Build Power: Community Paralegals in Puerto Rico

So we are thrilled to share the good news: we are extending the Community Paralegal Program for another semester. Thanks to your support, this will be the third session of this space, where community leaders and lawyers convene to co-design and advance advocacy and legal strategies. The issues still revolve around housing and climate justice, with an emphasis on the right to stay and mitigate of communities burdened by racial discrimination and the impact of the climate crisis. Some of the participants have been with us for two years now, and we expect to grow our base of currently 18 leaders. Because of the socio-economic context, as well as love and trust relationships built over the years, we are glad to stay at Loíza during this new session. 

Your support is still needed. 

The Community Paralegal Program was inspired by international models of legal empowerment work directed to ensure self-determination, racial equity, and climate justice. We recruited community leaders from Loiza and enrolled them in a curriculum leading to the development of essential knowledge and capacities necessary to identify community legal issues and to navigate primary steps towards defense. The curriculum and tools used were codesigned with the community leaders.  The goal is to sustain this program during the time necessary to ensure capacity development and the possibility of community leaders using their training to advocate and defend their collective rights. That is well beyond this next semester.

The recent passage of hurricane Fiona and several flood events make the neglected impact of hurricane María even more present. The needs of transformation and legal empowerment of Loíza - and Puerto Rico in general- is urgent. 

Please stay tuned for a short clip about Community Paralegals that should be out very very soon.

As I write this brief report on our Community Paralegals Legal Empowerment Project, I pause and reflect on the meaning of the word "trust." We are fastly approaching the 18th month's benchmark of this program, an initiative nurtured by the support and experience of community leaders and lawyers. The continuous relationship - meeting in the same place throughout these months, always on Saturday mornings, always sharing coffee or food - has solidified bonds based on togetherness. As participants return to workshops on climate & housing justice, share their stories, and obtain knowledge of basic legal concepts and processes, narratives of precarity start weaving with building power capacities. Together, we created a safe place. Together, we created a place to develop trust. Amidst human rights violations, the constant threat of displacements, and constant government-sponsored neglect of the communities' demands, the power and enthusiasm we feel among community paralegals is a gift.

The second cohort groups more than 20 people, doubling the first one. While most participants were new members of the Community Paralegals Program, four leaders who actively participated in the first round returned to engage as outreach liaisons and experimented with navigators of the know, use, and shape of the law curriculum. At this moment, we just finished the first part: discussing democracy, rights, legal systems, and rule-making. Now, we are engaging with the topics the community identified as priorities. Within the two main issues - climate and housing justice- it's time to talk about mitigation, floods, and community access. Security of tenure has also become a focus. Conversations are becoming increasingly complex because that is the nature of unmet legal needs and social injustice. This space has been able to hold people safe.

Thanks to your support, this second round will not last only a few weeks, as we preciously expected/feared. We are happy to say that we made a budget to ensure this will last till the end of the peak hurricane season (September). During the following weeks, community paralegals will learn about storytelling, interviews for complaint procedures, and more. They will also host a radio program and a panel. The keynote of our in-person IV Towards a Just Recovery Summit will be a beloved community leader and participant.

As this project sustains itself, we know trust has multiple roads. We are happy to have found a nurturing home among paralegals at El Ancón, Loíza. We are grateful for their trust, and we trust the power of their experiences, struggles, and wins. As well, and because you have made this possible, we are grateful for your trust.

Links:

• IV Towards a Just Recovery Summit (In Person, PR 4-5 August)