The DC Bar Foundation announces the FY14 DC Legal Services Grants awards to 20 organizations totaling $600,000 to support civil legal services providers, based in the District of Columbia, that serve low-income, underrepresented DC residents.
“The Board of the Bar Foundation is pleased that we could add $600,000 to the ability of civil legal service providers to undertake their important work. This is an important supplement to the $3.4 million that we disbursed earlier this year for the Access to Justice Grants program. We will continue to work hard so this support can continue to expand in the years ahead,” said Marc L. Fleischaker, President of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
The Foundation received 26 applications, totaling requests of more than $1 million. The grants are awarded to organizations that provide legal services in a range of substantive areas of civil law, including housing, family, public benefits, immigration, and employment law. Most of the awards are general support grants, although two project grants were also awarded. A list of the FY14 DC Legal Services Grants program grantees is attached.
“Our donors’ generous support makes it possible for these legal services organizations to provide exceptional and free civil legal services to the most vulnerable and underrepresented. We could not do it without them,” stated Kirra L. Jarratt, Executive Director of the DC Bar Foundation.
Imoni Washington, Director of Programs of the DC Bar Foundation, added, “General support grants are critical to the legal services community because they enable grantees to achieve their missions.”
The Foundation awarded its first direct grants to DC legal services providers in 1978. Since that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $23 million in grants funded by the interest on certain trust accounts, as well as private contributions. To support the Foundation’s annual campaign, visit www.dcbarfoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter (@dcbarfoundation) and Facebook (facebook.com/dcbarfoundation).
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The District of Columbia Bar Foundation was established in 1977 to provide lawyers and law firms with an effective vehicle for fulfilling their ethical obligation to ensure that all residents of our community have access to competent legal representation by funding legal services for the underprivileged. The Foundation awards grants to DC civil legal services organizations, administers the publicly-funded DC Poverty Lawyer Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and provides technical assistance and training to the District’s civil legal services providers.
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