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Joy shared that many people have had prior experiences with the court system, and that those
experiences have been negative. Education efforts will have to take these challenges into account.

Adrienne Wheeler (Louisiana Appleseed) gave an example of prevention work that Appleseed is
doing to clear titles and offering triage and referral to SLLS and ALSC for legal assistance.

Dr. Michael McClanahan (Louisiana NAACP) discussed the importance of the language we use.
“Justice” can be a reminder of traumatic experiences for some. We need to focus on retraining the
courts.

Tara let people know that there are some existing resources and good examples of trainings for
both judges and court staff and offered to connect people to those resources if there is interest.

Sarah Berthelot discussed the state’s strong 211 system and opportunities for more effectively
linking legal resources. Find more information about 211 here.

Lunch Presentation: Inspiration from Across the Nation
Tara then provided a presentation offering best practices and examples from other jurisdictions in
the areas of community education and prevention, self-help information and forms, and user-
friendly and accessible courts. Informed by the morning discussion, Tara focused the presentation
primarily on Alaska’s social network analysis and resulting work with community health clinics.
Tara’s presentation is attached separately. Additional information about Alaska’s network analysis
can be found here.

Small Group Brainstorming, Reports, and Discussion
The participants then agreed to further focus in on community education and prevention and split
into three groups to answer the following questions: “What is a meaningful and realistic goal for
this priority area? What success story do you want to be able to tell when you meet here again next
year?” Overarching ideas emerging from the small groups included:

• The legal community already has a set of trainings for librarians that help them help patrons
navigate legal issues. The legal checkup tool being piloted with Tulane could also be
integrated into these trainings, and we could make these trainings available to other
community partners, including but not limited to the prosperity centers.
• It would be helpful to figure out the best way to share the civil legal navigator database
with the 211 database and vice versa.
• Louisiana would benefit from a community education marketing campaign using various
media forms, including social media.
• Community partnerships and understanding community needs is an essential first step in
any community education, outreach, and prevention project.

2023 ACCESS TO JUSTICE CONCLAVE NOTES 7