Small Claims Advisory Service (SCAS)

PBHA’s Small Claims Advisory Service (SCAS) helps advise individuals on their rights and options in small claims court through direct service, education, and advocacy. Many socio-economically-disadvantaged individuals are unaware of their rights, especially regarding consumer law, debt collection and landlord-tenant law. We believe that this disparity in information and access detracts from the legitimacy of our legal system. SCAS takes individual’s cases through our telephone service in Phillips Brooks House and assists clients in person at our community offices at Greater Boston Legal Services in downtown Boston, at our Mandarin/Cantonese office in Chinatown and at our new Spanish office in Cambridge. In 2007, SCAS helped over 1200 clients and is continuing to grow. SCAS also makes presentations in the communities we serve, publishes brochures, manuals, and videos, and advocates for structural (i.e. legislative) reform of the small claims system. For more information, please contact Marsha Sukach
(msukach@fas.harvard.edu).

There are also summer opportunities through PBHA’s SCAS Program.

Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM)

PBHA’s Student Labor Action Movement is committed to activism and education in support of social and economic justice. SLAM campaigns have been directed toward worker and labor issues on campus and on a national level; they include the Living Wage Campaign and the Ethical Investments and Contracting, as well as campaigns initiated by local unions and community organizations. SLAM members participate in and help lead campaigns, as well as organize new ones. For information, contact Seth Pearce (spearce@gmail.com) and Remeike Forbes (r.j.b.forbes@gmail.com)

Harvard Undergraduate Legal Committee (HULC)

PBHA’s Harvard Undergraduate Legal Committee arranges and supervises multiple programs. The Internship Program places undergraduates in public service law and advocacy firms in the Boston area. Based on interests expressed in their applications, volunteers are assigned to a legal organization. Some of these organizations focus on immigration, others on housing, child welfare, civil rights, gay rights, etc. The job descriptions of most volunteer positions extend far beyond clerical work to writing court documents, attending court sessions, interviewing clients, performing research, and organizing at the grassroots level. Given the nature of these responsibilities, volunteers interact with and advocate for low income or traditionally underrepresented clients while gaining significant real world experience. HULC also sponsors dinners with guest speakers in relevant fields, visits to different sites, an advocacy campaign, a mentor program, and the only national Public Interest and Law Conference. For more information, please contact HarvardULC@gmail.com, or Pierre R. Berastaín (pberast@fas.harvard.edu).
There are also summer opportunities through PBHA’s Habitat for Humanity program.

Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group (HPAG)

PBHA Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group works for community-directed social change in Massachusetts. Through our political advocacy efforts, we collaborate with marginalized communities as they build power. Currently, HPAG focuses on prison advocacy, working with the Criminal Justice department of the American Friends Service Committee on projects that involve lobbying policy-makers, conducting research, and creating advocacy resources. For more information, please contact Matt Garcia (mgarcia@fas.)

Environmental Action Committee

PBHA’s Environmental Action Committee is Harvard’s undergraduate environmental organization. The EAC deals with a variety of environmental issues from campus through international levels. We are interested in spreading awareness of current topics, improving education on diverse ecological subjects, and organizing events and activities to celebrate and preserve our environment. Weekly meetings on Wednesdays from 8 - 9PM are open to anyone interested in guiding the organization toward the future, and frequent committee-wide events bring everyone together for a common cause or interest. The EAC also includes what are called ‘Project Groups,’ groups of students working on an issue different or more specific than the project that the larger EAC is working on at the time. Active projects group include: Sustainable Allston, Environmental Justice, and Earth Day; our EnviroEd project group is currently on hold but will likely be up and running soon. Many members of the EAC are involved with one or several project groups in addition to their work with the EAC-general, though of course all levels of commitment are more than welcomed. More information can be found at our website: www.greencrimson.com. Contact Co-Chairs Gracie Brown (lgbrown@fas) and Jackson Salovaara (jsalov@fas) for more information.