Disability Law Service is pleased to announce it is a Propel grant recipient
About Propel
Propel is a collaboration made up of funders of different sizes and sectors – both public and corporate as well as independent foundations. Propel is focused on putting money and power in the hands of communities that are best placed to make change happen.
Over the next ten years, Propel will provide flexibility and capacity to organisations led by and for groups experiencing structural inequality so that they can explore, develop, and lead collaborative ways of tackling some of London’s biggest challenges.
You can read more about Propel here
About our Propel project
Thanks to Propel, DLS has secured funding for two years to train two new social welfare solicitors. We will also train and support generalist advisors in 2 local Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) to offer Disabled people advice in a new holistic model, reaching new audiences at an early stage, in accessible settings. We plan to develop a blueprint for wider replication with other DDPOs.
What our project has achieved so far
We kickstarted our project in January of this year. We are pleased to announce we have recruited two new trainee solicitors. By the end of their training, the newly qualified solicitors will be skilled in key aspects of social welfare law, including community care, housing, public law, and discrimination (including some employment law).
We are also pleased to announce that we have partnered with Real, a DDPO that supports anyone in Tower Hamlets, London, who is or has been Disabled or who has a long-term health condition. Thanks to the funding, Real have been able recruit a generalist advisor in social welfare law and have been able to offer an advice service for their community.
Furthermore, with Real we have launched a free legal advice clinic provided and facilitated by our two trainee solicitors and Real’s generalist advisor. The clinic will provide specialist and technical advice to Disabled residents in the Tower Hamlets area, who have a community care or housing issue.
If you are a resident of Tower Hamlets, you can find out more about how you can access this free legal advice clinic here.
You can learn more about Real here
What’s next for our project
We are looking to partner with a second DDPO in the London area to replicate what we have been able to achieve with Real – i.e. to support the DDPO to train a generalist advisor in social welfare law and find ways to offer free legal advice to their community in a holistic and accessible manner.