The leadership role I am choosing to focus on is my role as social chair in the Small Claims Advisory Service, or SCAS. SCAS is a volunteer organization affiliated with the Phillips Brooks House Association that provides legal information for anyone interested in initiating a small claims case. A small claims case is similar to a lawsuit, but normally the individuals represent themselves in court without lawyers, and must be cases that involve less than $7000. SCAS’ mission statement (as mentioned in the video above) is:

“The Small Claims Advisory Service is the only organization in Massachusetts that focuses primarily on helping individuals navigate the small claims court system in the Commonwealth. Our mission is to empower socioeconomically disadvantaged people in order for them to seek legal redress effectively through the small claims system, and to protect their rights as consumers, tenants, and members of our community. Often, these individuals are unaware of their options without our help. Through telephone communication and appointments, we provide citizens with information on Massachusetts law, small claims procedure, and effective court presentations.”

SCAS has some great statistics in terms of our effectiveness, and each semester we grow as an organization and reach a wider audience. We have a semester-long comp process but almost everyone passes the comp-- provided that they put in the work-- and the compers eventually become volunteers that assist people with real-life situations regarding their legal troubles.
In 2018, SCAS had:

• 1,500+ clients served
• 3,000+ client calls, emails, and meetings
• 836 volunteer hours logged

The reason why I am choosing to focus on my leadership position with SCAS is because I want to explore my role as a community-builder. The most important lesson that I learned while serving as class president during my four years of high school is that morale is the most necessary component for service. It can be so easy to let day-to-day tasks become perfunctory while serving as a leader. When our service work becomes perfunctory, we lose sight of our end goal and there is no motivation to be innovative. We end up putting on the same event every year, using the same methods of “pubbing,” and while our organization could easily be maintained, it will not grow. With the presence of group morale comes an excitement to devote oneself to the larger mission, motivated by the reluctance to let our teammates and constituents down and the desire to spread the good-doings of the organization with others.

What can be done to increase group morale? What are the methods to increase cohesion in a large and structurally detached organization such as SCAS? What are students looking to get out of SCAS when they comp (community, pre-professional setting, networking, resume-building) and how receptive are they to socials? Would making community-building events a requirement defeat the purpose of them? Many organizations whose community that thrives are tied by some common factor: cultural organizations share a common ethnic root or interest for the culture and music groups share talent and passion for making music. I would like to explore whether passion for public service or motivation as pre-law students are strong enough ties to foster group morale, and how to best exploit these ties to help our organization develop a stronger sense of community and belonging.