GATS ABOUT This Program

"Moving at the speed of the grassroots to provide comprehensive legal and technical services to build sustainable organizations and help rural local governments to protect and preserve rural and natural communities."

I. Program Need

Across the United States, grassroots community groups and rural, local governments struggle daily to defend their rural quality of life and the natural communities that surround them. Most times, these grassroots groups and local governments are forced to rely upon inadequate financial resources and volunteer expertise to attempt to reach those goals, and thus, are badly outmatched by corporate and governmental interests supporting projects which threaten to degrade and endanger those communities.

Only two hundred full-time public interest attorneys are employed within the United States to provide legal services to nonprofit community groups. Because of that resource shortage, many grassroots groups are unable to find affordable legal services to build sustainable organizations and protect and preserve their communities. In addition to litigation needs, building sustainable organizations requires the ability to receive tax deductible contributions from community members to support the work of the group, the ability to create a nonprofit corporation and comply with state and federal tax reporting requirements, the ability to fundraise from private and public foundations, and the ability to attract and engage a growing number of individuals from the locality to attain the goals established by the group. In addition, the inability of a group to find answers to legal questions or research relevant law can create barriers to creating a sustainable vision for communities.

Attorneys that regularly provide services to rural, local governments often charge over $200 per hour to provide services to those governments. Thus, the resources of many rural governments usually do not provide the finances to access specialized environmental legal assistance for the drafting of local environmental protection laws. Due to that situation, local governments are forced to rely on local legal counsel - who may be unaware of the availability of local environmental protection Ordinances - to accomplish their goals.

The Grassroots Administrative and Technical Support Program of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund was established to fill those needs and provide these primary services to grassroots community organizations and rural local governments. In 2001, the Legal Defense Fund also launched the "Quality of Life and Local Control" Caucus of Township Supervisors in Pennsylvania to establish a network of local officials to collaborate with the Legal Defense Fund in the distribution of environmental protection Ordinances.

II. Major Program Accomplishments During the 2002 Program Year

Incorporated over twenty grassroots environmental and community organizations as state nonprofit corporations in five different states;
Obtained 501(c)(3) status for nine state nonprofit corporations - thus enabling those organizations to seek tax-deductible donations to support their programs;
Provided tax compliance and general legal research services to over fifty-five grassroots environmental and community organizations in nine states across the United States;
Made formal presentations to provide organizational legal assistance to over forty organizations located in Pennsylvania, New York, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, and North Carolina;
Assisted with the adoption by a municipal government in North-Central Pennsylvania of the Legal Defense Fund's anti-corporate farming Ordinance, which bans agribusiness corporate control or ownership of farms;
Assisted with the adoption of CELDF-drafted environmental Ordinances by a dozen additional municipal governments in Pennsylvania;
Developed a new Township Environmental Impact Statement ("TEIS") Ordinance, which requires a delineation of environmental impacts for all major corporate actions within a municipality in Pennsylvania;
Maintained an Ordinance library accessible via the internet for rural governments and communities in Pennsylvania to address corporate factory farms, land applied sewage sludge, large water withdrawals, testing of incinerator emissions, installation of solar systems in new housing developments, use of recycled paper, openspace preservation, and farmland protection;
Published the second Editions of Legal Defense Fund "self-help" guides, which deal with nonprofit incorporation and obtaining documents under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law;
Attracted the twelfth municipal government member to the Legal Defense Fund's Quality of Life and Local Control Caucus, launched in 2001 to build a network of progressive municipal governments in Pennsylvania. The Legal Defense Fund recently published the fifth volume of the Community Solicitor - a quarterly newsletter servicing Caucus members;
Assisted a municipal government in Northwestern Pennsylvania with the customization, consideration, and adoption of the Legal Defense Fund's "corporate personhood ordinance" - which seeks to eliminate the ability of corporations to sue municipal governments in Pennsylvania. That municipal government has become the first local government to adopt such an Ordinance in the United States;
Used the Legal Defense Fund's Mobile Law Office to service over a dozen community organizations in Pennsylvania, New York, and North Carolina. The Mobile Law Office, a 24' RV outfitted with office equipment, is used by the Legal Defense Fund to provide on-site legal assistance in rural areas;
Assisted the American Independent Business Alliance with obtaining federal nonprofit status. The Alliance was established to assist in the creation of independent business alliances in communities across the United States; and
Assisted PhillyCarShare with incorporation and 501(c)(3) federal nonprofit issues. The organization was established to create a "car sharing" program in Philadelphia to alleviate congestion and build livable neighborhoods.

III. Specific Categories of Services Provided Under This Program Area

A. Through the Grassroots Administrative and Technical Support Program, CELDF offers the following legal services to grassroots environmental, citizen, and conservation organizations:

(1) Provision of an "on-call" attorney for citizen organizations twelve hours a day, six days a week for legal research and general assistance;

(2) State nonprofit incorporation of new environmental and citizen organizations;

(3) Provision of assistance to organizations to enable them to qualify for 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service;

(4) Provision of legal research pertaining to state specific tax and corporate laws and regulations;

(5) Provision of assistance with Bylaws-drafting for the organization;

(6) Provision of initial organizing documents, including Consent to Waiver of Notice and Board Minutes for initial organizational meeting of Board of Directors;

(7) Provision of advice on compliance with federal tax laws dealing with nonprofit corporations;

(8) Provision of advice on compliance with state-specific agencies on charitable organizations vested with jurisdiction over nonprofit organizations; including necessity of disclaimers on fundraising literature; registration with state charitable bureaus; and legal advice on registration of fundraisers;

(9) Provision of lists of potential foundation and individual major donors in the geographic region through the Fund's Grassroots Grantee Network (GGN) project of this Program;

(10) Provision of campaign finance and ballot access information for those individuals interested in running for elected office to build sustainable communities; and

(11) Supervision of classes held to teach organizations how to use law libraries; how to incorporate and process 501(c)(3) applications; and how to conduct general legal and regulatory research.

B. Through the Grassroots Administrative and Technical Support Program, CELDF offers the following services to municipal governments free of charge:

(1) Drafting environmental specialty Ordinances for those local governments which lack the financial ability to retain legal counsel to draft Ordinances to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the local community;

(2) Review of local governmental environmental Ordinances, to ensure the enforceability of those Ordinances;

(3) Review of local governmental zoning Ordinances, to ensure that contemporary updates to those Ordinances dealing with emerging environmental problems are available to local governmental officials for amendment;

(4) On-site consultations with local governments dealing with complex environmental issues and litigation; and

(5) Maintenance of a comprehensive Ordinance library for retrieval by local governmental officials via the Legal Defense Fund office and webpage.

IV. Specific Assistance Offered Through Program Area

A. Assistance Provided to Grassroots Environmental and Citizen Organizations

The Grassroots Administrative and Technical Support Program evolved from the first Program launched by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund after its formation - the General Legal Services Program. As described below, this Program consists of a "cradle to maturity" organizing approach - with the recognition that support of grassroots groups is crucial in the attempt to preserve quality of life and the natural environment. To accomplish that goal, this Program provides comprehensive assistance to small grassroots environmental and community organizations throughout their journey into becoming self-sufficient, autonomous environmental and community organizations. That assistance takes the form of incorporation services, 501(c)(3) application processing, advice on tax issues, assistance with organizational Board of Directors meetings, preparation of Bylaws for the organization, assistance with sample fundraising materials, research on potential future funders, and a spectrum of general legal research assistance. All of these services are provided free of charge or for affordable fees, and have been provided since 1995 to over three hundred and fifty (350) grassroots organizations in eighteen states.

Most importantly, the essence of this Program is the emphasis the Fund places on helping organizations help themselves. It is the goal of the Fund to create "citizen-lawyers" within these organizations and regions who are capable of preparing incorporation papers and completing 501(c)(3) applications, completing legal research, drafting arguments, and learning the organizational procedures necessary for completing the incorporation process. These "citizen-lawyers" are then able to assist other organizations with the same challenges once faced by them. Thus, the Fund is seeking to build the grassroots environmental community as a community able to assist itself, using the skills and knowledge of those within that community. With the shortage of pro bono public interest attorneys skilled at nonprofit, public interest incorporation and tax issues, it is essential that these organizations be empowered with the tools and knowledge necessary to build self-sufficient and autonomous organizations.

B. Assistance Provided to Rural Local Governments

In addition to the assistance provided to grassroots nonprofit organizations, the Grassroots Administrative and Technical Support Program also offers specialized environmental Ordinance drafting services to local governments across the United States. This service consists of providing direct legal services to municipal governments otherwise unable to afford them. Working with those governments, the Legal Defense Fund may either design a new Ordinance or customize an existing Ordinance to meet the needs of the local government. Often, provision of these services is handled "on-site" and the Legal Defense Fund is reimbursed for travel expenses incurred in providing these services. Many local governments, pleased with the services received, keep in continuous contact with the Legal Defense Fund to obtain new Ordinances. In response to that growing network, the Fund launched the Quality of Life and Local Control Caucus for Township Supervisors in Pennsylvania in 2001. Upon joining, the Township is entitled to receive the Legal Defense Fund's quarterly newsletter for local government officials - the Community Solicitor - which contains summaries of the latest materials released by the Legal Defense Fund. The Legal Defense Fund also maintains an e-mail list for those local governments which maintain access to the internet.

During Program Year 2002, the Legal Defense Fund again focused on providing Ordinances to Pennsylvania local governments to prevent the movement of large-scale, absentee corporate owned hog and poultry factories into South-Central Pennsylvania. One of the most popular ordinances drafted by the Legal Defense Fund - the "Southampton Anti-Corporate Farming Ordinance" (which prohibits non-family owned corporations from owning or operating farms) was adopted by elected officials in Windham Township in Bradford County, Pennsylvania during the 2002 Program Year. With their adoption of the Ordinance, ten municipal governments across five Pennsylvania Counties have now unanimously adopted that Ordinance. In addition, over thirty additional municipal governments have adopted the Legal Defense Fund's environmental protection Ordinances.

In early 2002, a handful of State Senators supported by the agribusiness industry introduced a Bill to eliminate the Legal Defense Fund's work in this area. Contending that the factory farm Ordinances are "illegal", the Senators pursued the adoption of legislation that would strip away local authority to adopt factory farm Ordinances. In response, the Legal Defense Fund coordinated the assembly of a statewide Coalition - composed of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, the Sierra Club, and over a dozen environmental and labor organizations. At the close of the legislative session at the end of November, the Legal Defense Fund's Coalition soundly defeated the legislation in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Due to the influence of agribusiness corporations on agricultural policy, the Legal Defense Fund drafted a corporate "personhood" Ordinance, which seeks to eliminate all corporate constitutional and legal privileges from agribusiness corporations at the municipal level. The Ordinance was considered, advertised and adopted by the Porter Township, Clarion County Supervisors on December 9, 2002. That Township thus became the first municipal government in the United States to directly challenge the legal rights wielded by corporations against communities.

The Legal Defense Fund's work on that Ordinance became part of Thom Hartmann's 2002 book, Unequal Protection - in which the author collaborated with the Legal Defense Fund to draft model Ordinances and state constitutional amendments that could be used to eliminate legal privileges from corporations. The book has served as the genesis of a serious discussion and debate about the legal rights wielded by corporations against communities.

The "Wayne Township Environmental Protection Ordinance" (which prohibits corporations from operating in a locality if the corporation has a history of violating the law) was first adopted by the Township Supervisors in Wayne Township, Mifflin County in late-1998, was adopted by Thompson Township, Fulton County in 2000, and by Ayr and Licking Creek Townships in Fulton County, Pennsylvania in 2001. Several additional municipal governments began their consideration of the Ordinance in 2002. In addition, that Ordinance is being used by groups in Arcata, California; Point Arena, California; and Whatcom County, Washington, as models for passage of similar Ordinances by those local governments.

In Program Year 2002, this Program area also produced the second printing of a Manual for Building Sustainable Communities, which includes nine (9) updated Ordinances which can be used by local governments to build sustainable and democratic communities. Those Ordinances range from requiring new residential subdevelopments to install solar powered hot water heaters, to an open records Ordinance which guarantees citizen access to local governmental records, and an Ordinance encouraging preferential purchasing from locally owned businesses to support the growth of viable downtown centers. The Manual has become a centerpiece of the delivery of certain services to local governments in Franklin County and South-Central Pennsylvania, and copies of the Manual were circulated to those local governments and citizen groups in mid-2002. In addition, the Legal Defense Fund has placed the Manual on the webpage, for access by community groups and local governments.