Jane Place
AJ Golio
The goal behind this collaboration with Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative was a practical one: to prevent evictions.
During the eviction process, the tenant and the landlord face off in civil court, after which a judge decides whether or not the tenant will have to leave their home (or implement a repayment plan or other compromise). Jane Place’s idea is that tenants who are more aware and better prepared for court will face better outcomes.
Through our project, we attempted to contact tenants facing eviction – we sent postcards, made phone calls, and visited homes. We tried to provide helpful information about what to expect during the eviction process, including a comic book that explained the ‘how-to’ of court.
All the while, we kept data on each of these evictions and their eventual outcome, in order to analyze whether or not our intervention worked. The data suggests that we succeeded in at least preventing some of the worst outcomes of eviction.
More info at jpnsi.org