The mission of the Community Enterprise Project is to participate in facilitating community economic development in the communities surrounding the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, operating under the belief that lack of access to legal services should never be an impediment to a community seeking to participate or have a voice in its own development.
The Community Enterprise Project (CEP) works to stimulate business development, increase access to capital, promote job growth, and enable sustainable affordable home ownership.
CEP provides transactional legal assistance to individual and small business clients, non-profit organizations, and other community based organizations in many areas, including but not limited to the following:
- business formation
- contract review and negotiation
- commercial financing
- commercial leasing
- real estate purchase and sales
- business acquisitions
- arts and entertainment
- intellectual property
- non-profit formation
- permitting and licensing
In addition to offering direct legal services to clients, CEP partners with community organizations to identify organizational and community needs and develop comprehensive strategies to address those needs. To this end, CEP often develops educational materials and facilitates community workshops on legal issues relevant to entrepreneurs, home owners, non-profit organizations, and other individuals and organizations in the community.
Publications from past Community Enterprise Projects include:
Commerical Leases 101
Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts
Empresarios Inmigrantes en Massachusetts (en Español)
Food Truck Legal Toolkit for the City of Boston
Healthy Condominium Toolkit: Tips for Maintaining a Strong Condominium Association
Tackling the Law, Together: Legal Guide to Worker Co-Ops