An American Bar Association project has been selected to administer a $270,000 grant to support state panels that promote access to civil justice for low-income and disadvantaged people.
Under the 18-month grant from the Public Welfare Foundation to the ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives, more than half of the funds will go to mini-grants to help create new access to justice commissions and expand the scope and activities of existing commissions.
The resource center lists 27 states with access to justice commissions, whose members are leaders of the state’s courts, organized bar and other stakeholder groups. Most commissions were created by the state’s supreme court, and several high courts are considering creating one.
The grant will also fund travel fellowships for supreme court justices and other judges who lead access to justice commissions to attend annual ABA meetings of state access to justice chairs. In recent years, court funding shortfalls have kept many judicial leaders from traveling to the meetings.
The grant will also enable the ABA to offer regular telephone conferences on current issues for commission leaders and staff, develop new resource materials on best practices and innovations, and provide training for commission staff.
State access to justice commissions have increased awareness among legislators and other key policymakers, the bar, the judiciary and the general public about the legal needs of low-income and disadvantaged people and the social and economic benefits of ensuring that they do not go unmet.