News Releases
August 17, 2010

Boston Bar Foundation Announces Grants for Legal Aid

Press Release

The Boston Bar Foundation (BBF) today announced $1,052,500 in grants to 25 legal services providers. With a significant decline in Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) funds, only 75 percent of each grant will come from  IOLTA funds. The remaining 22 percent will come from the proceeds of the BBF’s 2010 Adams Ball and 3 percent from the proceeds of the BBF’s Casey Fund.

“These are challenging economic times,” said BBF President Shaw McDermott. “Resources from IOLTA have been limited by the combined factors of the decline in business transactions and extraordinarily low interest rates. The BBF has stretched to add its own additional resources to the funding mix. Yet, in this environment a decision to say ‘yes’ to one grant proposal of necessity involves a decision to say ‘no’ to another. Fortunately the BBF Grants Committee is blessed with highly skilled and experienced volunteers who make their recommendations based on a screening and evaluation process honed over decades.”
 
Among the grantees are core legal services providers, so-called multi-issue providers where legal services are just one component of a comprehensive menu of services provided to low-income people, and organizations focusing on single issues such as housing, education, domestic violence or immigration.

“Each year, we make very tough decisions based on our knowledge of the legal services landscape and thorough research of relevant issues,” said BBF Grants Committee chair Toni Wolfman. “We take seriously our responsibility to ensure that this money is being distributed in a manner that will most effectively provide critically important legal services to low-income families, children and individuals in the Boston Area.”

Organization

Amount

Boston Medical Center Corporation

$20,000

Casa Myrna Vazquez, Inc.

$20,000

Centro Presente, Inc.

$10,000

Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc. 

$10,000

City Life/ Vida Urbana

$20,000

Community Legal Services and Counseling Center, Inc.

$45,000

East Boston Ecumenical Council, Inc.

$7,500

Finex House, Inc.

$5,000

Greater Boston Legal Services

$375,000

Irish Immigration Center

$25,000

Lawyers Clearinghouse

$30,000

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the BBA

$40,000

Legal Advocacy Resource Center

$175,000

Massachusetts Advocates for Children

$15,000

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health

$20,000

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

$35,000

MetroWest Legal Services

$50,000

Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.

$15,000

Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project

$35,000

Prisoners’ Legal Services

$35,000

RESPOND, Inc.

$10,000

Shelter Legal Services

$10,000

Tri-City Community Action Program, Inc.

$10,000

Victims Rights Law Center

$10,000

Women’s Bar Foundation

$25,000

 

 

Total

$1,052,500