CDEL's November Newsletter

• CDEL Receives Award from Austin Coming Together

• CDEL’s Staff Gather for an Afternoon Retreat

• CDEL and the Illinois Bar Foundation hold a POA Workshop in Honor of Veteran’s Day

• CDEL Intern Holds Outreach Presentation

• CDEL Holds POA Workshop with Chicago Police 22nd District Seniors

• Don't Forget CDEL on Giving Tuesday!

• Thank you to our November Pro Bono and Community Partners!

CDEL Received Excellence in Stable Housing Market Award from Austin Coming Together

CDEL was honored to receive the Excellence in Stable Housing Market Award from Austin Coming Together. On behalf of CDEL, Legal Director Michael Stone accepted the award. Also, in attendance from CDEL was: Executive Director Caroline Manley, Staff Attorneys Marlo Pahl and Chandler Meersman, and CDEL Governing Board Member Yvette Lyles.

CDEL is passionate about educating homeowners of the importance of succession planning and providing direct legal assistance. The generational transfer of property within families is critical to increasing intergenerational wealth, especially for families in communities such as Austin.

For many years, CDEL has had a strong commitment to the community of Austin. In 2023, CDEL conducted four events in the Austin and near-Austin communities focused on estate planning. In 2023, CDEL embedded a staff attorney at BUILD, Inc. to provide additional access to services. Austin residents are able to meet with a CDEL attorney close to home to address CDEL’s full range of legal services including housing, consumer fraud, end of life planning and guardianship. Austin Coming Together provided space for CDEL while awaiting completion of construction at BUILD, Inc. This year, CDEL held ten clinics at Austin Coming Together which resulted in 32 senior residents executing their estate planning documents. In 2023, CDEL closed over 150 cases in the general Austin area.

CDEL is proud and grateful to receive this award from Austin Coming Together. Their work in the community and their partnership with CDEL is invaluable.

CDEL Staff Gather for an Afternoon Retreat

Earlier this month, CDEL’s staff joined together for a retreat to connect in laughter and reflection of our work together over the past year. Last October, CDEL stakeholders, including Governing Board members, Young Professionals Board members, CDEL staff, clients, community partners, and volunteers, gathered to create our strategic plan for the future.

Our staff took an in-depth look at that strategic plan to reaffirm our values as an organization and the strides we’ve made towards the goals we created just one year ago. CDEL staff members left the retreat empowered and filled with gratitude and enthusiasm for each other and for our mission.

Thank you to CDEL Governing Board member, Matthew Jenkins, and the law firm Cooney & Conway for hosting us in your wonderful office space!

CDEL and the Illinois Bar Foundation Hold a POA Workshop in Honor of Veteran’s Day

In honor of Veteran’s Day last week, CDEL partnered with the Illinois Bar Foundation for a Power of Attorney workshop at Veteran’s New Beginnings. Located in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, this organization provides housing and supportive services to veterans. CDEL and Illinois Bar Foundation volunteers were able to assist 6 CDEL clients with drafting 16 documents.

Please join us in thanks and gratitude for the CDEL clients, friends, and all of the veterans who have served our country.

CDEL Intern Viswa Senthilkumar Holds an Outreach Presentation

This month, with the help of CDEL intern and Kott Scholar, Viswa Senthilkumar, CDEL held an outreach presentation with Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS) and Universal Metro Asian Services (UMAS). Viswa presented to a group of about 40 seniors on the importance of advance directives options.  The staff at MAFS and UMAS were very gracious and accommodating to make sure any seniors who wanted to participate could.

This was Viswa’s first opportunity to do an outreach presentation for CDEL. It meant a lot to her to reach seniors, provide awareness of CDEL’s services, and express the importance of what getting advance directives can be for seniors and their loved ones.

Viswa had this to say about the presentation: “I was on a mission motivated by CDEL and the Kott Scholarship program. It was a moment of pride, gratitude and exhilaration for me to have the opportunity to connect with elders of the South Asian community and to be responsible for educating them on the importance of end-of-life planning and particularly advance directives. I realized how important it is for them to see and listen to directly from someone who belonged to their community and who could speak their language.”

Thank you to Metropolitan Asian Family Services and Universal Metro Asian Services for hosting CDEL and Viswa!

CDEL Holds POA Workshop with Chicago Police District 22 Seniors

After a successful outreach presentation last month, CDEL returned to Chicago Police District 22 for a Power of Attorney Workshop for its seniors. This time, 6 volunteers from Perkins Coie LLP joined CDEL to assist 23 seniors with their documents.

A client who attended had this to say: “The workshop was wonderful and the follow-up was timely and thorough. The volunteer who helped me with my documents was exceptional. Everyone made me feel like a valued person.”

Thank you to Perkins Coie LLP for volunteering with us and to Chicago Police 22nd District for hosting us!

Don't Forget CDEL on Giving Tuesday!

Giving Tuesday is next Tuesday, November 28! Next week, we will share special client spotlights from CDEL clients Gloria and Rosa. Here are previews of what both Gloria and Rosa had to say about the services they received from CDEL:

“I was horrified that I did everything right and they still tried to terminate my voucher. I was so happy CDEL was there to support me through the process. I was relieved we got the termination reversed!" - CDEL Client Gloria

"I'm so glad I got to see Coach Coco today, I know that I'm definitely in the right place to get this legal work done!" - CDEL Client Rosa

Next week, please stay tuned to CDEL's social media accounts that are linked at the bottom of this email as we share these truly inspiring stories about our clients.

Thank you to our November Pro Bono and Community Partners!

Thank you to all of our pro bono and community partners who have volunteered with us in October. Because of you, we are able to reach and serve more of our clients in the communities they live.

Thank you to our Pro Bono Partners who have volunteered with us in November:

Accenture
Illinois Bar Foundation
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Pro Bono Network

Thank you to our community partners listed below, for allowing us to continue to conveniently and accessibly serve our clients in the communities in which they live.

Bloom Township Senior Services
BUILD, Inc.
Center on Addison
Chicago Police 22nd District
EZRA Multi-Service Center
Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation
Jesse Jackson Jr. Senior Housing

Pathlights
Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center
Solutions for Care
University of Chicago Law School
Veterans New Beginnings
West Suburban Senior Services

Connect With Us!

Our Contact Information
*{{Organization Name}}*
*{{Organization Address}}*
*{{Organization Phone}}*
*{{Organization Website}}*

*{{Unsubscribe}}*

Copyright © 2023 Center for Disability & Elder Law, All rights reserved.