Grants Lists
View grants by year:
2011 / 2012 IOLTA Grant Awards
104 grants awarded to 74 organizations totaling $3,350,000.
Organization:
Barnstable County Bar Association
Program:
Barnstable County Pro Bono Conciliation Project
Description:
To support a pro bono conciliation project that will seek to remove as many cases as possible from the Barnstable County Probate & Family Court trial docket. Pro bono conciliators drawn from the BCBA will focus primarily on pro se litigants.
Organization:
Barnstable County Bar Association
Program:
Lawyer of the Day Program
Description:
To provide direct legal assistance to all pro se individuals, who are not otherwise represented, at the Barnstable Probate and Family Court. Services will be provided by approximately 38 volunteer attorneys.
Organization:
Cape Cod Dispute Resolution Center, Inc.
Program:
Cape Cod District Court Mediation Program
Description:
To provide no-fee mediation services in Barnstable and Nantucket Counties. Funds will be used to provide summary process mediation in Falmouth and Orleans District Courts, and small claims mediation in Falmouth and Nantucket District Courts.
Program:
Legal Services Program
Description:
To provide free legal consultations to low-income women of Cape Cod regarding primarily family law matters, including divorce, child support, and custody issues. Clinics are held 4-6 times per month. Funds will also be used to provide three half-day Divorce Boot Camps and monthly attorney-led Family Law Overview Workshops.
Organization:
Berkshire Community Action Council, Inc.
Program:
Berkshire Immigrant Center
Description:
To assist Berkshire County immigrants by providing advice, information, advocacy, referral and support on issues related to immigration, employment, citizenship, housing and social services. Funds will be used to conduct a semi-monthly walk-in clinic offering clients consultation with an immigration attorney.
Organization:
Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority
Program:
Housing Services and Mediation Program
Description:
To provide legal counseling, informal mediation/negotiation services, and in-court mediation services to resolve landlord/tenant, neighbor, and some small claims disputes to all Berkshire County Landlords, tenants, homeowners, and consumer disputants. Funds will also be used for community legal education programs.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Family Law Project-Berkshire County
Description:
To provide advice, representation, and community legal education for individuals and their families who have experienced domestic violence or who have other complex family law problems inappropriate for referral to outside private bar programs.
Organization:
Bristol County Bar Association
Program:
Pro Bono Conciliation Project
Description:
To conduct a pro bono conciliation project that will seek to remove as many cases as possible from the Bristol County Probate & Family Court trial docket. Pro bono conciliators drawn from the BCBA will focus primarily on pro se litigants.
Organization:
Catholic Social Services of Fall River, Inc.
Program:
Immigrant Victims Representation Project
Description:
o increase access to legal services for immigrant victims of domestic violence and other crimes covered in the U and T visa programs. Funds will be used to represent more than 80 clients and their children in VAWA, T Visa, U Visa, and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status applications and proceedings.
Organization:
Catholic Social Services of Fall River, Inc.
Program:
Immigration Law Education Advocacy Project
Description:
To provide legal assistance for low-income refugees and immigrants in Southeastern MA, including direct representation in court proceedings and interviews, multi-lingual community education forums, and outreach to local detainees.
Organization:
Family Service Association of Greater Fall River
Program:
Guardianship Program
Description:
To provide a full range of guardianship services to indigent, incompetent elders not over the age of 65 and not living in nursing homes. This program is designed to serve those not currently covered by the existing law. Funds will also be used to target a more general population of those needing preventative legal services.
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Education Advocacy Project
Description:
To represent students in the development of Individual Education Development Plans and hearings before the Bureau of Special Education Appeals. Priority is given to those cases where students are of color and students speak English as a second language.
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Elder Law Project
Description:
To provide direct representation to elders regarding the significant problems they are facing due to the continuing economic downturn. SCCLS will focus on three pressing issues: housing preservation, financial security, and access to appropriate health care.
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Homelessness Prevention Project
Description:
To provide direct representation to tenants and homeowners in Southeastern Mass. who are at risk of homelessness due to foreclosure. Funds will also be used for community legal education on foreclosure issues.
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Mass. Legal Assistance for Self Sufficiency Project
Description:
To provide supplemental support to a major grant from the Corporation for National and Community Services that aims to bring 30 AmeriCorps volunteers into legal aid programs throughout the state. MBF funds will provide support for host organizations a minimum of four volunteers.
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Private Attorney Involvement Project
Description:
To provide pro bono representation, counsel and advice for low-income clients in various areas, including family, housing, and bankruptcy. Funds will also be used to provide clients advice and counsel through clinics of in-office appointments with volunteer attorneys, as well as continuing legal education programs and attorney recruitment efforts. (Program combines two projects formerly funded separately).
Organization:
The Women's Center
Program:
Legal Advocacy Project
Description:
To assist women to actively seek protection from abusive relationships by advising them of their options in regard to filing restraining orders and/or criminal charges, and offering victims the information and resources needed to make informed choices.
Organization:
Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc.
Program:
Child & Adolescent Legal Services Program
Description:
To provide a comprehensive approach to child advocacy, implementing a wide range of legal and related services to children in MA, including direct representation, information and referral, technical assistance and training to attorneys, parents, and youth-serving professionals; community outreach and education; and systemic advocacy.
Organization:
Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc.
Description:
Together with the Youth Advocacy Department, this program will provide educational advocacy to the state's highest risk children, as well as training and technical assistance to professionals and parents working with this population.
Organization:
Essex County Bar Association
Program:
Pro Bono Conciliation Program
Description:
To remove as many cases as possible from the Essex County trial docket using an average of 169 pro bono conciliators from the ECBA to resolve conflict, at no cost to the parties or courts, prior to trial at six courthouses in Essex County.
Organization:
Essex County Bar Association
Program:
Probate & Family Court Lawyer for the Day Program
Description:
To provide legal assistance to indigent and marginally indigent pro se litigants seeking help with Probate and Family Court matters, such as divorce, custody, child support, visitation, guardianship, abuse prevention, and restraining orders. Attorneys volunteer their time at the Salem and Lawrence Probate Courts.
Organization:
Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center
Program:
Domestic Violence Family Law Program
Description:
To provide legal advocacy, direct representation, and support to low-income victims of domestic violence within Northeast Essex County and within the area of family law. Services are provided both by staff attorneys and a pro bono attorney panel.
Organization:
Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Eviction Legal Services & Elder Home Preservation Project
Description:
To prevent homelessness by addressing the increasing displacement of homeowners and tenants facing loss of homes through foreclosure. The program provides representation in the Housing Court Mediation process to low-income tenants and landlords.
Organization:
Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Family Law Support Project
Description:
To provide limited assistance legal services in the family law area to serve more clients and to extend services beyond the typical legal services sole priority of domestic violence. Funds will also be used to provide immigration legal services to immigrant victims, as well as to assist clients identified by local High Risk Assessment/Lethality Teams.
Organization:
North Shore Community Action Programs, Inc.
Program:
Housing Law Project
Description:
To provide direct representation to low-income residents of Essex County who are faced with eviction, housing discrimination, and termination or denial of subsidized housing. The project attorney also participates in the multi-agency effort led by Neighborhood Legal Services to provide a lawyer for the day at the NE Housing Court.
Organization:
North Shore Community Mediation, Inc.
Program:
Court Mediation Program
Description:
To provide pre-screening and mediation coordination at the small claims sessions in the Salem and Peabody District Courts. Funds will also be used to provide mediation services for juvenile/CHINS cases from the Essex County Juvenile Court.
Organization:
Community Action!
Program:
Divorce & Family Mediation Program
Description:
To offer low or no-cost divorce, post-divorce, custody, and relationship mediation services to low-income couples. Funds will also support the On-site Introductory Mediation Programs biweekly at the Hampshire Probate and Family Court (in partnership with Quabbin Mediation).
Organization:
Franklin County Bar Advocates, Inc.
Program:
Bar Advocates for Children, Elders, and Victims of Domestic Violence
Description:
To support reduced-fee attorneys to provide legal services to low-income children, elders, and victims of domestic violence who are at risk of exploitation, abuse, homelessness, and continued poverty. This program was formerly funded with three separate MBF grants.
Organization:
Quabbin Mediation
Program:
Central Region Court Mediation Program
Description:
To provide mediation services for court-referred cases from the District Courts of Orange, Eastern Hampshire, and Palmer, as well as bi-weekly to the Franklin/Hampshire Juvenile Court and the Hampshire and Franklin Probate and Family Courts (in partnership with TMTC).
Organization:
Center for Human Development
Program:
HIV/AIDS Law Consortium of Western MA
Description:
To provide legal services to low-income individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. Funds will be used to provide legal representation through staff and pro bono referrals, as well as to conduct community-based law clinics.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Housing Court Intervention Project-Hampden County
Description:
To assist unrepresented tenants who appear in Hampden County Housing Court in response to summary process eviction summonses. Funds will be used to provide crisis legal assistance onsite at the court on summary process day and will provide additional casework beyond the day as needed.
Organization:
Dispute Resolution Services, Inc.
Program:
Attorney Mediation Training & Services Program
Description:
To provide court-compliant mediation training and mentoring for attorneys, who will then provide Mediator of the Day services to the Small Claims Divisions of the Springfield and Chicopee District Courts.
Organization:
Hampden County Bar Association
Program:
Children's Law Project
Description:
To provide legal representation for children involved in cases in the Probate and Family Court. Funds will also be used to recruit and train lawyers to serve as advocates at a reduced fee for children involved in family law cases.
Organization:
Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, Inc.
Program:
Legal Services for Elders Program
Description:
To provide legal assistance to indigent elders by partnering with pro bono probate attorneys in an effort to ensure timely and equal access to appropriate legal and medical services, including securing permanent guardianship.
Organization:
Massachusetts Justice Project, Inc.
Program:
Medical Legal Partnership Program
Description:
To provide 75 low-income families in Holyoke and the surrounding communities with advice, intake, brief services, and representation to insure that children and families have access to sufficient income, housing, utilities, safety, and other basic necessities that have an impact on their health.
Organization:
Massachusetts Justice Project, Inc.
Program:
Volunteers for Justice Program
Description:
To support an eviction advocacy and referral program that utilizes trained volunteers to screen, educate, and advocate for unrepresented litigants in the Western MA Housing Court. The project refers cases that cannot be resolved with volunteer assistance to the CLA Housing Court Intervention Project and the MJP's own Volunteer Lawyers Service.
Organization:
Center for Public Representation
Program:
Brain Injury Community Integration Project
Description:
To provide representation to individuals with brain injuries in nursing facilities to facilitate their discharge, as appropriate, and Medicaid-funded integrated community services. Funds will also be used to work on a systemic reform initiative creating a system of Medicaid-funded community options for persons with brain injuries.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Family Law Advocacy Project-Hampshire & Franklin Counties
Description:
To provide direct family law representation for families in crisis and to serve as a resource to other legal programs and professionals, as well as community residents, for legal information and consultation services.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Housing Court Intervention Project-Hampshire & Franklin Counties
Description:
To provide an experienced CLA housing attorney, each week on summary process day, to assist tenants who appear pro se at the Hampshire and Franklin County sittings of the Western Mass. Housing Court in response to summary process eviction summonses.
Organization:
Hampshire County Bar Association
Program:
Domestic Relations Program for Children
Description:
To provide advocacy and direct representation for children involved in cases in the Hampshire Probate and Family Court. Nineteen experienced attorneys are paid on a reduced fee basis to represent children referred to the program.
Organization:
Hampshire County Bar Association
Program:
Hampshire Elder Law Program
Description:
To address the unmet civil legal needs of low-income elders in Hampshire County through the volunteer support of the bar. Funds will be used to provide reduced fees to attorneys who accept cases of elders, aged 60+, for direct representation.
Organization:
Safe Passage
Program:
Legal Referral Panel
Description:
To support a panel of reduced fee attorneys who provide legal consultation, advice, and representation to battered women.
Organization:
Advocates, Inc.
Program:
Advocacy, Benefits, and Legal Services Program
Description:
To support a staff attorney who will assist low-income individuals and families to resolve legal issues that may lead to homelessness.
Organization:
Community Dispute Settlement Center
Program:
Divorce/Paternity and District Court Mediation Program
Description:
To provide mediation services to litigants in the Probate & Family and District Courts, both on-site at the courts and off-site at CDSC. Funds will be used to provide mediation to address issues related to married and unmarried separating couples, as well as small claims and other complex civil issues.
Organization:
Community Legal Services and Counseling Center
Program:
Domestic Violence and Child Support Project
Description:
To assist victims of domestic violence and their children to secure long-term protection from abuse, safe custody and visitation arrangements, child and spousal support, and access to health care. Funds will also be used to recruit, train and supervise pro bono attorneys to handle domestic violence cases, as well as for various outreach activities.
Organization:
Community Legal Services and Counseling Center
Program:
Homelessness Prevention Project
Description:
To prevent homelessness by providing legal assistance to low-income families and individuals, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and victims of domestic violence in order to obtain or retain access to safe, affordable housing. Funds will also be used to recruit and train pro bono attorneys.
Organization:
Community Legal Services and Counseling Center
Program:
Immigration Law Project
Description:
To provide free immigration legal services to immigrants seeking political asylum, battered immigrants, and unaccompanied immigrant minors. Funds will also be used to conduct comprehensive asylum intake and referral to pro bono resources, to recruit and train volunteer attorneys, and to conduct systemic advocacy.
Organization:
Employment Options, Inc.
Program:
Clubhouse Family Legal Support Project
Description:
To provide legal representation to low-income parents with mental illness who are at risk of losing custody and all contact with their children. This project is a collaboration between Employment Options and the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee.
Organization:
Homeowner Options for MA Elders
Program:
Senior Homeowner Displacement Prevention Program
Description:
To provide intervention services for elders facing displacement due to property taxes (tax & title and foreclosure), mortgage foreclosure, loan scams & predatory loans, overwhelming healthcare expenses, debts, and home repair costs. Advocacy and representation from attorneys is provided in addition to financial counseling and financial options by HOME.
Organization:
Merrimack Valley Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Consumer Law Advocacy Project
Description:
To provide specialized legal assistance to the growing number of low-income consumers struggling with debt. Funds will be used to provide direct representation on consumer issues, including bankruptcy, screening and referral, and community outreach.
Organization:
Merrimack Valley Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Domestic Violence Advocacy Project
Description:
To provide individual service and representation to all low-income individuals seeking abuse prevention orders in the Lowell District Court, and to provide post-209A and other legal advocacy services through MVLS and its pro bono panel.
Organization:
MetroWest Legal Services
Program:
Children's Education Advocacy Project
Description:
To support an attorney who will provide advice, brief services, and representation to parents whose children are not receiving the services they need to progress academically. Project services include appearing at TEAM meetings, Bureau of Special Education Appeals hearings, and appeals to federal or state court.
Organization:
MetroWest Legal Services
Program:
Domestic Violence Project
Description:
To provide free legal services to low-income victims of domestic abuse in their contested family law cases. Staff will continue participating in a coordinated community response team, aimed at focusing services on certain cases with a high risk of lethality.
Organization:
MetroWest Legal Services
Program:
Eviction Defense/Foreclosure Prevention Project
Description:
To support a staff attorney who will provide advice, brief services, and full representation to low-income tenants in their summary process cases, as well as to low-income homeowners facing foreclosure. The attorney will also hold weekly pro se legal clinics explaining the court process to tenants facing eviction.
Organization:
MetroWest Legal Services
Program:
Homeless Advocacy Project
Description:
To support a full-time staff attorney to assist homeless families and individuals with the goal of helping them to secure permanent, stable housing. Direct services range from advice and brief service to full representation in court or administrative hearings.
Organization:
MetroWest Mediation Services, Inc. (formerly FCMS)
Program:
Court Mediation Services Program
Description:
To provide mediation services to individuals referred by the Framingham, Natick, Concord, Marlborough District Courts, as well as the Middlesex County Juvenile and Probate and Family Courts.
Organization:
Middlesex County Bar Association
Program:
Pro Bono Conciliation Program
Description:
To reduce the backlog of pending cases in the Middlesex Probate and Family Court using pro bono conciliators. The conciliators will meet with the parties and counsel to provide guidance and insight into what a Judge may do on a certain issue or to provide a reasonable solution to an existing logjam in the negotiations.
Organization:
Shelter Legal Services Foundation, Inc.
Program:
VLSP/Rosie's Place/CLASP
Description:
To match law students from the Boston-area law schools with attorneys in order to provide pro bono representation and to educate future attorneys in pro bono service. Project activities include weekly legal clinics at various agencies, shelters, and churches, as well as direct legal assistance and representation, on issues including landlord/tenant/summary process, child support, custody, visitation, divorce, employment, and consumer disputes.
Organization:
Somerville Community Corporation
Program:
Somerville Mediation Program Court/Community Project
Description:
To provide alternative dispute resolution to low-income residents of Somerville and Medford, Arlington, Belmont, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Melrose, Nahant, Saugus, Swampscott, and Wakefield. Services are offered free of charge and tailored to linguistic minorities, senior citizens, and low-income residents.
Organization:
Tri-City Community Action Program
Program:
Pro Bono Legal Project
Description:
To help low-income families from Malden, Medford, Everett, Melrose, and Wakefield secure their basic civil rights under law. The program provides legal information, advice, advocacy, referral, and representation to low-income individuals who would not otherwise have access to legal representation.
Organization:
Bar Association of Norfolk County
Program:
Evening Legal Clinics
Description:
To conduct monthly legal clinics offering legal services directly to low-income persons in Norfolk County courthouses.
Organization:
Brookline Community Mental Health Center
Program:
Metropolitan Mediation Services
Description:
To provide a comprehensive range of supervised mediation services to individuals with matters at area courts, Housing Authorities, EEOC, community agencies, and DCF.
Program:
Legal Advocacy Program
Description:
To provide brief advice and limited representation, support and advocacy, and legal referrals to clients in DOVE's emergency shelter, outreach program, and hotline. An advocate will provide court accompaniments for 209A and other civil hearings.
Organization:
Pilgrim Advocates, Inc.
Program:
Lawyer of the Day Program
Description:
To support a Lawyer of the Day in the Plymouth and Brockton Probate and Family Courts nearly every court day of the year, as well as in the Brockton Housing Court that will cover one day each week with two volunteer attorneys. (Program combines two projects formerly funded separately).
Organization:
South Coastal Counties Legal Services, Inc.
Program:
Immigration Law Project
Description:
To provide direct representation legal services to eligible clients in the Greater Brockton area. The Project's cases include adjustment of immigrant status, spouse and fiancé visas, political asylum, work authorizations, and representation of domestic violence victims married to U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Organization:
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc.
Program:
Legal Services Program
Description:
To provide legal assistance to people living with HIV by helping clients access benefits and services, particularly with regard to housing. This year, the program will also expand the services to two populations at unique risk of HIV infection: transgender women and homeless youth.
Organization:
Alternatives for Community & Environment
Program:
Legal Services Program
Description:
To provide free legal and technical assistance on environmental justice issues to qualified groups in low-income communities and communities of color throughout MA. Services will be provided through a combined effort of ACE staff attorneys and the Mass. Environmental Justice Assistance Network.
Organization:
Boston Medical Center-Medical Legal Partnership
Program:
Community Health Center Legal Clinic Project
Description:
To provide legal assistance to low-income families in the clinical setting in several community health centers. Funds will also be used to provide training to health center staff about legal issues that affect low-income families.
Organization:
Casa Myrna Vazquez, Inc.
Program:
Legal Advocacy Program
Description:
To provide legal representation, information and referral, legal counseling, court accompaniment, outreach, and education to shelter guests, community clients, and hotline callers.
Organization:
Catholic Charitable Bureau of the Archdiocese of Boston, Inc.
Program:
Immigration Legal Services Program
Description:
To provide a variety of legal services to low-income immigrants, including: an immigration clinic, VAWA and Trafficking Victims Protection Act assistance, legal consultation, citizenship assistance, and referrals and direct representation for immigration benefits, such as political asylum, naturalization, TPS, and family reunification.
Organization:
Ecumenical Social Action Committee, Inc.
Program:
Foreclosure Prevention Program
Description:
To counsel disadvantaged homeowners toward effectively managing housing issues and providing access to legal and economic resources that will enable them to maintain their homes. Counselors provide financial and budget counseling to homeowners in order to prevent foreclosure while working directly with attorneys to assist with any lending issues.
Organization:
Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston
Program:
Fair Housing Enforcement Program
Description:
To provide advocacy to victims of housing discrimination and to increase enforcement of fair housing laws, as well as to increase the cost of discrimination by obtaining relief from and negative publicity for discriminatory cases. Funds will be used for discrimination testing, advocacy, and consolidation of legal resources available to resolve housing discrimination complaints.
Organization:
Finex House, Inc.
Program:
Legal Advocacy Program
Description:
To provide in-house, comprehensive legal services to difficult to serve battered women. The staff attorney will assist clients with family law issues, such as divorces, spousal support, child custody and support, benefits, housing advocacy, and immigration issues.
Organization:
Flaschner Judicial Institute
Program:
Educational Programs for Judges / 2year grant (2011-2013)
Description:
To provide educational programs designed specifically for the Massachusetts Judiciary. Funds will distributed over two years, with FJI receiving $175,000 per year.
Organization:
Greater Boston Legal Services
Program:
Affordable Housing Preservation and Foreclosure Prevention Project
Description:
To preserve affordable housing for low-income individuals and families by conducting legal advocacy to preserve affordable units that are at risk of being lost to market rates due to the "expiring use" crisis. The project will also assist low-income families impacted by the foreclosure crisis.
Organization:
Greater Boston Legal Services
Program:
Family Work and Welfare Project
Description:
To protect families from economic destitution and increase opportunities for economic stability through enforcement of rights and protections in the welfare laws. Funds will be used primarily to support individual representation, GBLS will continue to pursue administrative advocacy and litigation to address harmful agency policies and practices.
Organization:
Greater Boston Legal Services
Program:
Low-Income Taxpayer Assistance Project
Description:
To provide legal assistance and tax help to low-income taxpayers, many of whom speak little or no English. Together, legal services staff, pro bono attorneys, pro bono accountants, and community agencies will help clients understand their rights to important tax credits, including EITC.
Organization:
Greater Boston Legal Services
Program:
Pro Bono Employment and Healthcare Advocacy Project
Description:
To leverage the resources of the private bar to ensure a high quantity of legal representation to low-income residents in employment-related cases. The project provides pro bono attorneys and trained law students to secure unemployment compensation, training, and health insurance benefits for qualified individuals and their families.
Organization:
Greater Boston Legal Services
Program:
Refugees and Immigrants Protection Project
Description:
To address emerging and ongoing asylum and immigration needs of low-income refugee and immigrant communities in MA. Funds will be used to provide individual case representation, community legal education programs, and training and systemic advocacy at local and national levels.
Organization:
Irish International Immigration Center
Program:
Immigration Services and Citizenship Program
Description:
To assist low-income immigrants by providing various services, including immigration advice and counseling, representation at USCIS interviews, visa application assistance, free legal clinics, a citizenship program, and advocacy and information about immigrant rights.
Organization:
JRI Health Law Institute
Program:
Serving the Underserved: Closer to Home
Description:
To provide legal services to indigent people living with HIV at the AIDS Service Organization near their homes. Collaborating ASOs are located in Danvers, Lynn, Fall River, Lowell, New Bedford, Worcester, Haverhill, and Plymouth.
Organization:
Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing & Homelessness, Inc.
Program:
Community Legal Referral Program
Description:
To match volunteer lawyers with nonprofit organizations that develop or sponsor affordable housing, promote economic development, or operate as homeless shelters, tenant organizations, and housing and homeless advocacy groups.
Organization:
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Boston Bar Association
Program:
Health Disparities Project
Description:
To provide patient families access to a lawyer at no charge to assist them in obtaining public benefits to which they are entitled in an effort to improve health outcomes for children. Services are provided through the LINC Program at Chelsea HealthCare Center.
Organization:
Legal Advocacy and Resource Center, Inc.
Description:
To support LARC's legal hotline program, which provides referrals, brief advice, client educational materials, and legal intake for the Greater Boston area and across the state. The hotline can handle approximately 13,000 legal matters each year.
Organization:
Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Program:
Children's Law Support and Education Justice Project
Description:
To address the legal needs of Massachusetts children from low-income families who face barriers to equal educational opportunities. Funds will be used to provide in-house and pro bono legal advice and representation through the Education Referral Network. Funds will also be used to conduct systemic advocacy, training and support to private attorneys and advocates.
Organization:
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition
Program:
Immigration Law Training and Technical Assistance Project
Description:
To provide attorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals training and assistance with immigration law. The project aims to increase the number of individuals within those organizations who can represent their immigrant clients at CIS proceedings.
Organization:
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Program:
Immigrant Protection Project
Description:
To advocate for systemic policy and procedural changes in government agencies and institutions to improve the administration of justice for low-income immigrants. This project seeks to protect the rights of immigrants, reduce discrimination, and maximize statewide capacity and resources for immigration advocates.
Organization:
Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project
Program:
Detention Center Initiative
Description:
To advise and represent asylum-seekers, torture survivors, and other immigrants in immigration detentions. Funds will also be used to recruit pro bono attorneys and to broaden the legal education of law students at PAIR through work with immigration detainees.
Organization:
Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project
Program:
Pro Bono Asylum Project
Description:
To represent immigrants seeking political asylum by combining the resources of the private bar, law schools and nonprofit agencies. PAIR also compiles an extensive training manual and conducts numerous training sessions for its pro bono attorney panel.
Organization:
Prisoners' Legal Services (formerly MCLS)
Program:
Chronic and Infectious Disease Project
Description:
To ensure that prisons and jails identify prisoners with chronic illness, including Hepatitis C, HIV, MRSA, MS, and many others. The project will seek to ensure that prisoners are educated about their illnesses and to advocate for appropriate treatment.
Organization:
Prisoners' Legal Services (formerly MCLS)
Program:
Prison Brutality and Human Rights Project
Description:
To provide advocacy to prisoners who have been assaulted by correctional staff. The project creates documentation of all instances where force or other acts of staff misconduct are used in a manner that violates prison regulations and other significant prisoners' rights. PLS is also advocating for treatment and specialized housing for mentally ill prisoners housed in segregation units--where most reported brutality incidents have occurred.
Organization:
Victim Rights Law Center
Program:
Rape Survivors Law Project
Description:
To provide civil legal assistance to sexual assault victims, helping to safeguard their rights related to privacy, safety, housing, education, employment, immigration status, and financial stability.
Organization:
Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association
Program:
Senior Partners for Justice - West
Description:
To support the recruitment and coordination of pro bono attorneys who will represent low-income clients on family law cases. Funds will also be used to maintain the Limited Assistance Representation Project, the Express Divorce Clinic, and GAL panel in Hampden County.
Organization:
Women's Bar Foundation of MA, Inc.
Program:
Family Law Project
Description:
To provide referrals for pro bono legal assistance to low-income battered women and their children in contested family law litigation. The project recruits and provides ongoing training and mentoring for volunteer attorneys in the areas of domestic violence, divorce, child support, custody, and visitation.
Organization:
CASA Project, Inc.
Program:
CASA/GAL for Abused & Neglected Children Project
Description:
To provide volunteer CASA/GAL court advocacy for abused and neglected youth in the Worcester County Juvenile Court. . Funds will be used to monitor each case assigned and volunteers serving in the program.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Family Advocates of Central Mass.
Description:
To work collaboratively with pediatricians and family doctors to address social problems that exacerbate the health of indigent children. Practitioners are trained to screen for legal issues affecting patient health and to make referrals to CLA for direct legal services.
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Pro Se Litigants in Family Court
Description:
To limit the assistance needed from the court by pro se litigants by providing lawyers to advise clients (Lawyer for the Day Program), and representing clients in uncontested divorces (Uncontested Divorce Project).
Organization:
Community Legal Aid, Inc.
Program:
Zarrow Homeless Advocacy Project
Description:
To support a staff attorney who will provide legal counsel and advice to clients and residents of homeless shelters and other imminently homeless individuals and families in order to reduce or prevent the incidences of homelessness. Full representation will be provided in cases where pro se advice is inadequate to resolve a client's problem.
Organization:
Dismas House of Central Massachusetts
Program:
Resident Attorney Advocate Program
Description:
To provide legal assistance to recently released ex-prisoners on any outstanding civil legal issues. The staff attorney will provide support from the first day of residency in one of the three Dismas shelters.
Organization:
Jewish Family Service of Worcester, Inc.
Program:
Elder Guardianship Program
Description:
To provide guardianship services for frail elders in Worcester County. Funds will be used to defray the legal costs associated with JFS becoming the legal guardian for these clients who have no one else to assist them.
Organization:
Lutheran Social Services
Program:
Immigration Legal Assistance Program
Description:
To provide free legal services, including direct representation, managed referrals, and pro se assistance, to low-income political asylum seekers and victims of trafficking, violent crime, and domestic violence.
Organization:
Mediation Services of North Central MA, Inc.
Program:
Court and Community Mediation Program
Description:
To provide free mediation services conducted by trained volunteer mediators for the people of North Central Mass. and specifically for Fitchburg, Leominster, and Gardner District Courts.
Organization:
Worcester County Bar Association
Program:
Reduced Fee Program
Description:
To provide civil legal representation to individuals whose income is just above the nation's poverty line, and thus not eligible for free services, yet not sufficient to hire a private attorney at their regular rate of compensation.
Organization:
YWCA of Central Massachusetts
Program:
Daybreak and BWR Court Advocacy Program
Description:
To provide certified advocates onsite in the district and probate courts to provide advocacy and support services to victims of domestic violence seeking intervention and protection through the courts. The program serves Worcester Probate and Family Court, as well as the District Courts in Ayer, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Winchendon, and Worcester.