The Legal Aid Society of Columbus

The Legal Aid Society of Columbus Public Benefits Team is committed to helping low-income and elderly central Ohio residents overcome legal problems they encounter when applying for or receiving public benefits. We do this work in two primary ways:

DIRECT SERVICE

The Public Benefits Team provides free expert legal advice and representation for low income and elderly central Ohio residents. For example, in 2008, we helped over 2000 people who were experiencing difficulties in one or more of the following areas:

Disability Financial Assistance Disability Medical Assistance Food Stamps Medicaid Medicare Nursing Home Law

Ohio Works First Social Security Benefits (SSI and SSDI) Title XX Child Care Unemployment Compensation Veterans Benefits

You may wish to contact the Legal Aid Society of Columbus if you have questions regarding a public benefits program or have experienced any of the following problems during your benefits process:

• You have been terminated from your benefits and do not think you should have been

• You have been denied benefits or your benefits have been reduced and you think this decision is in error

• You have been sanctioned

• There have been delays in the processing of your application

• You won your administrative hearing but have not yet received benefits

If you are applying for or currently receiving benefits make sure that you:

• Pay close attention to any letters you receive from your benefits office

• Respond to any stated deadlines in a timely fashion

• Keep track of the contact information for your case-worker (name, phone and fax number, business address)

• Keep careful records of all your interactions with your benefits office, including the time, date, and nature of any phone calls or visits to the office of your case-worker or other public benefits officials

• Get a receipt for any documentation that you drop off at your benefits office

To contact the Legal Aid Society of Columbus with your benefits issues, call our Intake Department at 614-224-2001.

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

In addition to providing direct legal services to low income and elderly central Ohio residents, the Public Benefits Team at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus is committed to providing information and outreach to our service population and other community stakeholders. To fulfill this part of our mission, the team does work in the following areas:

• Coalition building via such groups as the Franklin County Justice Coalition, Covering Kids and Families, SSI Ohio, and the Access to Benefits Coalition.

• Participating in community workshops and clinics that help promote understanding of the public benefits system

• Creating and providing a series of free informational brochures about the public benefits system.

If you wish to learn more about the public benefits system in the Legal Aid Society of Columbus' service area, please read the following publication, "Public Benefits" .