Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic (NCLC), located at 3333 North Meridian Street, was founded in 1994 in coordination with Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. It is a non-profit, faith-based, legal office that provides pro bono legal services to low-income clients. The clinic’s mission is to “promote justice through legal representation and education for our low-income neighbors as a way of demonstrating Christ’s love.”
Originally named Mapleton-Fall Creek Christian Legal Clinic, NCLC was part of the larger community development organization (Mapleton-Fall Creek Organization) that also housed a soup kitchen and a food pantry for their underserved neighbors. The clinic provided legal services for free to lower-income clients with the help of its founder Abigail Kuzma and many volunteer attorneys from all legal practice areas. In addition to representation, NCLC offered weekly clinics and seminars aimed at explaining the most common legal issues affecting their community and how to avoid them. In addition, the clinic offered workshops for victims of domestic violence, heart health, financial fitness, and other public health topics aimed at empowering the at-need community. The clinic also offered training to volunteer attorneys who wanted to help with landlord-tenant issues, evictions, immigration law, expungements, and other frequent intake complaints.
Although NCLC is based in Indianapolis, the clinic has served clients statewide. A satellite location was opened in Fort Wayne with funding from the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation. The location focused on immigration issues affecting the area to help fill the void left after the area’s previous legal aid agency closed in 2008. Throughout the 2009 recession, the clinic also offered free resources in helping to serve the increasing number of homeowners facing foreclosure as a result of the nation’s housing crisis.
As of 2020, NCLC had nine full-time attorneys and twenty support staff.
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