The Board of Directors at Justice For Our Neighbors DFW has approved a client see system that goes into effect June 1. As of that date, we will begin charging “affordable fees” to our clients for the services we provide.
JFON has always provided its services free of charge, and this was even written into the National JFON By-Laws. But this February the National Board elected to change “free” to “affordable” so that the option of charging fees was open if Affiliates wanted to do so.
Our Board had discussed this in the past, and thought it would be an avenue we might pursue. We have been advised that granting organizations these days prefer to see that those benefitting from the ministries they support materially participate in the process themselves. So, “ministry with” is becoming rightfully important in many ways.
The JFON DFW Board debated the idea again, and decided that this is the appropriate step for the ministry at this time. The approved Fee Scale is quite modest, and we will still provide our services free of charge to those whose cases by definition involve hardship, such as refugees, victims of violence, etc. Clients will pay a $20 consultation fee, then flat fees of either $25 or $50 depending on the complexity of the case.
These fees are a fraction of the fees charged by comparable benevolent organizations, such as Catholic Charities, Proyecto Inmigrante, and others. We want everyone to know about this change, and encourage you to contact us with questions you may have. Simply call or write Executive Director Dean Reed or Local Attorney Mary Beth Garcia using the contact info listed under the Contact Us tab.