the City of Minneapolis and throughout the state — we stand together, recognizing harmful disparities that exist in communities of color and reaffirming our commitment to racial justice values.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s 44th annual Law Day Dinner showcases justice work through attorneys of our housing, consumer and disability law units and through the lens of clients who were facing eviction, wage garnishment and loss of credits for personal care assistance. Each, represented by Legal Aid, overcame these legal challenges. They remain housed, recouped wages and re-established entitlement to PCA credits.
Legal Aid Attorney Jessica Webster tells the Star Tribune: “For us, it was just a gut punch because Legal Aid sees this as a violation of human rights,” in response to efforts to bring back seclusion in schools.
Executive Director Milo Mumgaard takes a seat on Twin Cities Public Television. He tells Almanac hosts, Cathy Wurzer and Eric Eskola that consequences are dire if Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Minnesota Disability Law Center loses federal dollars.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Staff Attorney Jessica Webster speaks with Kare11. She highlights that 50 school districts in Minnesota have 195 seclusion rooms, comparing it to outdated practices like spanking or hitting children.
Jessica Webster Staff Attorney at the Capitol for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid stresses to FOX9 the vulnerability of young children, stating, “It is young, small children that show up the most in the data because they can be overpowered, they can be picked up, they can be forced into a room.”
In this MPR news piece, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Attorney Jessica Webster describes the stark reality of seclusion rooms in Minnesota schools at a Capitol news conference. “They are not sensory rooms. There are no toys, no crayons, no fidgets. There is no soft lighting. They are not calming rooms.”
Legal Aid client Judah and his mother Terress, along with Attorney Jessica Heiser of Legal Aid’s Minnesota Disability Law Center, talked to KSTP. They filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights but have yet to get a response.
Media Advisory: (St. Paul, Minn) – Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Legal Services Advocacy Project, The Arc Minnesota and the Multicultural Autism Action Network invite media to meet with families affected by seclusion practices in Minnesota schools, Monday, May 1.
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