Legal Clinic | Bread for the City
Access to Justice Projects Legal Blog Posts

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Our Legal On-Call will be closed starting Monday, August 14th, 2023. We will re-open Legal On-Call on Monday, September 18, 2023. In the meantime, here are other free legal resources in DC:

The DC Bar Pro Bono Center Saturday Advice and Referral Clinic is currently operating in-person at Bread for the City’s SE Center (1700 Good Hope Road, SE) on select dates. Click below for details about the next clinic. Advice & Referral Clinic Information

La Clínica de Asesoramiento Legal y Referencias del Centro Pro Bono del DC Bar operará en persona durante ciertas fechas en la oficina de Bread for the City en SE (1700 Good Hope Road, SE). Haga clic debajo de este mensaje para más detalles sobre la próxima clínica. Información de La Clínica de Asesoramiento Legal y Referencias

Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic provides advice and representation in three main areas to DC residents living with low-incomes:

HOUSING LAW: helping tenants in landlord-tenant and subsidized housing cases.

FAMILY/IMMIGRATION LAW: helping survivors of domestic violence in Civil Protection Orders, family law cases (like custody and divorce), and immigration cases (like VAWA self-petitions, U visas, and SIJS), plus helping custodial and non-custodial parents in child support cases.

PUBLIC BENEFITS LAW: helping individuals facing problems with getting or keeping public benefits, like TANF, Food Stamps, and Medicaid.

Learn more about how the Justice Gap impacts the low-income community.

Access to justice should not be limited by one’s ability to pay for help. Unfortunately, 86% of low-income households in the United States receive little or no help with civil legal challenges.


With Bread for the City’s help, individuals …
• Receive same-day advice and representation in court during critical stages of child support cases,
• Receive legal services while escaping domestic violence,
• Receive same-day advice and representation when facing eviction or loss of a housing subsidy,
• Overcome barriers in getting a government-issued ID, and
• Organize to achieve legal solutions to effect systemic change on community-identified issues.

How was your visit with Legal Services?  Use our Client Comment Form to share your thoughts.

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Accessing Identifying Documents


The Accessing Identifying Documents Project helps residents who hit barriers in getting a DMV-issued ID, which is necessary to pursue critical opportunities like employment and housing.

Check out our latest ID packet here to receive guidance to:

  • Obtain a Non-Drivers ID
  • Obtain a Limited Purpose ID
  • Obtain a Replacement or First-Time Social Security Card
  • Obtain a DC Birth Certificate
  • Or find assistance with paying for Identification Documents.

Materiales de identificación en español

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ID Packet

Movement Lawyering Practice

The Movement Lawyering Project leverages the law to support Black and brown people who are organizing for systemic and transformative social change in D.C. We believe change is transformative when it:

  1. Improves the material conditions of people’s lives
  2. Affirms people’s sense of their power, and
  3. Increases community power*

As the Community Lawyering Project, our role is to provide legal support to groups that are also committed to transformative social change. Here’s our commitment to you:

We are committed to moving at the speed of trust by taking the time to listen to the ideas of our clients and community actively.
We are committed to centering and elevating the voices of community members and organizers.
We are committed to taking direction from community members closest to the issue they are organizing around.


*Thanks to the amazing Movement Law Lab for this framework

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Housing Right to Counsel Project

The Housing Right to Counsel Project, in partnership with Legal Counsel for the Elderly and Legal Aid, expands access to representation to tenants at risk of eviction and losing an invaluable housing subsidy that is the only way they can afford to live in the District.

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Additional Resources for Free Legal Help:  DC Bar Advice & Referral Clinic and Washington Lawyers’ Committee Workers’ Rights Clinic

Give Today!

Bread for the City’s services are made possible through the support of thousands of donors like you. Without your support, we would not be able to provide the food, clothing, social, legal, advocacy, and medical services that we do to 10,000 DC residents every month. Thank you!

How can I help?

Celebrating Elise N. Paeffgen, BFC Legal Services Volunteer

We want to thank Elise N. Paeffgen for volunteering time in our Legal Clinic. Paeffgen dedicated countless hours to helping our clients who had their long-term care benefits reduced under D.C. Medicaid. We are proud of our partnership with Alston & Bird, LLC, and we thank them for believing in our mission.

Celebrating Elise N. Paeffgen, Bread for the City Legal Services Volunteer

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Bread for the City will be closed on Friday, September 22. We apologize for the inconvenience.