Happy GBLS Day!

Today GBLS, @latinojustice.bsky.social, @legalaidnyc.bsky.social, @masslawreform.bsky.social, Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants, and @nhlp.bsky.social issued a statement marking close of the comment period on HUD's proposed rule putting tens of 1000s of households at risk of losing their homes.

Watch now: GBLS ED Jacqui Bowman on WCVB CityLine discussing how federal policy changes are impacting immigrant families and how GBLS is helping. www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NJ... Also, HUGE congrats to Jacqui on her Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mass. Black Lawyers Assoc. - so well deserved!

Victims rights proponents including GBLS are advocating for passing the Massachusetts Survivors Act, that addresses the criminalization of survivors of abuse, trafficking, and trauma by creating pathways for courts to meaningfully consider the role of victimization at every stage of a criminal case.

Congratulations to Laura Gal, Managing Attorney of our Family Law Unit, who was selected for the 2026 Access to Justice Award from the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance! Laura will be honored on April 28 at MOVA's Victim Rights Awards event at the State House.

If you lose your job, you may be able to get Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits in Massachusetts. You may also qualify for certain health insurance and job training benefits while you are unemployed. Learn more: www.masslegalhelp.org/employment-u... Article by @bostonlegalaid.bsky.social

#CleanSlate policies bring record sealing into the modern era by automating the process for those who are eligible *according to current law.* Please watch & share this explainer video & see why #MA needs this law. @bostonlegalaid.bsky.social @jonathancohn.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoZw...

" '[All] too often those young people find themselves working as low-wage child care providers for long hours at outrageously low pay and without protection from workplace mistreatment', [said Audrey Richardson, who leads the workers’ rights unit at Greater Boston Legal Services]."

ICYMI: Those who have paid their debts deserve a clean slate www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/02/o...

Spot on, @yabraham.bsky.social! www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/26/m... We can't fix everything but let's end bureaucratic nightmares. TY Sen. Friedman, Sen. Gomez, Rep. Vargas, Rep. Keefe, & Rep. Fluker-Reid for leading the way for a Clean Slate law in MA! #mapoli @bostonlegalaid.bsky.social

"'[T]hese fees can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back...and are a significant driver of housing instability,' said Courtney Libon, a housing attorney with the Greater Boston Legal Services and one of the lawyers working for the plaintiffs in both lawsuits." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/m...

GBLS tax atty: “For a lot of undocumented immigrants, there’s no viable pathway to get that Social Security #, but they want to do things right. They know that filing taxes signals to the community and signals to themselves: ‘I’m trying to do the best I can.’” newbedfordlight.org/many-immigra...

ALERT: HUD has proposed a rule that would ban non-citizens from public & subsidized housing, harming mixed-status families. We strongly oppose. ➡️Learn more & submit a comment by 4/21/26: www.keep-families-together.org Spread the word!

ALERT: HUD has proposed a rule that would ban non-citizens from public & subsidized housing, harming mixed-status families (tinyurl.com/3r4ua3un). We strongly oppose. ➡️Learn more & submit a comment by 4/21/26: www.keep-families-together.org Spread the word!

Congrats to our Executive Director Jacquelynne Bowman, who on April 10 will be very deservedly honored by the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award! For more details on the MBLA Gala and awards ceremony, please click on the link below. mablacklawyers.org/2026gala/

"Caouette is one of the beneficiaries of a settlement prompted by a federal lawsuit filed in 2022 [by co-counsel team GBLS, the Center for Public Representation, Justice In Aging, and Foley Hoag LLP] against the state of Massachusetts..." www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

" 'We fear it’s going to harm the most vulnerable clients who have the most difficulty getting hold of these types of verifications and result in them losing benefits that they urgently, urgently need,' said Naomi Meyer, lead attorney at [GBLS]." commonwealthbeacon.org/government/s...

GBLS senior attorney: “Immigrants are doing the right thing by filing their taxes. Punishing them by using their compliance against them is not only cruel and unjust but inevitably hurts everyone.” mainebeacon.com/federal-judg...

Congrats to Kristen Bor-Zale, GBLS Consumer Rights Unit Senior Attorney, and to Jade Brown, Associate Clinical Professor in the BU Law School Civil Litigation & Justice Program (a GBLS partner), selected as Up & Coming Lawyers by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly! 🎉 masslawyersweekly.com/event/massac...

VICTORY: A federal court has blocked ICE’s use of private tax-related data from the IRS! The decision is a win for taxpayers nationwide who have weighed whether filing their taxes exposes them to potential ICE arrest, detention, and deportation. 📰 bit.ly/infosharing-win

As a former @bostonlegalaid.bsky.social attorney, it meant so much to welcome GBLS to the State House for their annual lobby day alongside @senatorledwards.bsky.social. GBLS has long been on the frontlines for our most vulnerable community members—and I am always proud to stand with them.

"Massachusetts has the third-largest Haitian population in the U.S., and about 45,000 [Temporary Protected Status] holders, more than 10 percent of the roughly 350,000 Haitian TPS holders. If protected status is revoked, all of them will lose legal status as well as work and travel authorization.”

Luz from GBLS' Low Income Tax Clinic spoke at the Boston Tax Help Coalition Tax Launch event kicking off the 2026 tax filing season for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) volunteers and host organizations. For information about refundable tax credits and tax prep sites go to FindYourFunds.org.

Join us on zoom for the latest on the campaign to pass CLEAN SLATE legislation in MA. Feb 10, 6:30p, REGISTER NOW: tinyurl.com/StateOfTheSlate-Feb10 CleanSlateMA.org is working to automate CORI sealing for those who are eligible. No more red tape. @bostonlegalaid.bsky.social

" 'Massachusetts is now one step closer to ending a profoundly unfair practice: taking driver’s licenses from people simply because they cannot afford to pay fines and fees that have nothing to do with road safety,' said the Road to Opportunity Act Coalition..." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/27/m...

GBLS is one of more than 1,000 national, state, and local signatories to a "letter to Congress to demand accountability and to halt funding for ICE and Border Patrol in light of the violence in Minneapolis and cities across the United States and the deaths at the hands of ICE and Border Patrol."

Luz and Angela from GBLS' Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic with their client Erika, at their State House Briefing today, titled 'Affordability and Tax Credits.'

"'Losing a driver’s license due to debt is devastating for low-wage workers, and it is common. We are thrilled that Governor Healey is taking steps to end this practice and provide relief for MA families,' said Greater Boston Legal Services attorney Kristen Bor-Zale." www.wcvb.com/article/mass...

"[I]t’s terrible that we have a lot of shelter placements that we’re not using." A GBLS senior shelter attorney "noted that nearly 600 families apply for shelter every two weeks, according to the state’s bi-weekly reports." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/22/m...

GBLS Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic attorney Angela Divaris spoke on a panel, "Guardrails or Greenlight: The State of IRS Data Sharing", at the @americanbar.org Tax Section meeting about who immigrant taxpayers are, how they file, and how the erosion of confidentiality of taxpayer data will affect them.

GBLS supports passage of The Massachusetts Survivors Act, "a bill [that] would require judges to reduce someone’s sentence or offer pretrial diversion if they find that a person’s actions were directly related to their experiences of abuse." boltsmag.org/massachusett...

“Massachusetts voters reject taking away someone’s driver’s license because they can’t pay a debt...In the midst of an affordability crisis, this outdated practice is unreasonable, unnecessary, and hurts working families.” #RoadtoOpportunity #mapoli www.nclc.org/massachusett...

The Road to Opportunity Act Coalition points "to a poll...that showed 78% of Bay State voters supporting [the bill]...[It] would end the practice of taking away people’s driver’s licenses for debts unrelated to dangerous driving [that] can include unpaid parking tickets, tolls, or excise taxes.

GBLS atty: “We remain deeply concerned by the ongoing delays [UI] claimants are facing when attempting to access unemployment insurance benefits.”

As we enter 2026, many #Massachusetts families are feeling a serious financial strain. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭 offers a concrete way for the legislature to help people who are trapped in cycles of debt. #mapoli #ProtectConsumers www.nclc.org/statement-of...

Happy 2026! GBLS' offices are closed today and tomorrow as we celebrate the new year. We will be back on Monday, ready to continue our work for justice.

Happy new year! As 2025 ends, GBLS celebrates 125 years of fighting for justice. This year, we handled 14,400+ legal matters & helped 11,800+ families & individuals access housing, health care, & safety. Help sustain this work in the year ahead. Read more & donate here: www.gbls.org/2025-year-en...

A client recently sent her GBLS advocate this note: "Thank you SOOOO much! I can't overstate how much you've helped me this year and how profoundly grateful I am to you." Want to help others in our community receive free legal aid and achieve stability? Donate now: www.gbls.org/donate

Happy holidays from all of us at GBLS! Our offices will close today at 3:00 PM, and we'll be back on Monday. Thank you for being part of our community, and best wishes for a joyful and restful holiday weekend!

Proposed MA legislation would make it easier for people with unpaid state tax debt to negotiate payments based on ability to pay. GBLS’ Low Income Taxpayer Clinic is backing the bill to help low-income residents avoid spiraling debt. Learn more: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/24/m...

GBLS partnered with Father Bill’s, Quincy Community Action, and the @cleanslatema.bsky.social Coalition to hold a free criminal and eviction record sealing clinic in Quincy.

GBLS consumer attorney: “[Aggressive debt collection] definitely doesn’t comport with the public image that people have of MSPCA, where people trust the MSPCA and they go to bring their animals there for their care." @wgbh.org www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

"[L]ead counsel Taramattie Doucette of [GBLS] said, 'From the very beginning, you [plaintiffs] saw the barriers in transportation created barriers in life...Our legal work with the community has transformed public transportation for every single rider..." www.wbur.org/news/2025/12...

"The plaintiffs’ persistence has led to a 'dramatic shift' in how the MBTA operates, says Taramattie Doucette, a lawyer with Greater Boston Legal Services who has worked on the case since the late 1990s." www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

The Intake Line for the Massachusetts Access to Counsel Initiative (MACI) is open! MIRA's new program with CPCS and legal aid organizations including GBLS provides full legal representation in Immigration Court for income-eligible immigrants. Learn more: miracoalition.org/massachusett....

“ ‘For more than 20 years, the named plaintiffs, [GBLS] and the community have worked with the MBTA to make accessibility improvements that benefit all riders. I’m glad that RTAG will now have the resources and a strong platform to take our legacy into the future,’ said Joanne Daniels-Finegold.”

A reminder about today's public meeting on Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA transportation access class action lawsuit, brought by GBLS, & settlement agreement marking shift to new, community-based monitoring model with Boston Center for Independent Living & Riders’ Transportation Access Group.

Join us 12/10, 1:00pm for public meeting on Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA transportation access class action lawsuit, brought by GBLS, & settlement agreement marking shift to new, community-based monitoring model with Boston Center for Independent Living & Riders’ Transportation Access Group.

Lift Our Kids is a coalition of 160+ organizations fighting to raise cash assistance grants and end Deep Poverty in MA. To learn more visit our website: www.liftourkidsma.org. #LiftOurKidsMA #EndDeepPovertyNow #mapoli Photo credit: Francois Visuals. www.francoisvisuals.com