Promoting Justice Equity in South Jersey

Advancing Equity​

Many who need legal services don't know where to start or feel that legal help is beyond their reach: concerns about cost pose a significant barrier to seeking and receiving legal assistance. Eliminating cost as a barrier to justice is what inspires Volunteer UP Legal Clinic’s meaningful work. Our mission is to UPlift, empower, and transform our local communities. We connect economically disadvantaged South Jersey residents with staff or specialists in our pool of approximately 200 volunteer attorneys, all of whom donate their time and talent to provide high-quality legal services to hundreds of clients in the quest for justice equity.

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Securing Success

Originally founded to address critical legal needs of low-income individuals and families in Camden, Volunteer UP currently provides services to a variety of South Jersey clients, including veterans, returning citizens, those with mental health and addiction issues, and families at risk of becoming homeless, among others. Our work focuses on helping clients secure basic life needs through representation in many civil legal practice areas, including housing, employment, family law, reentry, health care, and government benefits. While Volunteer UP combats justice inequity in various contexts, we have been most successful in our efforts to tackle housing-related justice inequity, comprising 41% of our work in 2024 and yielding an 89% housing stability success rate in the last quarter of 2024. Volunteer UP views success in this area as essential: housing stability promotes positive outcomes in other areas, such as employment and reentry. 
   
Working Together

Our clients’ successes are closely tied to Volunteer UP’s relationships with other local nonprofits, corporations, and educational institutions. We embrace community synergy and pride ourselves on the strong alliances we have forged with our community partners, who play a critical role in maximizing our impact in five counties: Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem.