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Tom Fritzsche has come full circle.
The new govt director of Pine Tree Legal Assistance, the statewide group that gives authorized companies to low-income Mainers in civil issues, grew up in Kennebunk. His father, retired Superior Courtroom Justice Paul Fritzsche, labored for the group from 1975 to 1981.
He’s taken over the authorized help group at a time when it’s seen a rise in requests for housing-related assist as a big emergency rental help program funded by federal COVID aid cash has stopped accepting new purposes, in addition to an uptick in requests for assist from home violence victims.
Fritzsche, 41, of Portland has been on the job since early September. He took over the reins of the group after Nan Heald, who headed the group for greater than three many years, died of cancer in January at age 66.
Pine Tree Authorized, which opened in 1967, is the largest legal aid organization in Maine.
Fritzsche oversees a employees of 75 — together with 47 attorneys and 15 paralegals — in workplaces in Portland, Lewiston, Augusta, Bangor, Machias and Presque Isle. Its 2022 price range is $8.67 million, with about 34 p.c coming from federal funding and about 48 p.c from the state. The remainder of the price range is funded by way of grants and donations.
Now that MaineHousing is no longer accepting new applications for the state’s Emergency Rental Help Program, Pine Tree Authorized has seen the demand for assist with housing-related points improve, Fritzsche mentioned.
Within the first three months of 2022, the group opened 1,027 new housing instances, which made up 61 p.c of all the group’s new instances in that point. Since July 1, it has opened 1,266 new housing instances.
“Proper now, low-income Mainers face an ongoing housing disaster that’s about to get dramatically worse,” he mentioned. “Placing our eviction protection workforce in place to succeed by effectively representing as many individuals as we will will assist susceptible people preserve steady earnings and household situations and, frankly, will save lives over the winter.”
To fulfill that demand and others, Pine Tree Authorized should develop, he mentioned.
Pine Tree Authorized is also seeing a slight uptick in new requests for assist from victims of home violence, however it’s ready for that improve.
“Final yr, we partnered with Companions for Peace in Bangor and Household Violence Challenge in Augusta on purposes for federal funds to offer authorized help to victims of home and sexual abuse,” he mentioned. “With these funds, we’ve added employees attorneys in our Bangor and Augusta workplaces.”
Along with employees attorneys, Pine Tree Authorized depends on volunteers within the authorized group to tackle instances. Throughout the first eight months of the yr, legal professionals in non-public observe dealt with 270 instances and labored 5,747 hours for Pine Tree shoppers free of charge.
Fritzsche mentioned that he’s thrilled to be again in Maine along with his spouse and 6-year-old daughter.
“Pine Tree is a unbelievable group,” he mentioned. “I knew this is able to be a terrific alternative to be a part of this workforce.”
Fritzsche graduated from Kennebunk Excessive Faculty, Amherst School in Massachusetts and the New York College Faculty of Regulation. His first job as a lawyer was working for the Southern Poverty Regulation Heart’s Immigrant Justice Challenge, the place he represented immigrant employees in low-wage industries throughout the Southeast who have been confronting violations of their rights.
Later, as a fellow on the Cardozo Faculty of Regulation in New York Metropolis, he helped train the Immigration Justice Clinic, the place regulation college students characterize immigrants and community-based organizations in particular person immigration instances and in regulation and coverage reform initiatives.
He got here to Pine Tree Authorized from Vermont, the place he was the manager director of the Milk with Dignity Requirements Council, which screens taking part dairy farms’ compliance with human rights requirements for farmworkers.
These experiences have been what made Fritzsche the precise particular person to guide the group, based on Dan Emery, chair of the Pine Tree Authorized board of administrators.
“He has a variety of expertise in authorized companies and most significantly, an actual ardour for the work,” Emery mentioned.
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