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Florida Rural Legal Services pitches expanded outreach, names dedicated attorney for Okeechobee County
Summary
Iola Mosley of Florida Rural Legal Services described legal-aid services available to Okeechobee County residents, announced a veterans project and named a staff attorney assigned to the county for litigation cases and an outreach director to coordinate local events.
Iola Mosley, managing attorney for Florida Rural Legal Services, told the commission her organization provides civil legal assistance to low-income residents, with emphases on senior citizens, families, housing and consumer finance, and that the organization recently received a disaster legal-services project to help residents navigate contractor and recovery questions.
Mosley said the program now designates an attorney — Samantha Simpson — to handle Okeechobee County cases funded by litigation grants and named Veronica Tillman as outreach director. She said Florida Rural also received a veterans project and will be conducting veteran-focused outreach and "ask a lawyer" clinics to help veterans with documents such as wills, advanced directives and powers of attorney.
Mosley described income thresholds for various grants (Legal Services Corporation at 125% of poverty; a Florida Bar fund up to 250% of poverty; and VOCA for victims of crime) and urged the county to connect her organization with the county veterans service officer for coordinated outreach. Commissioners thanked Mosley for the presentation and for designating staff for local outreach; no funding request or board action was made during the workshop.
