Guaranteed Basic Income, Government Benefits, and How Legal Aid Can Support it All
Guaranteed Income is gaining steam across the country. All over, GI pilots have shown that this is a tool for lifting people out of poverty and providing stability in the lives of low income people. However, in order for these pilots to be successful, it is important to protect, or at least minimize the impact on, people's existing safety net benefits. This presentation will include an explanation of Guaranteed Income and the results of some of the pilots, then a discussion of how legal aid can work with the creators of these pilots to protect existing safety net benefits.
- Upon completion, participant will be able to identify what Guaranteed Income is and how it differs from the existing social safety net.
- Upon completion, participant will be able to understand how existing government benefits can be impacted by receipt of Guaranteed Income
- Upon completion, participant will be able to brainstorm ways that they may be able to assist clients receiving Guaranteed Income.
Jessica Mark, JD
Supervising Attorney
Bay Area Legal Aid
Jessica Mark is a Supervising Attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid. She works in the San Francisco Bay Area, assisting people primarily with their government benefits. She also participates in policy advocacy at the County, State, and Federal levels to improve access to government benefits for all Californians. In addition to her legal work, Jessica is working with others to make BayLegal more inclusive and ensure the organization is working towards social and racial justice. Finally, Jessica is also an adjunct professor at University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She earned her law degree at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, CA. She has a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach
Lena Silver, JD
Director of Policy and Administrative Advocacy
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County
Lena Silver is the Director of Policy and Administrative Advocacy at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA), where she has worked since 2015. Her focus is on access to public benefits. Recently, Lena became the lead for the Benefits Access for Immigrants Los Angeles (BAILA) Network, a collaboration to increase immigrant access to and enrollment in public benefits through a closed-loop referral network between benefit enrollers, legal aid, and outreach workers. Lena came to NLSLA after completing a fellowship at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago, and a clerkship at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Lisa Newstrom is Managing Attorney of Bay Area Legal Aid’s Santa Clara County Regional Office. In her practice, Lisa has represented clients in matters regarding safety-net programs. Lisa serves on several regional task forces including the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking and the Santa Clara County Public Benefits Task Force. She has served as faculty at Benchmark Institute and Practising Law Institute (PLI) and trained attorneys, advocates, and social services providers on legal issues in public benefits, particularly for youth with disabilities, noncitizens, and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
Jeff Chorney has been a deputy public defender in Alameda County for more than 10 years. He was part of a special welfare fraud unit designed to improve his office’s handling of those cases. He also has experience with criminal restitution, diversion and is his office’s media liaison.
Ann Block is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and has practiced immigration law for over 35 years. She has significant expertise and experience with the immigration consequences of crimes, and provides daily technical assistance to nonprofit attorneys and staff, public defenders and private attorneys.
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