Division of Legal Information and Community Service

The records of the Division of Legal Information and Community Service provide comprehensive documentation of this LDF department that existed from 1965 to 1985 as a predecessor to the organization’s Community Organizing and Policy departments. The Division was particularly entrenched in LDF’s efforts towards fair employment and educational equity. Jean Fairfax, the Division’s leader, outlined her multipronged strategy in a 1983 Background Paper on the Division of Legal Information and Community Service: “Our style of operating generally has been to work simultaneously at the federal, state, and local levels, gathering information and engaging in action projects that reinforce each other. Specifically: A) Our publications and press conferences that have exposed the failure of federal agencies have been based on information gathered in the field by Division staff with local citizens and sometimes with other national agencies, as well as on our own research and investigations in Washington. B) Our monitoring of court orders and key national laws has documented how the judicial rulings and the mandates of Congress have been ignored. Monitoring reports have been distributed to action groups, Congressional oversight committee staff, the media, and other national agencies, and have frequently been used as the basis of complaints filed by LDF on behalf of minorities. C) We have assisted citizens in filing individual and class complaints, some of which have been statewide, and have monitored complaints through the administrative process. D) We have participated with LDF lawyers in fashioning litigation programs. E) We have participated in the shaping of federal regulations and civil rights enforcement machinery. F) We have worked with public agencies to develop innovative approaches to their responsibilities with reference to civil rights and the delivery of programs to minority and poor people. G) The Division has disseminated information about laws and court orders. Programs to educate citizens about their rights have been supplemented by technical assistance to help minority organizations develop effective strategies for advocacy and monitoring and by community action projects."