services

Overview of current ALRP services:

The ALRP Referral Project
When ALRP was founded in 1983, our main focus was to refer people living with HIV/AIDS in San Francisco to free or no cost volunteer attorneys, and to provide the support these attorneys needed to help our clients. Since then, ALRP has handled over 80,000 legal matters for our clients.

Our services include housing, employment, immigration, insurance, confidentiality matters, credit, government benefits or public accommodations, wills, power of attorney and guardianship contracts.  Today, ALRP serves more than 1,500 clients each year in 7 counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay in over 2,500 legal matters, and our volunteer panel numbers over 700.

The ALRP AIDS Housing Advocacy Project (AHAP)
ALRP’s housing program has become the centerpiece of our service provision, with almost one third of all ALRP cases now comprised of housing issues. Many of these clients are facing not only housing discrimination, but also eviction, threatening their very survival.

The ALRP Community Outreach Project (ACOP)
This program ensures that ALRP’s services are available to underserved communities within the HIV community, such as people of color, women, transgender constituents, and people with substance use and mental health disorders.

Outreach efforts include the provision of community clinics, outreach presentations to community-based organizations (CBOs) in collaboration with local bar associations, and various partnership alliances, such as the current partnership with AIDS Project East Bay.

The ALRP Immigrant HIV Assistance Project (IHAP)
The Immigrant HIV Assistance Project (IHAP) provides free immigration legal services to HIV positive immigrants living in San Francisco.  IHAP services include assistance with obtaining legal permanent residence (green cards), HIV waivers, political asylum, suspension of deportation, and naturalization.

The ALRP HIV/AIDS Insurance Protection Project (HIPP)
As the AIDS epidemic has changed, so has ALRP. In an effort to continue to meet the needs of our clients, ALRP launched the HIV/AIDS Insurance Protection Project (HIPP) to help our clients retain and gain access to medical/disability insurance and prescription drug coverage. No one else in the San Francisco Bay Area addresses this emerging and critical need for legal assistance and advocacy in insurance-related matters.

The ALRP HIV Consumer Advocacy Project (HCAP)
The HIV Consumer Advocacy Project (HCAP) is designed to assist people living with HIV/AIDS who have experienced difficulty accessing services from Ryan White Program-funded agencies located in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties.  HCAP also helps HIV+ consumers resolve challenges in accessing services from agencies funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health HIV Health Services.

ALRP HIV50+ Project (HIV50+)
The HIV50+ Project is a focused program that provides legal representation and counseling for people with HIV over 50 years of age. ALRP’s HIV50+ Project also includes trainings and educational presentations to help these clients with a myriad of issues including housing, insurance, and estate planning.

The ALRP Work Readiness & Legal Assistance Project
ALRP’s Work Readiness & Legal Assistance Project supports people living with HIV/AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area in their efforts to become or remain employed. We do this by providing HIV-related legal assistance in securing and stabilizing housing, resolving debt and bankruptcy issues, and addressing employment discrimination and harassment issues.

The project also provides counseling, information and education about employment rights for people with disabilities, reasonable accommodations in the workplace, and public and private benefits.  Through this project ALRP helps our clients secure and maintain the economic, emotional and health benefits of gainful employment.

The ALRP Medical Community Outreach Project (MCOP)
ALRP works with medical community partners, such as hospitals, clinics, medical groups and physician offices, to ensure that HIV/AIDS patients are aware of ALRP’s legal services availability – through on-site agency presentations and the distribution of ALRP services brochures.  We also conduct Advanced HealthCare Directives trainings for physicians and medical professionals.

The ALRP Advanced HealthCare Directive Project (AHDP)
ALRP panel attorneys provide legal services for the creation of Advanced HealthCare Directives (AHCD) for our clients. An AHCD lets clients have a say in their medical treatment and wishes should the client become incapacitated. ALRP also conducts Advanced HealthCare Directives trainings for physicians and medical professionals at clinics, medical groups and hospitals throughout our 7 county San Francisco Bay Area service area

The ALRP Client Education Project
ALRP creates, publishes and distributes a variety of HIV/AIDS brochures, pamphlets and manuals for people living with HIV/AIDS, including “Working in the Cycle of HIV/ AIDS,” ALRP’s Employment Discrimination Guide.  Other guides cover issues such as fair housing, habitability, eviction protection, security deposits, and companion animals.

The ALRP AIDS Law Manual
ALRP publishes an HIV/AIDS Law Manual for use by our panel of attorneys, legal and community partners, and AIDS services organizations (ASOs). This manual is a critical resource for our staff, volunteers, and clients.

The ALRP Volunteer Attorney Training Program
This program enables ALRP to provide our volunteer panel attorneys training in not only effectively handling HIV/AIDS related cases, but also to address critical legal issues facing ALRP clients today, such as housing and employment discrimination.

ALRP Law Clerk Fellowships
Law clerks provide critical program support for all ALRP client services by conducting client intakes, connecting clients to ALRP volunteer attorneys, and undertaking  legal research and writing.