Self Help - When you can't afford a lawyer

SAIL helps you to apply, renew, or learn about various social services offered by the State of Maryland. To read more before filing an application, https://www.marylandsail.org/Default.aspx. Information given to us in SAIL is kept strictly confidential. Unless you choose to file an application, we do not keep any information. If you cancel the session or if the session suddenly ends by itself, we do not keep any information.

SAIL screening will ask questions about your family members. You must enter correct information for SAIL to properly determine what programs you may be eligible for.

The answers you give to the questions are private. We do not share your information with anyone. We do not keep the information that you enter on the screening form unless you apply for benefits right after you complete the screening. If you do not apply the information is erased when you leave SAIL screening.

After you finish the screening questions and see the programs you may be eligible for, you must still apply for the programs by completing the on-line application. You may also go to your Local Department of Social Services or Local Health Department to apply for benefits.

If you choose, you can skip the screening questions and go right to the application.

Please note: If your household wants to apply for Food Stamps and is in an emergency situation (very little money or shelter expenses that are more than your gross income) you may have the right to get food stamps quickly.

Find Benefits Programs... Get all the benefits you deserve. Find and enroll in federal, state, local and private programs that help pay for prescription drugs, utility bills, meals, health care and other needs.

Many older people need help paying for prescription drugs, health care, utilities and other basic needs. Ironically, millions of older Americans — especially those with limited incomes — are eligible for but not receiving benefits from existing federal, state and local programs. Ranging from heating and energy assistance to prescription savings programs to income supplements, there are many public programs available to seniors in need if they only knew about them and how to apply for them.

Developed and maintained by The National Council on Aging (NCOA), BenefitsCheckUp is the nation's most comprehensive Web-based service to screen for benefits programs for seniors with limited income and resources.

BenefitsCheckUp includes more than 2,000 public and private benefits programs from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, such as:

• Prescription drugs
• Nutrition (including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP)/Food Stamps)
• Energy assistance
• Financial
• Legal
• Health care
• Social Security
• Housing
• In-home services
• Tax relief
• Transportation
• Educational assistance
• Employment
• Volunteer services  

Since 2001, millions of people have used BenefitsCheckUp to find benefits programs that help them pay for prescription drugs, health care, rent, utilities, and other needs. For more information on BenefitsCheckUp, contact us at comments@benefitscheckup.org.

The Court website now includes an online Self-Help Center for unrepresented civil litigants. They can access it by using the "Representing Yourself" button on the main page or by going directly to : http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/proseselfhelp/proseselfhelpcenter.asp 

The court has set aside one public terminal in both the Greenbelt and the Baltimore clerk's offices where litigants can access this page and all other forms and information available on the website.

Comments and suggestions on how to better enhance the website may be made on the Court's Guestbook. 

Who does what in Maryland government

Published by the Maryland State Archives, the Maryland Manual On-Line is updated daily. If you have questions about Maryland government, Search the Manual, or e-mail us at: mdmanual@mdarchives.state.md.us

In June 2010 (at the US Social Forum in Detroit, MI), against the backdrop of the global recession, nine sectors of excluded workers came together to found the Excluded Workers Congress. We converged around a common dream: to vastly expand the human right to organize in the United States, to win a new era of rights and policies for workers, and to transform the labor movement in this country. The Excluded Workers Congress was formed to bring “the human right to organize” to life.

The Excluded Worker Congress brings together nine sectors of workers who are excluded from labor rights for various reasons - domestic workers, agricultural workers, guestworkers, day laborers, restaurant workers, taxi workers, formerly incarcerated workers, welfare workers and southern workers in "right to work" states.

On Human Rights Day 2010, the congress released Unity for Dignity: Expanding the Right to Organize to Win Human Rights,  its report on the sectors and their joint vision for an expanded labor movement, which delivers on the promise of the human right to organize guaranteed to all workers, everywhere and all the time.  The report includes stories of workers in each of the nine sectors, an analysis of working conditions and the legal framework in each sector, and a review of their tremendous campaign successes to date - including passing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York and leading the movement for an ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic workers, introducing the POWER Act to protect guestworkers and other immigrants from illegal retaliation, securing wage increases for farmworkers across the tomato industry in Florida, and many others.

Now the sectors are working together to share what they have learned with broader social justice and labor movements, both within and outside the United States. The report outlines the members' vision of a new framework for organizing which

* Challenges the legacy of discrimination in current labor laws;

* Builds solidarity with and support for ongoing campaigns; and

* Builds a stronger labor movement that supports the organizing models of each and works together with traditional trade unions.

The Excluded Workers Congress was launched in the summer of 2010 and is led by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) and Jobs with Justice (JwJ) as a part of the Inter-Alliance Dialogue (IAD). Groups contributing to the report include NDLON, JwJ, NDWA, Restaurant Opportunities Center-United, the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, All of us or None, Community Voices Heard, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, CATA, the Los Angeles Taxi Workers Alliance, the Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights, and United Campus Workers - CWA.

MD state agency that assists veterans, their dependents and survivors in filing claims for Federal and State veteran's benefits. Assists claimants with development of evidence required to support claims. Represents claimants through Board of Veterans Appeals. Acts as veteran's advocate for Federal, state, and local agencies.

The State of Maryland offers many benefits for veterans and their eligible dependents. These benefits include educational grants and scholarships, special exemptions or discounts on fees and taxes, business loans, veteran's homes, free hunting and fishing privileges, and much more.

The Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs is an Executive Department in Maryland State Government with a service mission to:

• Provide representation to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Agency also provides referrals to other federal, Maryland State and local government agencies for benefits which may be available to eligible individuals.
• Manage and operate authorized Maryland State Veterans Cemeteries and a Civil War Cemetery.
• Maintain and care for memorials for the Maryland Vietnam, Korean, and World War II Veterans.
• Manage Charlotte Hall Veterans Home
• Provide staff support and assistance to State Veterans Commissions.

Phone: (1-800)-446-4926 ; (410)-333-4428  Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Federal Building Rm 110, 31 Hopkins Plaza Baltimore, MD 21201