Following Through by Following Up: Taking Brief Service Pro Bono to the Next Level

August 23, 2016

Allison StilesKristin Verrill

Enhanced Services Project

• Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant, in November 2014

• Pro bono volunteers make follow up telephone calls

• Brief service & advice-only clients

• Additional or repeated advice to clients, identify cases that need more assistance & collect outcomes

History of Enhanced Services at Atlanta Legal Aid• In 2010, the Georgia Senior

Legal Hotline completed an outcomes study

• Advice/brief service clients had low success rates

• Clients not calling back for more help

• Hotline asked volunteers to call clients, provide assistance & record an outcome.

What percentage of Atlanta Legal Aid cases are advice or brief service only?a) 25%b)50%c) 75%d)95%

Without a follow up call, what % of clients successfully obtaining food stamps?

a) 25%b)50%c) 80%d)95%

With follow up assistance, what % of clients successfully obtaining food stamps?

a) 25%b)50%c) 80%d)95%

• 2-year Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant from LSC• Formalize the follow up process• Incorporate it into existing case management

database• Expand scope • Replicable model for other programs

Where We Are Now…

• Downtown office and two county offices.

• $350,000 in outcomes

• 350 cases received follow up

• More than 400 people helped

Applying this Model to Your Program

Atlanta Legal Aid

Internal Staff

FundersVolunteers

Keys to Success:

• Use existing infrastructure

• Evaluate stakeholder interests

• Keep it simple • Be transparent

about “work in progress”

• Accept feedback

A Place of Their Own• A Custom Homepage with a Follow Up Tab

Volunteers Sort by Project, Client Name, Follow Up Reason

How to Do It• Custom Homepage with Report Parts

How to Do It• Add Your Report to the Tab Block

A Place of Their Own• A Custom Action Menu

How to Do It• Add a Custom Link Box to the Action Menu in the Case

Profile

How to Do It• The Custom Link Box Contains the Processes for the

Volunteers

A Separate Call Log System

How to Do It• Create a form and a process for each step:

How to Do It• The call log uses the Activity Block:

The Call Log Screen

The Notebook 2.0

How to Make the Notebook 2.0• Use lots of branch logic and custom fields

Staff ParticipationMarking Cases for Follow Up

How to Do It: Custom Fields and Branch Logic on Close Case Page

Staff Participation: Matching the follow up reason and the problem code

Dashboard to Track Results and Trends

How to Make a Custom Dashboard• Buy the right Legal Server Modules (Interactive Graphs

and Charts)

Bonus Volunteer Training VideosAtlanta Legal Aid’s YouTube Channel

Ready for Replication on ShareLawVideo.org

Questions

?