April 17, 2003… At its Community Salute on April 17 The Boston Club, the region’s leading organization for executive and professional women, honored Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC) in Cambridge with the Club’s prestigious Advancement Award, given each year to community-based organizations that perform outstanding service in helping to improve women’s lives. This year’s award includes a cash donation of $5750.

The theme of this year’s Community Salute is “The Transforming Power of Volunteerism”, chosen by keynote speaker Gillian Martin Sorensen, Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations for the United Nations. Ms. Sorensen will speak on the vital role that non profits and non government organizations play in fostering peace, justice and human rights around the world. This year’s Advancement Award winners were selected for their notable contributions in working with immigrant women.

Community Legal Services and Counseling Center provides free civil legal assistance and affordable mental health services to low-income residents of Cambridge, Boston and the surrounding areas. Seventy percent of its 1,100 clients are women. The organization helps clients counter the crippling effects of poverty by addressing their legal, social and mental health needs. CLSACC, like other legal service providers, has been unable to keep pace with the ever-growing demand for services and is often forced to close its intake. It will use its Advancement Award to improve its services for immigrant victims of domestic violence.

About CLSACC

Headed by Leslee Klein, CLSACC has been an important volunteer-based agency in the Cambridge and Boston area for more than 30 years. CLSACC provides free legal assistance and affordable mental health counseling to its low-income clients. The agency’s legal program provides services in the areas of housing, social security and disability benefits, domestic violence and family law. . ###