Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Social Work

Abstract

A large access to justice gap exists among defendants in debt collection cases. The gap arises from steep legal fees, a lack of accessible resources, and the complexity of the legal system. The Community Justice Advocates of Utah was founded in 2024 through the Utah Regulatory Sandbox and authorized under the Supreme Court of Utah to bridge this gap. Community Justice Advocates (CJA) are trained human service professionals authorized to provide limited-scope legal advice in various areas. The Transforming Communities Institute (TCI) at Utah State University joined this network in 2025, launching a pilot program training human service professionals in the area of debt collection. Fall 2026, TCI in collaboration with the Department of Social Work will be hosting the first for-credit course training undergraduate and graduate students to become CJAs. As part of this honors capstone project, I aided in the development of a syllabus for the course, I prepared materials to submit an application for the course at Utah State University, and engaged in collaborative brainstorming and research with the goal of creating a refined curriculum and structure for the course based on the effectiveness of past cohorts. Additionally, I wrote a draft article providing the overview of the CJA program, the launch of the for-credit course, and the relevance of this innovative initiative. After continued revisal, I hope to submit the article to be published in the Utah Bar Journal.

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Faculty Mentor

Jayme Walters

Departmental Honors Advisor

Jess Lucero

Capstone Committee Member

Jaxon Didericksen