The DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers is pleased to announce the election of Rhonda Cunningham Holmes to serve a two-year term as Co-Chair of the organization. Ms. Holmes joins Consortium Co-Chair Rochanda Hiligh-Thomas, Interim Executive Director of Advocates for Justice & Education and replaces out-going Co-Chair Chinh Le, the Legal Director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.

Ms. Holmes is the Deputy Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and served on the Consortium’s Steering Committee since 2013. Prior to joining the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Ms. Holmes was a litigator with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP where she worked on intellectual property, insurance and complex commercial litigation matters while regularly maintaining a pro bono docket. She also worked in management positions at Chevy Chase Bank (Capital One Bank), JPMorgan Chase, and Chrysler Corporation.

The DC Consortium is a membership organization of 32 non-profits whose primary purpose is to provide direct legal services to the vulnerable and low-income residents of Washington, DC. Created in 1989 as a forum for legal services providers to work together on issue of common concern, the Consortium was instrumental in the creation of the DC Access to Justice Commission in 2005.

Earlier this year, the Consortium published the results of a 3 1/2 year “community listening” study in which low-income members of the DC community were asked, in focus groups and one-on-one interviews, what issues were of greatest concern to them. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of how the legal services community could better serve clients as well as individuals in need of help that do not seek assistance. The resulting “ Community Listening Project” report has provided a wealth of information which the Consortium, under the leadership of Co-Chairs Hiligh-Thomas and Holmes, will translate into a plan of action.