Vicki Coyle, NPLS Executive Director; Danna Rich-Collins, NPLS Office Manager; Lisa Covington, NPLS Law Office Assistant; William E. Nichols, Esq., President of Lycoming Law Association Foundation, Jessica A. Engel, Executive Director of Lycoming Law Association; J. Michael Wiley, Esq., President of the Lycoming Law Association.

North Penn Legal Sevices has received a $6,000 donation from the Lycoming Law Association Foundation that will allow it to maintain its law office assistant position in its Williamsport Office.

The grant from the Law Association Foundation provides the cash match necessary to allow the Williamsport office of North Penn Legal Services to host an AmeriCorps volunteer. The AmeriCorps volunteer in the Williamsport Office will focus on connecting low-income clients with NPLS’ services. NPLS provides in-kind support including training and supervision for the volunteer.

Lisa Covington, NPLS’ AmeriCorps volunteer for the past two years, will be able to continue her service through the generosity of the Foundation. Ms. Covington will support and enhance North Penn Legal Service’s capacity to assist low-income people with their legal problems.

“She is the first point of contact for people in distress and handles the responsibility very well in addition to her other responsibilities and projects,” said Danna Rich-Collins, Paralegal and Williamsport Office Manager. "The law office assistant will enable the office to be more responsive to walk-in applicants, clients and callers. With a law office assistant, our goal is to blend the benefits of technology with human contact. When an individual contacts legal services, that individual will frequently reach a person rather than an auto attendant system. Applicants and clients will have more predictable access to our educational videos and brochures."

Lycoming Law Association Foundation Executive Director Jessica A. Engel stated, “The Law Association is pleased that clients will reach a person rather than the auto attendant when their members and the Court call NPLS’ Williamsport Office.”

Both NPLS and the Lycoming Law Association Foundation have maintained an on-going relationship to assist low-income people with their civil legal needs. According to Rich-Collins, the Lycoming Law Association Foundation for many years has contributed resources to NPLS through its arbitration fee donations, through training grants and more.

This recent gift is a bonus to NPLS and arrives at a particularly crucial time following staff reductions due to funding cuts combined with an increased poverty population now totaling 36,924.

North Penn Legal Services, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, provides free civil legal assistance to low-income families, individuals, and groups in Northeastern Pennsylvania and equal access to justice for all. Services include individual representation (ranging from document preparation to litigation), information, referral and advice through a telephone helpline, community legal education, and support for those clients who will be taking responsibility for handling some or all aspects of their own problem.

AmeriCorps Program: In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act, which established the Corporation for National and Community Service and brought the full range of domestic community service programs under the umbrella of one central organization.

This legislation built on the first National Service Act signed by President H.W. Bush in 1990. It also formally launched AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.

The newly created AmeriCorps incorporated two existing national service programs: the longstanding VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program, created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).