 |
|||||||
Introduction
The Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service (MPAS) was a state-wide agency, which provided services to residents throughout the state of Michigan. The goals of the program were to 1) train volunteer Community Advocates on legal rights and issues related to people with HIV/AIDS, 2) increase recruitment of private attorneys, and 3) provide impact litigation. Through its HIV/AIDS Advocacy Program, MPAS advocated for the legal rights of people living with HIV. MPAS expanded the outreach efforts of its HIV/AIDS Advocacy Program by training members of the gay, Latino, and African-American communities to be advocates for HIV-positive individuals in their own communities. The training target populations were chosen because aside from HIV infection, these populations are discriminated against due to race or ethnicity, language, and sexual orientation.
Volunteer Community Advocates were trained through MPAS on legal rights and issues related to people with HIV/AIDS. Specific areas in which the Community Advocates were trained include: legal protection for people with HIV in the areas of housing, employment, public accommodations, and government services; how to access health care services and health care payment options; public policy issues that affect people with HIV; and self-advocacy and direct advocacy skills. MPAS staff provided ongoing support, updated information, and technical assistance to the Community Advocates. The Community Advocates provided informal legally-based advocacy services to clients within their own communities in an environment that was culturally sensitive and accessible to the client. Community Advocates were identified through service providers and clients in each of their targeted communities.
The program increased the attorney referral list to provide greater access to the legal system for eligible clients. MPAS staff were able to actively recruit attorneys and provide these attorneys with HIV/AIDS legal training and ongoing technical assistance. MPAS was also involved with impact litigation to develop legal precedents and to develop public policy from which others with HIV may benefit. By pursuing impact litigation, MPAS would make it easier for other attorneys to litigate these issues.
Through the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service’s educational materials, culturally-sensitive, reader-friendly training manual, community advocate trainings, general trainings, and technical assistance, organizations in the Michigan area were able to identify pertinent legal issues on behalf of their clients and were able to refer clients in need of legal assistance to the appropriate agency. This also provided organizations the ability to provide clients with timely interventions for legal problems.
This report on the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service is divided into three sections. The first section describes quantitative data from clients seen, services provided, trainings given, and referrals made by the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service on data received through August 26, 1996 (pages 5 through 42). The second section describes qualitative data from structured staff interviews, which provides the perspective of the project staff and the Community Advocates on the successes of the program and the challenges faced by the program (pages 43 through 54).
© Copyright 1998-2005 by The Measurement Group LLC. All rights reserved.