| 1965 |
... is founded at Columbia University as the Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law to emulate civil rights lawyers' success promoting justice through the courts and working hand-in-hand with community organizers. |
| 1966 |
... becomes a model "national support" center for legal aid lawyers; federal legal services funding begins. |
| 1966 |
... begins training thousands of legal services advocates across the country in public benefits representation. |
| 1966 |
... begins publishing articles, manuals, and updates for legal advocates across the country, both in print and, later, electronically. |
| 1968 |
... wins King v. Smith, first major Supreme Court welfare case, securing entitlement to aid for all those meeting federal requirements. |
| 1970 |
... wins Goldberg v. Kelly, landmark Supreme Court decision requiring notice and hearing before terminating critical subsistence benefits and still a major tool in Center litigation. |
| 1972 |
... becomes an independent not-for-profit organization with its own Board of Directors. |
| 1979 |
... wins Califano v. Westcott, unanimous Supreme Court decision prohibiting gender discrimination in welfare programs. |
| 1989 |
... provides extensive legal assistance on child support issues to legal services attorneys in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington. |
| 1990 |
... completes 25 years of service to legal aid lawyers around the country by providing strategic assistance, expert analysis, training support, and co-counsel services in a wide variety of public benefits matters. |
| 1995 |
... reinvents itself after sudden loss of federal funding, expands program and Board and doubles budget over next ten years entirely from private sources. |
| 1996 |
... initiates a program to improve quality and fairness of public benefits administration and opportunities for education and training in New York City. |
| 1997 |
... launches high impact litigation program around the country to protect Medicaid, Food Stamps and cash assistance for low-income families. |
| 1997 |
... changes name to Welfare Law Center. |
| 1998 |
... serves as co-counsel or amicus in successful cases challenging discrimination against recent residents in Rhode Island (Westenfelder v. Ferguson; argued in First Circuit), Illinois (Hicks v.Peters; co-counsel), Pennsylvania (Maldonado v. Houston; and California (Saenz v. Roe; amicus in U. S. Supreme Court). |
| 1998 |
... creates internationally renowned Low Income Networking and Communications Project (LINC) to empower grassroots groups through effective use of technology. |
| 2000 |
... launches pioneering project applying disability rights law in the public benefits arena. |
| 2001 |
... in partnership with allies, wins sweeping reforms that preserved and reinstated Medicaid for thousands of poor families in New York City, Mangracina v. Turner. |
| 2002 |
... in collaboration with local counsel, saves Medicaid for 17,000 working parents in Missouri, White v. Martin. |
| 2002 |
... achieves comprehensive settlement in Arizona litigation, Olea v. Clayton, in a model cited around the country, changing the State's entire approach when someone fails to comply with a requirement, so that the State will identify barriers to compliance and help the individual rather than simply cut off aid to the family. |
| 2003 |
... in partnership with allies, negotiates an historic settlement in Davila v. Eggleston providing education and training opportunities for single parents in New York City. |
| 2003 |
... helps secure a settlement in Hawkins v. Commissioner assuring dental services for more than 60,000 low-income children in New Hampshire. |
| 2003 |
... helps secure ruling from West Virginia Supreme Court in K.M. v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources that state constitution creates obligation to care for the needs, and that recipients of cash assistance were entitled to due process before aid was terminated. |
| 2004 |
... in partnership with allies, wins groundbreaking sexual harassment case in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, United States of America v. City of New York, granting federal protection under Title VII to women working in exchange for their welfare grants. |
| 2004 |
... helps win emergency court orders in Soskin v. Reinertson blocking a Colorado law that would have ended Medicaid eligibility for low-income immigrants. |
| 2004 |
... achieves major policy changes for welfare applicants and recipients with disabilities in New Jersey, New York and Virginia. |
| 2005 |
... in partnership with allies, wins Reynolds v. Giuliani challenging New York City's policy of deterring thousands from applying for Medicaid, Food Stamps and cash benefits. |
| 2005 |
... helps win a unanimous decision in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Camacho v. Texas Workfare Commission, blocking Texas from terminating Medicaid for thousands of low-income parents. |
| 2005 |
... safeguards critical rights of Missouri Medicaid recipients in Wilson v. Sherman by helping to secure a settlement in a federal class action lawsuit challenging the implementation of cuts in the state's Medicaid program that terminated more than 24,000 parents and caretaker relatives. |
| 2005 |
... assures due process in welfare hearings in New York by successfully settling Meachem v. Wing, a longstanding case challenging New York State's practice of depriving welfare recipients of the right to review evidence, call witnesses and present documents in the course of appealing a negative decision. |
| 2006 |
... changes name to National Center for Law and Economic Justice to reflect broadened mission and scope of work. |
| 2006 |
... files two class action lawsuits with allies in southern states, Brou v. FEMA and Watson v. FEMA on behalf of Hurricane Katrina evacuees with disabilities who are not provided accessible housing and evacuees whose emergency housing assistance is threatened with premature termination, and secures a major settlement in Brou under which 2,000 persons with disabilities were placed in accessible housing. |
| 2006 |
... persuades New York State to adopt a disability and language policy requiring local agencies to modify policies and procedures to provide equal access and opportunity to people with disabilities.
|
| 2007 |
... obtains retroactive restoration of benefits averaging $2,000 per family for some 20,000 needy New York families with a child receiving federal SSI benefits because of the child’s disabilities in Doe v. Doar. |
| 2007 |
... secures settlement in Vu v. Mitchell, a state court challenge to California's failure to comply with federal food stamp translation requirements, under which the State will translate food stamp forms into eight additional languages – Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Lao, and Tagalog – and oversee county compliance. |
| 2008 |
... secures preliminary injunction and settlement in Julia M. v. Scott under which Missouri will take steps to avoid erroneous termination of Children's Health Insurance benefits to 20,000 Missouri children threatened with the loss of health care coverage for minor infractions or clerical efforts. |
| 2008 |
... secures agreement that youths aging out of the foster care system in New York City will gain smooth and immediate access to health care and housing services as the result of system improvements agreed upon by City and State officials following extensive fact finding and negotiations with advocates. |
| 2008 |
...obtains three comprehensive settlements assuring that food stamp, Medicaid, cash assistance and Child Health Insurance applicants in Colorado will have improved access in applying for benefits and will be assured prompt action (Davis v. Henneberry); that food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance applicants in Erie County, New York, will get prompt action on their applications (Martin v. Weiner), and that food stamp applicants in New York City will receive their food stamps in timely fashion (Williston v. Eggleston). |
| 2009 |
....obtains significant improvements in public benefit ADA policies in Arizona, Kentucky, and North Carolina. |
| 2009 |
....achieves favorable benefit application delay court decision in Maryland after full trial, and favorable class action settlements in Indiana, Rhode Island, and Steuben and Suffolk Counties, NY. |
| 2010 |
.... publishes completely updated and revised ADA Advocacy Manual, as well as The Closed Digital Door and Modernizing Public Benefits Programs setting out important considerations about serving people with disabilities. |
| 2010 |
.... secures favorable court-ordered class action settlement in benefits processing class action in Colorado. |
| 2010 |
.... defeats motion to dismiss in constitutional challenge to exclusion of New Mexico farm workers from workers’ compensation benefits. |
| 2010 |
.... achieves landmark ADA welfare agency policy in Onondaga County (Syracuse) NY. |
| 2011 |
.... secures further favorable court-ordered class action settlement in benefits processing class action in Colorado and favorable court-ordered class action settlement in Nassau County, NY. |
