ICLS is thrilled to announce our Community Partnership of the Year Award, recognizing the exceptional contributions of the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) and our very own ICLS Public Benefits Practice Group Director, Deliesha Brown.
At the heart of this award is the transformative partnership between CUSM’s CHANGE Program and ICLS’s Public Benefits Practice group, launched in the Fall of 2023. This innovative initiative, spearheaded by Deliesha Brown, brought a cohort of dedicated medical students from CUSM to volunteer with ICLS, aiming to address issues of inequity in our region for people living with disabilities.
These students meticulously review medical records for ICLS clients before their disability hearings, alleviating a significant burden from our attorneys. By helping ICLS translate complex medical jargon, they enable our legal team to build stronger cases, leading to more approvals and ensuring that community members receive the help they desperately need without enduring a 2–3-year appeal process.
Many clients who receive assistance with these hearings are facing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless, food insecurity, and struggling to make ends meet as they are unable to work and earn income for themselves. This partnership is making incredible progress in getting community members the public benefits they are legally entitled to and preventing homelessness and hunger for those in need in our communities.
Our partnership journey with CUSM began post-pandemic, sparked by a group of motivated medical students eager to make a difference in the Inland Empire community. This collaboration blossomed with the creation of Vi Corporation, a nonprofit formed under the guidance of ICLS’s Small Business Clinic, Pro Bono team, and ICLS’s 2022 Advocates for Justice Volunteer of the Year, Alice Hall-Partyka of Crowell & Moring LLP. Vi Corporation has since become a vital force in promoting health equity and health literacy in the region, and ICLS continues to work with Vi Corporation in an effort to amplify our organization’s respective impact in the region. Furthermore, ICLS regularly collaborates with the Inland Empire Free Clinic, another CUSM-led nonprofit, which provides free medical care to people who cannot afford it.
Thanks to the remarkable success of these collaborative efforts, we are proud to honor CUSM and Deliesha Brown for their unwavering commitment to supporting people with disabilities and health needs in our community.