Build Power: Community Paralegals in Puerto Rico

The context has become increasingly complex and challenging for human rights, human rights advocates, and communities that demand the enjoyment of rights. As politics of hate and fear find solace in official structures, the question of law and order, legal systems, access to justice and remedies, and the relevance of human rights are everpresent. At Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, we are using most of our resources to respond to this new crisis, with programs directed to families affected by public assistance restrictions in housing, challenging threats to fair housing standards, providing free legal counseling to immigrants, and accompanying groups and communities facing multiple menaces. We need to expand the capacity of others to respond. This is where a new chapter of the Community Paralegal Program comes in.

As we write this report, we are working on a new curriculum designed to ensure community leaders have the knowledge, information, and resources to understand and address how concepts such as "law and order," "public policy," "democratic participation," "constitution vs. executive orders", "system of law," "separations of power," among others, play out in the current context. Lack of legal literacy currently places individuals, families, and communities vulnerable. It also hinders any capacity to defend rights or to attempt to shift public policy. Between the end of July and the beginning of August, we will call for community leaders eager to participate in workshops and advocacy campaigns and convinced that legal empowerment trumps fear and immobilization.