Funding Opportunities for Legal Aid
About Us
Welcome to the Funding Opportunities for Legal Aid (FOLA) Group!
Click here to view an introduction video for this group site. And click here to view more detailed written instructions on how to use this site.
This interactive group website will serve as a clearinghouse for posting information about funding opportunities for legal aid. Group users may post comments by topic as well as add pages or documents as they feel necessary. Users also have the option to receive emails about funding news as it comes available.
NLADA has been tracking opportunities for civil legal aid advocacy for many years. We are particularly excited about the ability of legal aid programs to find advocacy funding opportunities within the Obama administration. This website will chronicle the most promising of these advocacy funding sources. It will also serve as a resource to document and address administrative inefficiencies in how these funds are administered through the legal aid community.
For jobless lawyers, plan B includes good works
I think this raises a creative approach to dealing with layoffs at firms. As the article notes, some law firms are giving their lawyers the option of working at a legal aid agencies as part of their severance package.
Grant Opportunity: Avon Foundation
Avon Foundation has a new round of grants concerning domestic violence.
They fund legal services programs.
The Avon Foundation launched the Speak Out Against Domestic Violenceprogram in 2004 to raise awareness of this tragic epidemic and to help break the cycle of violence. Speak Out supports awareness, education, prevention and direct service programs.
Proposals will be accepted from domestic violence service providers and legal service providers that:
Source:
Texas Funding for Legal Aid
These charts identify potential federal stimulus money to Texas for funding legal aid to the poor.
Federal Stimulus Talking Points for Legal Aid Funding in Texas
The attached talking points were created by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation. While based on local needs, this language could be useful to other states.
Chart of Legal Services Possibilities in Stimulus Bill
This chart was created by the Greater Boston Legal Services and analyzes the potential funding opportunities for legal aid under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
NLADA Proposal to the Obama Administration
The National Legal Aid & Defender Association submitted the attached proposal to the Obama Admnistration which outlines the need for legal aid programs and the need for increased and expanded funding that more accurately addresses the needs of poor people.
This proposal calls on the Obama administration to institute a cross-agency review to address some of the recurring problems that have plagued legal aid programs in the past including:
-Seed Funding Grants
-Confidentiality
-Case Management Systems and program policies
-Caps and Limits
Stimulus Money for Department of Commerce
Here is an outline of Stimulus Money from Department of Commerce.
U.S. Department of Commerce: $7.9 billion,including:
-- Economic Development Administration: $150 million for grants to economically distressed areas across the Nation to generate private sector jobs. Funds will be disbursed through the agency’s traditional grant making process and will support efforts to create higher-skill, higher-wage jobs by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship and connecting regional economies with the worldwide marketplace.
Stimulus Money for Social Security Administration
Here is what is happening with the Social Security Administration:
Social Security Administration: One-time payment of $250 to individuals who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security benefits. The payment is expected to reach individuals by late May 2009
Stimulus Money for the National Endowment for the Arts
Here is what is going to the National Endowment for the Arts:
National Endowment for the Arts: $50, including one-time grants to eligible nonprofit organizations including arts organizations, local arts agencies, statewide assemblies of local arts agencies, arts service organizations, units of state or local government, and a wide range of other organizations for projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts. All applicants must be previous NEA award recipients from the past four years. (Application deadline: April 2, 2009)
Stimulus Money for the EPA
Here is what the EPA is getting:
Environmental Protection Agency: $7.22 billion for programs that will "protect and promote both 'green' jobs and a healthier environment,
Stimulus Money for Department of Homeland Security
Department of Homeland Security will be getting money but I don't think it has been identified yet.
Department of Homeland Security: ($??) DHS says about half of the stimulus funds will be "allotted to information technology-related programs." Remember that immigration falls under DHS, including programs related to trafficking.
Stimulus Money for SBA
Here is what the SBA will be getting:
Small Business Administration: $730 million to make changes to the agency's lending and investment programs to reach more small businesses that need help, including: temporary fee reductions on SBA loans, setting up a new loan program to help small businesses meet existing debt payments, technical assistance grants to small lenders and upgrading technology systems.
Stimulus Money for HUD
Department of Housing and Urban Development: $13.61 billion for projects and programs, nearly 75 percent of which was allocated to state and local recipients on February 25, 2009.
-- Neighborhood Stabilization Program: $2 billion invested in mitigating the impact of foreclosures through the purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed, vacant properties in order to create more affordable housing and renew neighborhoods devastated by the economic crisis.
Stimulus Money for Department of Education
Department of Education: Around $141 billion will go for saving or creating early childhood, K-12 and higher education jobs; create construction jobs related to school modernization projects; raising Pell grants and tuition tax credits for college, among other programs
Department of Justice
Department of Justice: $4 billion to "enhance state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts, including the hiring of new police officers, to combat violence against women, and to fight Internet crimes against children.
Stimulus Money for Department of Treasury
Department of Treasury: The Treasury Department has allocated its share of the stimulus funds to go to the administrative budget: IRS Health Insurance Tax Credit Administration; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Community Development Financial Institutions; Financial Management Service; Internal Revenue Service
Obama to order government contract overhaul
President Barack Obama will change how government contracts are awarded and who can earn them, a move aides say would save taxpayers about $40 billion a year by making the process more competitive.
$50 million for strengthen Charities
"The stimulus law also includes $50-million for a new program to strengthen charities so they can help people suffering from the economic downturn. This money comes in place of $100-million that the House proposed for the Compassion Capital Fund, a program created by President Bush to provide money to religious and other charities. It would be earmarked for "capacity-building grants" for groups with "clear and measurable goals" that are "able to evaluate the success of their program," says a report by the House-Senate conference committee that drew up the final bill."
FREE AUDIO TRAINING Obtaining Stimulus Funds for Domestic Violence Service Providers Friday, April 3 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM Eastern Time
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP), the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) are offering this webinar training to help domestic violence advocates and service providers learn about funding opportunities authorized by the recently enacted economic recovery legislation.
This February, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This law authorized:
$1.5 billion in homelessness prevention funding