Volunteer Legal Services of Austin
$5,000 for the full revision, printing & binding of its Evening Clinic manual for attorney volunteers.
Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, Inc.
$5,250 for the training and mentorship to pro bono attorneys in private practice representing unaccompanied immigrant children appearing before family courts in an effort to obtain court orders necessary for the application of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Inc.
$1,000 for the publication of 5,000 brochures in English and Spanish to inform low-income buyers of manufactured homes of their consumer rights, warning of deceptive practices, and informing residents where to seek legal assistance.
Disability Rights, Inc.
$1,500 for the creation of on-line web-based training in English and Spanish addressing a variety of court access issues affecting persons with disabilities.
Texas Fair Defense Project
$3,000 to support outreach programs throughout Texas communities by distribution of public education materials in low-income areas about the right to counsel and the right of indigent defendants to seek relief from criminal fines and fees they cannot afford to pay.
Advocate Legal Senior Center
$3,000 to provide management and monitoring services to indigent seniors who are deemed incapacitated by the Probate Courts and who are in need of a legal guardian to handle their affairs.
Texas Civil Rights Project
$5,000 to provide legal representation, advocacy, and education to the disabled community in low-income and rural areas; specifically to publish the “Know Your Rights” brochure relating to information and services provided by the Disability Rights Program.
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
$4,250 to provide training for the Woman and Children’s Program which target a number of different low-income groups, such as victims of domestic violence, human rights abuses, and serious crimes.
2010 - 2011 Grant Recipient Information:
Fort Bend Lawyers Care (Richmond)
$3,000 to assist in covering expenses for a pro se workshop.
Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence (Houston)
$4,500 to fund private process service in high-risk protective order cases where service cannot be executed by the constable’s office.
Mosaic Family Services (Dallas)
$4,000 to hire licensed contract interpreters and translators as well as to cover development and printing of training materials for translators.
Texas Rural Legal Aid (Austin)
$3,500 to provide funding to print 10,000 copies and distribute a newly created “Guide to Labor Rights of Domestic Workers in Texas.”
Innocence Project (Lubbock)
$3,000 to help fund a statewide Forensic Science Case Review which will be a multi-tiered forensic science case review, litigation, student training and public education program.
Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc. (El Paso)
$4,000 to provide advice and training to public defenders and private criminal attorneys on the Supreme Court decision Padilla v. Kentucky.
Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project (El Paso)
$4,000 to continue providing basic labor rights education and representation to low-income workers, support assisted pro se activities, publish the first “El Paso Wage Theft Report” and work with the police department and the District Attorney’s office to create criteria regarding wage theft.
2009 - 2010 Grant Recipient Information:
Advocacy, Inc. (Austin)
$3,000 in support of a program to represent Medicaid beneficiaries under the age of 21 who are challenging denials of medically necessary health care and treatment. The grant will pay for travel expenses to allow staff to represent clients in-person at fair hearings on the challenges.
CASA of Harrison County (Marshall)
$2,400 in support of the expansion of CASA into Marion County to provide trained, court-appointed volunteers to serve as advocates for the best interest of abused and neglected children.
Mosaic Family Services (Dallas)
$3,500 to support their Multicultural Legal Services Program which provides direct legal services to low-income immigrant victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.
Human Rights Initiative of N. Texas (Dallas)
$3,500 for a legal assistant to help immigrant women and children who are victims of human rights abuses apply for immigration relief and legalize their status.
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (El Paso)
$3,900 to support TRLA??s Community Justice Program in El Paso, a joint project with the El Paso County Bar Association to improve access to legal services for the poor. The funds will be used to purchase equipment for a portable office to use at bi-monthly divorce clinics.
Lone Star Legal Aid (Houston)
$3,700 to purchase hardware to aid expansion of consumer rights outreach efforts targeting low-income residents of Fort Bend County.
Texas Appleseed (Austin)
$2,500 to train immigration judges, federal government attorneys and immigration attorneys on issues related to mental disability and the immigration process in order to provide better safeguards for immigrants whose mental disabilities diminish their capacity to participate in removal proceedings.
Central Dallas Ministries (Dallas)
$3,500 to support the Legal Action Works Program, which provides legal services for low-income women including assistance in obtaining protective orders and divorce and child custody representation.
2008 - 2009 Grant Recipient Information:
Advocacy, Inc.
$4,000 in support of a program to represent Medicaid beneficiaries under the age of 21 who are challenging denials of medically necessary health care and treatment. The grant will pay for travel expenses to allow staff to represent clients in-person at fair hearings on the challenges.
The Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy, Inc. (associated with the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University)
$6,000 in support of the establishment of its Trial Advocacy Program, a training program for volunteer attorneys to provide much-needed pro bono representation to school children with disabilities who find themselves in justice courts on minor, Class C misdemeanor “school ticket” cases.
The Housing Crisis Center
$5,000 in support of their Legal Education and Services Program. The grant will pay for a part-time, trained telephone counselor to field calls and to provide guidance to individuals experiencing landlord/tenant conflicts that could lead to eviction.
Lone Star Legal Aid
$2,374.00 in support of equipment (specifically a projector and supporting accessories) to support trials and litigation in more than 20 East Texas counties.
Mosaic Family Services
$5,000 to support their Multicultural Legal Services Program which provides direct legal services to low-income immigrant victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.
Oficina Legal Del Pueblo Unido, Inc. (Texas Civil Rights Project)
$7,000 in support of the Promotora Outreach Program to make presentations in homes, churches, community centers, and other venues to give basic information about domestic violence and available legal and other services.