Justice Assistance Fund Grants Now Available

http://www.abanet.org/litigation/committees/probono/legalservices.html

Deadline: February 1, 2008

The Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association has announced another round of Justice Assistance Fund (JAF) grants to help legal services programs build their private bar fundraising capacity.

The Grant Application Form can be found by clicking on the following link: http://www.nlada.org/DMS/Documents/1196961395.19

The Fund will underwrite a state or local legal aid program's consulting and startup costs, up to a maximum of $10,000. The funds can be used to:

• Help establish successful private bar, capital or endowment fundraising initiatives in states or communities across the country in the next one to three years.

• Provide on-call consulting assistance to existing campaigns that need limited help with particular problems or issues they are encountering with their campaigns.

• Help create and assist in initiating state or regional forums that facilitate the exchange of information and fundraising resources.

• Other activities and initiatives that help expand the base of private bar support for legal services for the poor.


To be eligible for a grant under this effort, legal services programs are required to involve members of the Section of Litigation in developing their campaign, as well as provide matching funds. The total match that will be provided by the Justice Assistance Fund is a maximum of 50 percent for consultant fees and associated travel and other expenses. Recipients are required to provide a progress and final report on the outcome of the campaign and the involvement of Section leadership in the implementation of their campaigns.


Previous grants have been awarded to six programs in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and Tennessee. These legal services programs have used Fund support to create new private bar campaigns, revitalize or upgrade existing campaigns, establish endowment campaigns and develop strategic statewide access to justice funding plans.


Inquiries can be directed to Lillian Johnson at ljohnson@clsaz.org.