Advertisement
When the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force was founded in 1985, one of the first services the organization offered was legal aid. At a time when AIDS was a death sentence, volunteers with PATF assisted people with AIDS in getting their estate planning documents together. Additionally, many of the anti-discrimination laws that are in effect today did not come about until the 1990s, and people could lose their homes or jobs due to a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS, so PATF volunteers would help people with discrimination lawsuits as well.
Today, Allies for Health + Wellbeing’s legal services program is run by Jen Hill, who joined the Allies staff in November 2023. As legal services coordinator, Hill helps Allies clients obtain the legal services they need or refer them to community partners for assistance. Hill can also assist clients with barriers to accessing benefits such as Social Security or medical insurance. People must be clients of Allies’ Ryan White program to receive legal assistance.
“Allies acts as a support system to help them through whatever challenge they may face,” Hill said.
If you are a legal professional who would like to volunteer for Allies’ legal services program, please contact Jen Hill at jhill@alliespgh.org.
And even today, people living with HIV face discrimination that Hill and Allies help to combat.
“Clients experience discrimination based on all kinds of aspects of their identity,” Hill said. “You’d be really surprised at the number of cases that come through where it might not be overt discrimination, where something is said to their face about their diagnosis, but little things can occur that are indirect discrimination.”
Despite federal laws protecting people from discrimination, Hill says that stigma is still prevalent in 2024.
“There’s still an unbelievable amount of misinformation in the world,” she said. “It’s still very stigmatized, even if someone cannot transmit the virus because they’re on medication. People don’t understand that. There’s still the old systemic fear of HIV and AIDS that has been around since the beginning of the ’80s.”
Hill said that helping people access benefits is also a big part of her work. Applying for Social Security and other benefits can be complex, and Hill helps Allies clients navigate the process.
“Technology can be a huge hindrance to accessing benefits because a majority of things can be done online now,” she said. “If someone is not tech savvy or has the basic knowledge – that is a huge problem because then if they need to access their Social Security account, the understanding is not there. If you have someone that is patient and able to guide and assist with filling out these applications, that can make a world of difference for some people.”
Hill also is hoping to make legal services more accessible to Allies clients through clinics. In April, she hosted an estate planning clinic with McGuire Woods, PNC and the Pro Bono Institute, and she is working with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP to set up an expungement clinic in November in Westmoreland County.
“I have seen people come against barriers for criminal records they’ve had for 20 years, and it’s hindering them from getting an apartment,” Hill said. “When we’re dealing with expungement and how having a criminal record can affect housing — if they can get the record cleaned, absolutely that’s going to be another big push. This is going to be the first of many.”
One program that Hill would like to see again at Allies is the pro-bono legal network, which was run for many years by former Allies staff member Matt Ometz.
“When Matt Ometz was in this position, he built up a really strong network of pro-bono attorneys that he could refer clients to,” Hill said. “From 2022 to when I came on in 2023, that network had dissolved. As of now, there’s not really a volunteer pro bono network. Part of my goal is to really rebuild that and to get attorneys involved in taking cases for clients.”
Advertisement