About Us
HISTORY
The vision that would become the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic was first expressed in a Palm Sunday sermon in 1992 at an Indianapolis church located in the distressed Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood. The sermon noted the need for a legal clinic in this inner city neighborhood, and six Christian attorneys answered the call, contacting other pro bono clinics and the American Bar Association Office of Pro Bono to research the formation of a pro bono legal clinic. At that time, the ABA Office of Pro Bono knew of no other pro bono legal clinics that had been birthed from a church, so a new concept was formed, using the ABA pro bono guidelines and taking the best ideas from existing pro bono clinics formed to serve low income populations. The clinic's doors were opened in January 1994 as the Mapleton-Fall Creek Christian Legal Clinic, and it became a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in 1995.
A number of important features distinguish us from other legal clinic programs that serve low income clients. First, we are faith based; the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic was birthed for the purpose of serving the poor as a means of demonstrating the love of Christ. The love of Christ motivates our service. We believe that this motivation leads us to go the extra mile for our clients and we seek to be known as a place of refuge and hope for those who are downtrodden and disadvantaged. Justice for the poor is a critical theme in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4. We do not require any sort of faith statement or evangelistic exercise from our clients or volunteers; we welcome all clients and assistance from any attorney who wishes to serve low income families by rendering quality pro bono representation.
Second, NCLC's accessible neighborhood locations and intentional partnership with other non-profit providers of service to low-income families distinguish it from other pro bono clinics. Low income families often have transportation issues and a downtown location can be not only inconvenient, but also intimidating. Moreover, neighborhood locations in multi-service settings with other non-profit providers, government, and churches render our service more holistic; we serve the same clients/patients and can refer and coordinate our services. NCLC seeks extensive partnership in all aspects of our programs. Some of our primary partners include: Jubilee Center, Wheeler Mission Ministries, Vida Nueva, Mexican Consulate, St. Vincent Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, Julian Center, United Way of Central Indiana, HUD, IRS, Breaking Free, Momentive Consumer Credit Counseling, Indiana Legal Services, and many more. See our list of Partners
We seek to serve the felt needs of the low income communities in our vicinity . The Preventive Law Educational outreach program was added in 1997 when we recognized the critical need for “preventive” legal services: providing information that empowers families to make positive life choices and thereby avoiding or mitigating legal problems. NCLC won the 2007 Indiana Bar Foundation Law Related Education Award for our NCLC Preventive Law Education program.
While we provide legal representation and preventive law education in a broad practice spectrum, we will continue to add specific programs that respond to the felt needs of our communities and clients. For example, NCLC is a HUD certified Housing Counseling Agency and has responded to the foreclosure crisis facing Indiana homeowners by joining the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network and forming the NCLC foreclosure prevention program, Helping Hoosier Homeowners . NCLC is also an IRS designated Low income Taxpayer Clinic , assisting low income families with tax controversies and English as a second language (ESL) tax education. Our area has experienced a rapid influx of new immigrant families joining our community. NCLC responded quickly to assist these vulnerable communities by establishing an immigrant outreach program in 2001. NCLC staff and volunteers have expertise in immigration law and fluency in Spanish and other foreign languages and in 2004 NCLC won the Indiana Achievement Award for Community Impact for our service to the immigrant community. NCLC continues to reach out to this vulnerable community through the NCLC Immigrants in Crisis Project, which focuses resources to assist immigrant victims of domestic violence, violent crime, abused, neglected or abandoned children and those persecuted because of their religious or political beliefs, or because of their race, ethnicity or membership in a particular social group.
Given the tremendous need for pro bono legal services for low income families, it is not surprising that the clinic has grown exponentially each year since its inception. For six years, we were an entirely volunteer organization, growing to thirty volunteer attorneys by 2000, when growth necessitated the hiring of paid staff. In 2000, grants from Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and Trinity Episcopal Church permitted the clinic to hire both an Executive Director and an office manager/receptionist. The year 2000 was pivotal in other respects as well. The clinic grew out of its original office space at 401 E. 34 th St. and moved its business office to the Jubilee Center in the Citizens-King Park Neighborhood, maintaining the Mapleton-Fall Creek location as a weekly intake site. Because the clinic now had intake offices in two inner city neighborhoods and had long served families beyond the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood, the clinic name was changed to the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic.
NCLC is neighborhood based and continues to add intake sites in distressed neighborhoods in response to community need. Since opening our doors in 1994, we have provided pro bono legal representation to clients from 104 different countries on every continent except Antarctica . Now in 2008 we have 10 intake sites in various neighborhoods throughout Indianapolis, and one new site in Fort Wayne, two full-time offices, and the Clinic currently employs six attorneys and 11 support staff.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
| Name | Position | Company |
George Abel, Esq. |
Finance Committee | Duke Realty Corporation |
James J. Ammeen, Jr., Esq |
Executive Committee | Ammeen & Associates |
Jennifer Brown |
Development Committee | Ice Miller |
Marvin Calderón, Pastor |
Development Committee | Eastern Star Church |
Anita Hawkins Nowlen |
Development Committee | Ammons Hawkins Nowlen Properties, LLC |
John Hoard, Esq. |
Finance Committee | Rubin & Levin |
| Herb Jensen, Esq. | Finance Committee | Jensen & Associates, P.C. |
Joseph E. Miller, Jr. |
Executive Committee Chair | Baker & Daniels |
Heather Moore |
Development Committee | Baker & Daniels |
Ryan Moore |
Development Committee | Tabernacle Presbyterian Church |
David Peñalva, Pastor |
Development Committee | Centro Familiar Vida Nueva |
George M. Plews, Esq. |
Development Committee | Plews Shadley Racher & Braun |
| Michael D. Puckett , CPA Treasurer |
Executive Committee Finance Committee Chair |
SePRO Corporation |
| Martha Starkey, Esq. | Development Committee | Harrison & Moberly, LLP |
| Lynn C. Tyler, Esq. | Executive Committee |
Barnes & Thornburg |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Abigail Lawlis Kuzma received a BA from University of Wisconsin and J. D. from Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington. She was Articles Editor of the Indiana Law Journal from 1980-1981. She served as Executive Director of the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic from January 1994 to date. Before serving with the NCLC, Ms. Kuzma was a subcommittee Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, and prior to that, Legislative Assistant for Senator Richard G. Lugar. She has published three articles: Note: Hospice: The Legal Ramifications of a Place to Die, 56 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL 673 (1980); The Legislative Response to Infant Doe. 59 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL 377 (1983); Faith Based Providers Partnering With Government: Opportunity or Temptation, 42 JOURNAL OF CHURCH AND STATE 37 (2000). In July 2001, Ms. Kuzma was a guest of the Massachusetts School of Law television program, “A Question of Law,” along with Ira Lupu Lyle Denniston and Connie Rudnick discussed the topic Separation of Church and State, and presented in a number of Continuing Legal Education seminars, including a program hosted by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union in September 2001. Ms. Kuzma was awarded the Indiana Bar Foundation Pro Bono Publico Award in 1998 and the 2002 Indiana State Bar Association Women in the Law Achievement Award. Ms. Kuzma is the mother of four children and resides with her husband, Ben, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
STAFF ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS
Josh Abel, Managing Attorney
Stephanie J. Fairfield, Staff Attorney
Angelin J. Fisher, Staff Attorney
Merryn Gluys, Staff Attorney
Dee Dee Gowan, Staff Attorney
Ida Coleman Lamberti, Volunteer Staff Attorney
Chris DeFord, Certified Housing Counselor
Allen Moreland, Volunteer Staff Attorney
Phyllis Wickliff, Assistant Housing Counselor
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Joshua Case, Outreach and Development Coordinator
Ashley Caveda, Paralegal, Latino Outreach
Matthew Feltrop, Paralegal, Latino Outreach
Daniel Fuller, Paralegal, Latino Outreach
Reyna Hernandez, Interpreter
Jodie McClain, Accountant, Administrative Assistant
Noel McClain, Administrative Assistant
Patricia McKinney, Paralegal
Keelin Parks, Marketing Coordinator
Trent Taylor, Paralegal, Latino Education Coordinator
PARTNERS
Partnership is critical to the success of our programs. NCLC would like to express our appreciation to the following partners.
PROGRAM PARTNERS:
- NCLC is grateful for the multi-service centers that house five of our intake and preventive law education sites: Vida Nueva Centro Familiar, Wheeler Mission Community Center, St. Vincent Primary Care Center, La Plaza and Jubilee Center.
- NCLC is blessed by the homeless and domestic violence shelters we serve, including: Julian Center, Salvation Army, Veteran's Administration Freedom Center, and Horizon House.
- We are so grateful for all of the churches that support us, house our intake sites and/or send volunteers for our programs: St. Paul's Episcopal, Trinity, Oasis of Hope Baptist Church, Grace Community Church, Trinity Episcopal, Tabernacle Presbyterian, Centro Cristiano de Celebración, First Presbyterian Church of Noblesville, College Park Church, Faith Missionary Church, John Knox Presbyterian Church, Southeastern Church of Christ, Chin Baptist Church, and more.
- NCLC thanks the more than 25 different non-profit and government agencies as well as private attorneys that present information at our preventive law workshops, including: Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office, Department of Housing and Urban Development, the IRS, and a host of private attorneys. Each of the presenters volunteers his or her time to this “preventive law” program.
- NCLC thanks the many collaborations that make service to our clients more effective and holistic. Indianapolis Bar Association and Heartland Pro Bono Council for their partnership in providing Continuing Legal Education seminars for our volunteer attorneys; the Julian Center and the other partners in the Central Indiana Coalition Against Human Trafficking; the Domestic Violence Network; United Way of Central Indiana, the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention; the IRS, the City of Indianapolis, AARP, and the other partners of the Asset Building Campaign; Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Momentive Consumer Credit Counseling of Central Indiana, IHCDA and the other partners of the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network.
FINANCIAL PARTNERS:
The following people invest their time and resources to help our community. Thank you.
