Innovation is key to transforming the landscape of pro bono legal services. Across the United States, Legal Services Corporation (LSC) grantees are pushing the boundaries of traditional legal service delivery by developing various approaches to meeting the needs of underserved communities. Each year, a number of these projects are awarded LSC Pro Bono Innovation Fund (PBIF) grants, allowing them to expand and refine their innovative approaches. Over the past 11 years, 139 projects in 36 jurisdictions have received PBIF grants — a collective investment of over $40,000,000. Current awardees are continuing the PBIF legacy of leveraging technology, partnerships, and new models of legal services delivery to make pro bono more accessible and effective.
The 2024 grantees are engaged in exciting innovations in the areas of outreach and intake, partnerships, and the deployment of digital service models. Fueled by critical support from LSC, these grantees are transforming the access to justice landscape, scaling pro bono legal services for the betterment of our communities. PBIF grants are issued in four categories: project, sustainability, transformation, and planning. This article highlights some of the exciting and innovative efforts of 2024 PBIF grantees.
Project Grantees
Grantees receiving funds in the project category are launching new programs or replicating existing programs that have proven successful. Some of the projects that are the subject of 2024 grants involve creative partnerships that tackle unmet community needs.
Projects that are the subject of grants in 2024 address areas of critical needs, including housing, family law, and expungement. Holistic client support was an overriding theme in this category for 2024:
- Legal Aid Chicago (LAC) was awarded a project-based grant to replicate the successful Neighborhood Advocacy Project of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. LAC is working with multiple community-based organizations to facilitate outreach and referrals. The project will engage pro bono lawyers to provide holistic housing support for clients on matters ranging from title clearing to property tax assistance and estate planning. The goal of the program is to build community trust and promote inclusive growth through pro bono service.
- Both Legal Assistance of Western New York (LawNY) and Northeast New Jersey Legal Services Corporation (NNJLS) received grants for innovative expungement programs. Both offer comprehensive support for pro bono clients and leverage community partners. LawNY has an established goal of engaging 75 volunteers and serving 170 rural residents. NNJLS has also highlighted key goals and metrics and plans to utilize client and volunteer surveys to collect information to measure impact.
Sustainability Grantees
Grantees receiving funds in the sustainability category for 2024 are focused on the areas of housing, consumer law, expungement, and family law. This category of grants seeks to institutionalize prior PBIF projects to allow them to become an ongoing project of the grantee. This may be accomplished through technology, staffing, outreach, partnership building, and other efforts to operationalize the project.
- Legal Action Wisconsin (LAW) received a grant for its Consumer Debt Defense Project, one of a handful of consumer-focused projects of 2024 PBIF grantees. The project began in 2022 when it received a PBIF project grant. With this sustainability grant, LAW seeks to broaden the program through automation efforts, by scaling its court-based clinics, and by extending beyond its base in Milwaukee. The project boasts many accomplishments in the consumer debt arena, from sealing records to reducing debt.
- Land of Lincoln Legal Aid (LOLLA) also received a grant in the sustainability category. Its program seeks to support clients in the East St. Louis school district (District 189). A collaborative partnership between LOLLA, District 189, and volunteers, the Justice in Schools Project (JSP) meets families where they are and provides a variety of supports to promote families’ stability and safety.
Transformation Grantees
Grantees in the transformation category receive funds to transform their pro bono operations. This may involve program restructuring, streamlining operations, or adopting new technologies. There were four grantees in this category in 2024 — Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS), Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV), Neighborhood Legal Services Association (NLSA), and West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS).
The grants will cover services such as:
- External evaluations, including engaging a third-party consultant;
- The development of new and improved internal structures;
- Supporting a new position with oversight responsibilities;
- Updating key documents, including policies and procedures; and
- Adopting new technologies.
Supporting the transformation of pro bono programming is a powerful way to scale the delivery of legal services. Grantees in this category reap benefits in many areas of their programming by enhancing existing services with comprehensive pro bono support.
Planning Grantees
Grantees in the planning category receive six months of funding for the purpose of assessing their existing pro bono program to facilitate long-term planning. There were eight grantees in this category in 2024. Some of the goals of grantees receiving planning grants in 2024 include:
- Aligning processes across the organization to support pro bono;
- Collaborating across practice areas;
- Implementing a centralized intake system;
- Leveraging technology to support efficiency; and
- Enhancing training and mentoring resources for pro bono lawyers;
Conducting a comprehensive assessment of a grantee’s pro bono program allows the grantee to plan effective ways to integrate pro bono into existing programs, allowing those programs to experience even greater success by effectively harnessing pro bono resources.
Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is one of the eight 2024 planning grant recipients. Having identified an opportunity to increase the integration of pro bono throughout its existing programs, the planning process promises to amplify LANC’s ability to reach North Carolinians. As one example, LANC is home to a mobile legal services unit called LANCMobile, which travels to remote and underserved areas, providing direct access to legal services in places where traditional offices are often out of reach. The unit allows attorneys to meet clients in their communities, instead of the traditional legal services delivery model at a centralized office, which requires clients to travel long distances, possibly involving multiple bus routes and hours of missed work. Other existing LANC projects that may be further integrated with pro bono include those supporting disaster relief, medical legal partnerships, and eviction diversion, to name a few.
PBIF grants play a pivotal role in advancing innovation in the delivery of pro bono legal services. They support programs that serve as the foundation of powerful partnerships with law firms, in-house legal departments, and other community partners. Pro Bono Institute congratulates all of the 2024 PBIF grant recipients and looks forward to seeing the creative and powerful ways they advance access to justice through the effective delivery of pro bono legal services.
PBI thanks Sherese Smikle, PBI Intern, for her research and contributions to this blog post.