[District of Columbia, December 20, 2024] – Earlier this month, the DC Bar Foundation announced that Coordinated Intake and Referral, a system that connects DC residents to legal aid providers, will now be known as “DC Resource Bridge."
DC Resource Bridge will make it easier for DC residents to access legal aid services when they need legal support. The current process for connecting to a legal services provider is complex because different organizations offer different levels of assistance and address different legal areas; because of this, finding legal help can be daunting. Understanding the need for a more seamless process, in 2020, the Foundation spearheaded the Coordinated Intake and Referral System initiative. In coordination with DC’s legal aid community, residents, researchers, and technology experts, we began to develop a more accessible way to access legal aid.
As part of that process, we began exploring name options. To ensure we selected a name that resonated with DC residents, we conducted a series of focus groups, individual interviews, and an online survey. We spoke with more than 500 DC residents to get their feedback on a name that would resonate with people who might need to access the system.
“Transparency and community engagement have been a top priority for the Foundation throughout this process,” said Kirra Jarratt, CEO of the DC Bar Foundation. “We began outreach efforts in November 2021, and this name is reflective of what we have heard over the last three years from DC residents. This has been the Foundation’s most extensive outreach effort, and the input we have received has been an integral part of building this system.”
DC Resource Bridge will serve as a single point of entry to connect residents with civil legal services providers. Instead of telling their story multiple times to multiple providers, a DC resident seeking help can contact a DC Resource Bridge Navigator who will connect them with the appropriate legal service provider.
“We are thrilled that so many DC residents engaged with us throughout this process,” said Farid Forozi, DCBF’s director of evaluation and innovation. “The name reflects what we intend for the system, which is to seamlessly connect residents who need legal aid assistance to the appropriate services, resources, and providers.”
Overwhelmingly, participants found that DC Resource Bridge is descriptive (it made sense in terms of seeking legal help), friendly (the name is easy to say and understand), and memorable (easy to recognize and remember). This collective community effort is an important part of ensuring we create a user-centered system.
To learn more about DC Resource Bridge, visit the DC Bar Foundation website.
About the DC Bar Foundation: We are committed to transforming DC's legal aid network so that all District residents have a fair and equal legal experience. Through our network approach, we actively work to bring together all invested stakeholders to identify and address the unmet civil legal needs of underserved DC residents, create solutions with a critical eye for racial justice and equity, and demonstrate meaningful impact.
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