WASHINGTON, DC, October 24, 2005 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce that Johnnie Mae Flournoy, Columbus regional chair of the Georgia Client Council is the recipient of the 2005 Mary Ellen Hamilton Award. Awarded biennially, the Mary Ellen Hamilton Award honors a client who, on a compensated or volunteer basis, has provided extraordinary service or support to the delivery of legal services to the poor. The award honors one of the founders of the National Clients Council and the Alliance for Legal Rights. Mary Ellen Hamilton served on NLADA's board of directors and remained an active member of the Alliance until her death in 1985.

“Johnnie Mae Flournoy is a shining example of the power and impact clients can make in the delivery of civil legal services,” said Jo-Ann Wallace, NLADA president and CEO. “Her commitment and dedication to organizing multiple groups of people who otherwise would not have a voice, have lifted the spirits and lives of countless people in Columbus, GA.”

Flournoy is recognized for her leadership in building diverse teams of people with little or no leadership into dedicated, concerned membership teams engaged in multiple community issues. Flournoy is also being recognized for her distinguished 15 years of volunteer work with the Georgia Clients Council.

Flournoy’s commitment to the Georgia Clients Council was evident from the beginning of her involvement with the organization. After years of little to no membership in the Columbus office, Flournoy revitalized the program by organizing interested citizens from a local barbershop. Under Flournoy’s leadership as volunteer chair of the Columbus Region, the program quickly grew to include a core of 18 dedicated members. In addition to strengthening program participation, Flournoy also engaged the community by organizing educational events where community leaders spoke on issues including housing, TANF and Food Stamp regulations, Social Security, bankruptcy and micro-enterprise. Flournoy’s leadership and community outreach work recently culminated in her role as the chairperson of the Georgia Legal Council’s Annual Conference.

In addition to her service to the Georgia Clients Council, Flournoy has worked full-time and is an active member of her church. Her peers laud her “wonderful work ethic and community service” as well as the way she approaches the world “with determination and a loving heart.” Flournoy is preparing to retire from her occupation, however, and devote herself solely to the Georgia Clients Council. In describing this decision, she states, “This is what I love to do and I hope I’m fulfilling what God has purposed for me to do.”

In a letter of nomination, Cordy and Arch Arnold said, “She [Flournoy] is the consummate volunteer! It seems like she is always sacrificing her time, money and energy o a good cause that will benefit others and improve the human condition … We have been very, very fortunate to have such a fine person and outstanding citizen as Johnny Mae Flournoy in our home and as our friend for all these years. Her contributions to our family, her church, her community and her own family have been legion and are most deserving of the highest forms of recognition.”

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.