Fifty years after adopting its current name, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid updated its branding with the release of its 2022 annual report, the first document to display JALA’s new logo.
The new logo blends the scales of justice with an image of a bridge.
“We wanted the logo to speak more to the work JALA does, which is to bring justice to the people of Northeast Florida, a region known for the bridges that connect its various communities,” Jim Kowalski, JALA president and CEO, said in a news release.
“But the bridge also represents access to the justice system, which many people desperately need. For some people there is no way to arrive at justice without the bridge that legal aid provides.”
Titled “Housing Takes Center Stage,” the report focuses on JALA’s work to prevent unlawful evictions and foreclosures, ensure fair housing laws are enforced and resolve other landlord-tenant issues.
Of 6,724 cases JALA handled in 2022, the nonprofit civil law firm closed 2,618 housing cases, representing nearly 40% of its closed cases.
Among the data about JALA’s services in the annual report:
• 286 evictions were avoided through attorney intervention and $472,832 in financial relief was secured for renters.
• 124 foreclosures were prevented and $468,415 was secured in financial relief for homeowners.
• 3,643 people used JALA’s online eviction prevention tool.
• Legal aid lawyers secured $661,000 in class action settlements for landlords’ failure to rectify substandard conditions and refund deposits for 2,836 tenants.
• $939,725 in income and assets were protected by averting predatory lending and illegal debt collection.
• $1,164,497 in family support was secured for domestic violence survivors and others.
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid is a nonprofit law firm that advocates for economic, social and housing justice for low-income and at-risk individuals and families living in Northeast Florida.