The Justice of All Strategic Planning Guidance, issued last August, identifies a number of basic services which should be available to all if 100% access is to be provided.  Obviously one of the most critical is universally available self-help services.

For those seeking to make that idea real, a nine minute video just released by the Public Welfare Foundation is a perfect tool.  The California courts explain the need for the services, how they are integrated with triage, and how they look day to day.  This includes the obvious need for help with forms, no matter now simple.

Above all, the totally commonsense non-ideological presentation (narration by Bonnie Hough) conveys the simplicity of the overall idea, and its utterly non-controversial essence.

I would urge everyone to watch it, and to present it to any group involved in any kind of access to justice planning.  It is particularly critical that those who are thinking of “For All” strategic planning make use of the video to get commitment from their group to include this in their core strategy and planning.  In making this argument, never forget to highlight the two for one match for child support self-help services available from the uncapped HHS Child Support Enforcement grant stream.  That can be used to fund an initial statewide infrastructure, that can then be expanded to other issues when the value of the approach is demonstrated.

Note: The video and others about access to justice, are also available at the PWF website, here.