Spotlight on Clients and Volunteers   September 2003:  Recently a neighborhood improvement organization came to the Pro Bono Partnership with an intriguing project.  The organization, St. Matthew Neighborhood Improvement Development Association, has taken on a major challenge:  revitalizing a neighborhood in East Orange, New Jersey, that is better known for its drug deals than its real estate deals.  Entire buildings in various sections of the city are in dire need of rehabilitation and repair.  The low-income residents don’t have access to affordable, reliable, quality repair services, and consequently the falling-down buildings contribute to an overall lack of pride in the community, which in turn contributes to the residents’ lack of interest in turning around their neighborhood.  In addition, many of the area’s residents are unemployed and lack skills needed to find employment.  St. Matthew NIDA  may be able to address several problems at once: the job training, job creation, and building community pride by repairing decaying buildings.  Such efforts could be accomplished through a community development project called “Handyman Matters”.   The project, a franchise, would enable St Matthew NIDA to arm neighborhood residents with skills to make them employable as electricians, plumbers and carpenters, and to deploy the newly trained workers to perform much-needed repairs in the neighborhood’s residential buildings, creating a revenue stream to sustain the nonprofit’s many community revitalization activities.  However, before St. Matthew NIDA can implement this program, it needs advice in connection with the legal obligations of the “Handyman Matters” franchise.  Pro Bono Partnership volunteers to the rescue!  Susan Blount, Deputy General Counsel for Prudential Financial, has significant experience reviewing franchise deals on behalf of Prudential.  When she spied the franchise matter on the Partnership’s volunteer opportunities list, she gave us a call.   Thanks to Susan, St. Matthew NIDA will soon be receiving expertise essential to its ability to evaluate the risks and potential rewards of the “Handyman Matters” franchise.