Sunday, July 11, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. MDT

Disasters often disproportionately impact low-income individuals. In the wake of a natural disaster, survivors without financial resources can face multiple legal issues, including difficulty with Federal Emergency Management Agency applications and appeals, landlord-tenant issues, instances of domestic violence, contractor scams, and income maintenance. Legal aid organizations play a critical role in addressing these issues. Despite the potential for assisting disaster survivors, the emergency management community is not generally aware of the benefit of working with the legal aid community and not usually trained to identify how to connect survivors with such issues to the appropriate legal aid resources.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the nation's largest funder of civil legal aid and funds several grantees that have significant disaster experience and positive relationships with the emergency management leadership in their communities. This training session is designed to help emergency management professionals identify civil legal issues and use the Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center (LADRC.org)—a multi-stakeholder portal that can help to navigate civil legal issues.