For Sam Buchanan, executive director of the Mississippi Center for Legal Services Corp., it is important for Mississippians in all communities to understand civil legal concerns.
“The more educated the persons are, the better prepared they are to address or avoid legal issues that they may encounter,” he said.
MCLSC, along with Hinds County Human Resource Agency, will host the legal services workshop June 22. Buchanan will speak at the workshop, which he said will provide “information on several specific areas of the law as part of our community education outreach efforts.”
His specific focus in this workshop is how to acquire social security benefits and how to prepare wills and trusts.
“This is something that is important, regardless of income level, especially when we talk about wills” says Buchanan. Sadly, however, in his experience, low income people often don’t leave a will behind because they think they don’t have much to leave.
“But if you don’t leave a will, the state decides what to do with your property. If you do a will, you an control, from your grave, who receives your property,” says Buchanan.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services provided a grant for MCLSC to conduct the workshops. The grant requires the company, which offers legal aid in 43 counties, to sponsor workshops around the state to supply citizens with helpful information on how to navigate the judicial system. The grant also initiated the partnership between MCLSC and the Hinds County Human Resource Agency.
“Under the grant, we collaborate with local agencies in order to reach as many people in the communities as possible,” Buchanan said. The company conducted a prior workshop in Leakesville and is planning several others through the end of September.
Friday’s workshop begins at 10:00 a.m. at the Laura E. McNair-Shady Grove Neighborhood Service Center (2118 Ridgeway St.). For more information, contact Cherri Green at the Office of Resource Development at1-800-959-6752, ext. 2919.
The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.