Amplifying Legal Services Client Stories to Support Policy Reform and Advocacy

The program addresses considerations for amplifying legal services clients’ stories to support policy reform and advocacy. It focuses on the development of a qualitative research project to explore the stories of immigrant survivor clients illustrating how legal work authorization improved financial and housing security, family stability, mental health and well-being, and access to help from other systems of justice, and will showcase the final report from the project, Stories from Immigrant Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: The Impact of Work Authorization. The program also describes ways in which advocates have leveraged the qualitative research findings to support policy reform and advocacy, and considerations for centering the narratives of impacted individuals in these efforts.