Mid Minnesota Legal Aid (“MMLA”) partners with PUC to host in-person legal clinics at Brian Coyle and Waite House to provide a variety of free legal services to low-income and elderly clients.
In this June edition of our report to PUC check out a note about what kinds of public benefits issues we help with, a story and lesson about the power of the interconnected services offered at the Brian Coyle Center, and the clinic’s statistics from May!
Brian Coyle Center Legal Clinic
Legal Aid’s Legal Clinic at the Brian Coyle Center (420 15th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55454) offers nearly every legal service that Mid Minnesota Legal Aid offers. See a list of our services below.
One of the services listed is “Public Benefits.” Legal Aid lawyers are often called on to help people make appeals or challenge public benefits overpayments. But we do not help people apply for public benefits. For help applying to public benefit programs it is better to seek the help of a social worker or visit the Hennepin County workers at the Brian Coyle Center on Monday or Thursday each week!
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 9 AM – 3 PM (General Civil)
- Guardianship
- Divorce
- Custody
- Evictions
- Public Benefits
- Consumer Issues
- Criminal Expungement
- Eviction Expungement
- Damaged/Unsafe Housing
- Section 8 Issues
- Lost Security Deposits
Thursday 9 AM – 3 PM (Immigration)
- Naturalization
- Green Cards
- Derivative Citizenship
- Adjustment of Status
- U/T Visa
- VAWA
Waite House Legal Clinic
MMLA’s immigration legal clinic at Waite House (2323 11th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404) provides brief services and advice for immigration matters including: pro se asylum applications, pro se work card applications, and brief advice and consultations. It is open every Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Appointments can be made with the front desk staff at Waite House. Walk-ins are welcome, but they are not guaranteed to be seen—appointments are strongly preferred. All staff at the Waite House Legal Clinic speak Spanish and English.
A Story and a Lesson
The Brian Coyle Center is a great one-stop shop for the community because it has a so many services to offer people. For one recent client, the communication between Brian Coyle Center’s Legal Clinic and their on-sight Hennepin County workers made all the difference.
This Spring, an elderly disabled Ethiopian man came to the Brian Coyle Center. He is a kind and respectful man and had run into an issue with his health insurance card. For months he had not been able to use it to pay for medicine that he needed to ward off spells of dizziness. A couple of years ago he had fallen on ice and hit his head. Since then, he has needed this vital medicine.
The man from Ethiopia knew of the legal clinic because he had used it previously to help with a different matter. Frank met with him to try and figure out why he was not getting a new valid medical insurance card. Frank tried to contact the right agencies but got a bit lost in the trying to navigate Hennepin County’s many different programs. Fortunately, on Mondays and Thursdays, the Brian Coyle Center also has Hennepin County workers that speak Oromo and Somali.
The Hennepin County workers were able to cut through all the confusion and determine the issue quickly. The elderly man filled out an additional form, turned it in, and is now able to pay for his medicine with his insurance.
Lawyers can help with many issues but not all of them. It is best for everyone involved to consider what kind of worker can help best.
For initial benefits applications people should seek out a case worker. They can try calling Hennepin County Front Door (612-348-4111) to get connected with a social worker. If you need more information about your Hennepin County benefits or applications then come to the Brian Coyle Center on Mondays and Thursdays to talk with the on-sight Hennepin County workers. And if you have been denied a public benefit and want to appeal, then come to the Brian Coyle Center Legal Clinic for help!
A Look at the Numbers
In May the Brian Coyle Center Legal Clinic opened 18 new cases and closed 17 cases. During that same time, Waite House opened 10 cases and closed 7 cases! Both clinic sites saw a decrease in numbers. It is not clear why the numbers are lower. May 25th was memorial day and May 27th was Eid which may account for a few less people coming to the Brian Coyle Center. Even with lower numbers it is busy in the clinics. We are hard at work helping the clients that came in over the last few months!
Here are some graphs with each clinic’s monthly new and closed cases. New cases opened in the month are in blue. Cases closed in the month are in orange.
