The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Public Benefits Project was created to increase the number of public benefits specialists around the state, train them, coordinate their work, and involve them into an integrated advocacy network.

The Project brings together the expertise of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, Community Legal Services, the Community Justice Project, and client groups such as the Welfare Rights Organization, as well as existing expertise in the regional Legal Services programs. These resources combine to train, assist, and coordinate advocates in the local legal aid offices in intricacies of public benefits law.

The goal of the Project is to make Pennsylvania's welfare system among the most humanitarian in the nation in its treatment of clients and to enable clients to get the benefits to which they are entitled on the road out of poverty, to self-sufficiency.

The project has suceeded in increasing the access of clients to trained welfare advocates and improving the quality of representation provided to clients. This has been accomplished by utilizing the combined resources and expertise of the entire Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network to provide representation to clients facing public benefits problems.

Clients with public benefits problems are assured that they will receive the highest level of representation possible from advocates who are a part of this integrated statewide Project.

If you are in need of representation regarding a Public Benefits problem, please consult our  list of Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Providers in PA for the name of the legal aid provider serving your community.