September - October 2025 Newsletter

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER

2025

EXPANDING PARTNERSHIPS

WHEN HEALTHCARE COVERAGE CAN MEAN LIFE OR DEATH FOR KIDS

This spring, a 6-year-old girl with cancer was rushed to the ER with a high fever. Doctors found her port wasn’t working—but when her mother sought treatment, she learned her daughter’s Medicaid coverage had been terminated.

Despite completing the renewal paperwork, the family had been dropped. For a child battling cancer, the timing could not have been more devastating.

Within four days, Legal Services’ Connecting Kids to Coverage (CKC) team restored the girl’s benefits.

ABOVE, L to R, Connecting Kids to Coverage staff: Program Director Geoff Oliver, Senior Outreach Coordinator Earlene Bolton and Outreach & Enrollment Specialist Brandy Sincyr.

“Stories like this remind us why our work is so critical,” says CKC Program Director/Attorney Geoff Oliver. “No child should be denied care because of such barriers.”

Since 2013, Legal Services' CKC program has helped families and pregnant women enroll and stay enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides low-cost coverage for those who earn too much for Medicaid but still struggle to afford private insurance. These programs make possible the well-child visits, immunizations, dental checkups, vision care, and mental health services kids need to stay healthy.

In August, CKC received its fifth consecutive grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The $2.1 million award will fund outreach and enrollment through 2030.

“Our outreach efforts are essential in meeting families and pregnant women where they are—at schools, community events, and local clinics—so we can connect them to the healthcare coverage that keeps them and their children healthy,” says Earlene Bolton, CKC’s Senior Enrollment Coordinator.

This work is vital. An estimated 55,000 children in Missouri are eligible for Medicaid/CHIP but remain unenrolled. After the end of the Public Health Emergency in 2023, many youth lost coverage due to paperwork glitches and procedural denials.

CKC’s outreach targets youth in poverty, homeless youth, and those in rural areas, where uninsurance rates are high. The work spans Legal Services’ 21-county service area, from urban St. Louis to rural Hannibal, Missouri. Staff train school nurses, work with homeless enrollment coordinators, create social media, and partner with community groups to ensure children don’t fall through the cracks.

For children like the young cancer patient, this work is more than outreach. It’s a lifeline.

The Connecting Kids to Coverage program is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $413,320 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor and endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

STANDING UP FOR TENANTS IN COURT

LEFT: Legal Services’ Jennifer Darrough and Abbie Leonard staff the court table.

As landlord-tenant and debt collection dockets have grown, the 22nd Judicial Court of St. Louis faces a problem: scores of defendants arriving in court without representation. To help, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri partnered with New Covenant Legal Services in late 2022 to launch the Court Table.

Staff, interns, and volunteers set up in the courthouse hallways outside busy dockets to provide free information to self-represented litigants at the moments they need it most.

One case in September underscores this project’s impact. Paralegal Stephanie Acon was staffing the Court Table when she noticed a woman wiping away tears as she signed papers in the hallway. Acon immediately suspected the woman needed assistance.

The woman explained that her landlord’s attorney had told her to sign a consent judgment. The agreement obligated her to pay more than $5,000 in damages and waive her right to a trial. The woman said she was unemployed and was afraid she would lose her home.

Legal Services Housing Attorney Shawn Caruso spoke with her and discovered she had a Section 8 housing voucher with a $0 rent obligation. However, when the landlord’s rental property failed inspection, HUD stopped paying the landlord. Despite this, the landlord’s attorney had pressured the woman into signing the judgment, and she thought she had no choice.

Court Table staff calmed the woman, explained her options and advised her on proper court decorum. Summoning her courage, the woman returned to the courtroom and told the judge that she had not understood the document she had signed. The judge promptly voided the agreement and set a trial date. Staff also connected her with housing resources and gave her a template pleading to help prepare her defense.

As she left, the woman expressed deep gratitude for the support she received during a frightening and confusing moment. Court Table assistance can mean the difference between eviction or crushing debt and meaningful access to justice.

Though the need for legal help is vast, Court Table staffers are making a difference, one interaction at a time.

As of August 31, 2025, the Legal Services’

Court Table has helped 2,275 people

across 241 court days.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

Legal Services' 2024 Impact Report is now available!

CLICK HERE to view it online now, or to access a printable pdf.

In August, Legal Services' Lasting Solutions Family Law program received a Community Partner award from The Women's Safe House for their work to support survivors of domestic violence. Accepting the award was Lasting Solutions Co-Manager Laura Halfmann-Morris.

In partnership with Enterprise Mobility and Norton Rose Fulbright, Legal Services' Health & Education Justice Initiative recently published an online Back To School Guide to help parents understand their children's legal education rights.

CLICK HERE to view it now.

St. Louis staff recently joined the Hannibal office staff to host an annual Action Plan meeting.

L to R: Hannibal attorneys Tessa Oiler, Jeff Miller & Autumn Westhoff; Legal Services' Jeanne Philips-Roth, Dan Glazier & Sarah Freymiller; and Hannibal paralegal Kelly Stroud.

ICYMI: In August, Marlene Elliott, Managing Attorney of our Microenterprise Program, was featured in an episode of the Legal Services Corporation's "Talk Justice" podcast, along with her clients Joshua and Shay Danrich of "Mr. Fresh."

CLICK HERE to listen to the episode now, or find "Talk Justice" on Spotify or in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

OTHER NEWS

Introducing Our New Board Members

Charli Cooksey is nationally recognized as the founder and CEO of WEPOWER, a St. Louis-based organization that mobilizes community power to transform systems that have historically marginalized Black and Latinx communities. Cooksey previously served as Interim Executive Director of Forward Through Ferguson, advancing the Ferguson Commission Report and promoted racial equity as a regional priority.

She also co-founded and led inspireSTL, which connected hundreds of scholars to high-performing schools and college opportunities. A graduate of Prairie View A&M University (B.A., Political Science) and the University of Missouri–St. Louis (M.Ed.), Cooksey continues to drive bold change at the intersection of community, policy, and economic justice.

Sharron Prather is a Certified Community Health Worker with over 13 years of experience in advocacy, career counseling and program coordination. She has worked with Nurses for Newborns, as a NICU Assistant at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and as a Job Developer with MERS Goodwill.

She holds a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and is known for her ability to build trusted relationships across diverse populations.

She is passionate about empowering individuals and families to achieve stability, resilience, and long-term success.

Edward Tjaden is an estate planning and fiduciary litigation attorney at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, where he counsels clients on state planning, trust administration, federal tax matters, guardinaships, conservatorships, and resolving disputes in trust and estate administration.

A graduate of Washington University School of Law and a U.S. Army veteran, Tjaden brings a strong spirit of service to his practice.

He co-chairs his firms veterans' affinity group and has helped establish pro bono partnerships supporting veterans and underserved communities.

Paul Woodruff serves as the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for St. Louis Community Credit Union (SLCCU), managing efforts to eliminate economic inequity across the region.

Since starting his career as a teller in 2009, Woodruff has advanced community development finance initiatives for SCCLU and earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from St. Louis University.

He also serves as President of the Community Builders Network of Metropolitan St. Louis, and a board member for Habitat for Humanity-St. Louis, the St. Louis Economic Development and Transformation Fund Advisory Committee, and US Bank’s Community Advisory Council.

For The Common Good Awards:

Honoring our Volunteers & Community Partners

On Thursday, August 21, 2025, more than 200 guests gathered at the Missouri Athletic Club downtown to celebrate the achievements of ten volunteers and community partners of Legal Services.

We were honored to present awards this year to: Gabriela Baeza-Stout; William R. "Bill" Bay; Michael R. Cherba; Helping Hand Me Downs; Lewis Rice, LLC; National Center for Law & Economic Justice and Stinson; Dorothy Lee Sneed; St. Louis American; St. Louis Public Library; and Ryan C. Turnage.

CLICK HERE to view the full album of photos from the event on our facebook page.

CLICK HERE to view our awardee video on YouTube.

Above L to R: Mary Ann Brickey (SLPL); Ryan Turnage; Dorothy Sneed; Michael Cherba; Sam Dozier (SLPL); Andrew Scavotto (Stinson); Gaby Baeza-Stout; Stephanie Suljak (Helping Hand Me Downs); Ashley Winters & Alvin Reid (St. Louis American); Bill Bay; and Michael Hickey (Lewis Rice).

Breakfast Forum

Thursday, November 13, 2025, 8am - 10am

at the Missouri Athletic Club, Downtown

Hosted by Legal Services of Eastern Missouri

Join us for a legal & policy discussion to mark the 60th Anniversary

of Medicaid. This forum will discuss the pivotal role of Medicaid in our country’s health care system, the role of lawyers in protecting access to health care and the impact of major changes adopted by Congress and

the Supreme Court.