Byline: Deonne E. Contine, Executive Director
The mission of Northern Nevada Legal Aid has long been to provide the people of Northern Nevada legal aid when they need it most. In 2021, one of the most important places to reach those in need, spread the word about our legal services and showcase the impact we make in the community is online. Virtually everyone is online, and our goal is to help everyone who needs us.
That is why I am proud to announce the launch of our new, much improved website. With this new site, I am confident that our team will be able to make an even greater impact on Northern Nevada. Please take a look around, see what’s new and read on to learn more about our vision for our future web presence.
The population of Northern, Carson, Storey and Douglas counties is growing, and with that growth comes an ever more diverse set of legal needs among the most vulnerable populations. The aim of Northern Nevada Legal Aid has always been to meet those legal needs by providing affordable, often free legal services.
While our mission has held steady since our founding in 1965, the world has continually changed. We have to change with it if we want to truly serve those who might struggle to obtain legal representation. While we have had a website for a long time, we recognize that there is a difference between simply having a website and having a website that is user-friendly and actually reaches the people we want to reach.
Before our new site launched, we had a website. Now, we have a website that will help us provide legal aid to all of Northern Nevada much more effectively. By creating user-friendly landing pages, restructuring our navigation menu and optimizing our website for search engines, we’re taking advantage of the opportunity the internet provides to spread the word about what we do and who we serve.
In our ongoing efforts to provide top-quality legal services to those who are dealing with domestic violence, immigration issues, housing insecurity and more, Northern Nevada Legal Aid must partner with several community organizations. For example, our team has created a Medical Legal Partnership (MLP)—the first in the state of Nevada—that works closely with Northern Nevada HOPES. To provide the legal aid this program aspires to offer, close, quick communication between our team and HOPES is essential.
I believe our new website will enable that type of communication. With a better user experience and a wealth of legal information that is much more readily available, our website now allows partners to access the information they need without any precious time wasted. The best part? This is only one example. Our Northern Nevada legal aid team works with countless partners throughout rural Northern, Carson, Storey and Douglas counties.
We couldn’t do what we do without our wonderful partners, and we like to think that they would say the same about the legal services we provide. Now, those partners can use our website to do more of what they do best: help those in need.
In Northern Nevada, we are more than Reno. We are more than casinos and tourism. We are a collection of rural communities that come with diverse backgrounds and needs. We have unique and important struggles, and we all deserve legal aid, whether we can afford a private attorney or not.
By providing legal aid to the most vulnerable populations of Northern Nevada, we are working to build up this community—to make us happier, give our people more dignity and build resilience. Often facing difficult, seemingly impossible legal circumstances, our clients can and very often do win. We want to celebrate that, and our new website is going to help.
The new Northern Nevada Legal Aid website is going to become a hub of news about our services and cases. When a client, client’s family member, community member or partner wants to know something, we want them to find it here. That means you can expect regular updates and news on our blog, and you can get in touch with us online any time you want. I encourage you to take a look at our new site, let us know your thoughts and check back with us regularly to see what we’re doing to help your community.