This post was originally published on the Conservation Law Foundation’s blog.
CLF launched its Legal Services Food Hub with one goal in mind: keeping New England’s food producers in business. A year and a half into this new program, we are delighted to announce that the Hub has crossed a major threshold in its mission to achieve this goal: we placed our 100th case and crossed the half million dollar mark for pro bono legal assistance leveraged through the program. The program has taken off like wildfire!
The Legal Services Food Hub provides pro bono legal assistance, workshops, and trainings to farmers, food entrepreneurs, and related organizations in order to foster a sustainable, resilient, and just food system. We launched the Hub with a pilot in Massachusetts in 2014 and expanded to Maine in 2015. In the coming year, we anticipate expansion to Rhode Island, and have plans for the remaining New England states for the future. The image below hits the high points for our progress so far.
We are pleased that this program has been able to help more than 100 farm and food businesses get started, stay on solid footing, or avoid going out of business. We are deeply grateful to our partners in the legal community who have stepped up by offering their services for free to show support for the farmers and food entrepreneurs that sustain our communities across New England. We look forward to connecting more New England businesses to necessary legal services in the years to come.
To learn more about the Legal Services Food Hub or sign up to receive updates, please visit: www.legalservicesfoodhub.org.
Jenny Rushlow is a Staff Attorney for CLF Massachusetts and Director of CLF’s regionwide Farm & Food Initiative. Jenny led the production of the New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System report. She also created and launched CLF’s Legal Services Food Hub, a free legal services clearinghouse for farmers, food entrepreneurs, and related organizations.
