Center for Public Representation

Northampton State Hospital
Photo courtesy of Historic Northampton publication
The Life and Death of Northampton State Hospital

1858: Doors Open
1955: 2500 residents
1976: Brewster vs Dukakis filed seeking community-based placements for NSH residents
1978: Northampton Consent Decree, approved by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Freedman
1993: Last seventeen residents move into the community
2007: The main building, pictured above, was demolished to make way for residential and commercial development.
___________________________________________
MISSION STATEMENT (Revised 2008)
The Center for Public Representation is dedicated to promoting change in the quality of lives of individuals with disabilities in Massachusetts and to pursuing systemic reform and enforcement of legal rights on a statewide and national basis. The Center's primary purpose is to serve people with disabilities, and particularly those who are institutionalized, discriminated against, or otherwise denied fundamental human rights. The Center is committed to fostering equality, diversity, and social justice in all of its activities.
__________________________________________
Goals and Objectives:            The Center for Public Representation should be dedicated and organized to fulfill the following goals: 1.  To be a state and national center for leadership in legal advocacy for persons with disabilities, through the development, testing, and refinement of creative system reform strategies, exemplary individual representation, and innovative methods of service delivery.    2. To generate and disseminate new knowledge about legal advocacy, system reform strategies, and service delivery models through training, technical assistance, support, and publications. 3.To promote systemic change in the rules, enforcement mechanisms, and disability service systems which impact the lives and rights of persons with disabilities. 4. To provide legal representation and advocacy for individuals with severe disabilities through the creation and operation of legal rights projects which serve as national service delivery models. 5. To maintain a stable and supportive organization which values and supports diversity, which encourages long term commitments from experienced, qualified staff persons, and which encourages and rewards excellence.
________________________________________
What we do.
The Center for Public Representation is a public interest law firm which has been assisting people with disabilities, both in the community and in institutional settings, for over thirty years. Its staff of ten attorneys and two paralegals work in its Northampton and Newton offices, although much of the Center's activities occur throughout Massachusetts and in other jurisdictions. Through its systemic advocacy over the past two and half decades, the Center has been a major force in promoting improvements in services for citizens with mental disabilities throughout the country.
We seldom provide representation in individual cases.
With funding from the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the Center is a statewide backup center and provides statewide technical assistance and support to public and private attorneys who represent people with disabilities in Massachusetts. It provides support to legal services programs throughout the state on mental disability issues, co-counsels system reform cases with legal services and other public interest organizations to enforce the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Center is also a national support center, providing training, and technical assistance to protection and advocacy programs (P&As) in each of the fifty states and territories under a contract with National Disability Rights Network (NDRN). It serves as the national technical assistance and support center on all institutional and community issues involving persons confined in psychiatric hospitals, mental retardation centers, nursing homes, jails, prisons, forensic institutions, juvenile justice facilities, and all types of community programs.
For a History of the Center for Public Representation click the link.
To obtain legal representation:
Unfortunately, CPR is seldom able to provide legal representation in individual cases. To obtain legal representation, please contact the protection and advocacy system in your state. Protection and advocacy (P&A) systems in each state are federally funded to assist people with disabilities in understanding and asserting their rights. To learn how to contact your state's P&A (and for other helpful information), please visit the website of their national association, The National Disability Rights Network, at http://www.ndrn.org
The Center lacks the resources and specific knowledge of individual states’ laws to respond effectively to individual inquiries or requests for assistance, but help is available from your state's protection and advocacy system. since we seldom can provide representation in individual cases, you can contact your P&A through the link above or the NDRN link below.
You may also find an Attorney at:
Directory of Lawyers Practicing Disability Law: A free online resource from the Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law
Massachusetts residents may find legal help and a list of legal services programs at www.masslegalhelp.org
To contact us:
Center for Public Representation
22 Green St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Voice and TTY 413-586-6024
Fax 413-586-5711
info@cpr-ma.org
246 Walnut St.
Newton, MA 02460
617-965-0776
Fax 617-928-0971

NDRN