DC Bar Foundation Awards Over $3 Million to Support Access to Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:     March 19, 2012

Contact:         Katherine L. Garrett

 202-467-3750 ext. 12

garrett@dcbarfoundation.org

The DC Bar Foundation announced today over $3 million in publicly-funded Access to Justice grants to support civil legal services for the poor and disadvantaged in the District of Columbia.  This is the sixth year the District of Columbia City Council has appropriated funding to expand legal services for the neediest in the District.  At the direction of the City Council, and pursuant to a Grant Agreement with the District of Columbia Office of Justice Grants Administration and Victim Services, the Bar Foundation lends its expertise to the District of Columbia, identifying, awarding, and monitoring the Access to Justice grants.  The FY2012 grants continue support for successful programs launched in 2007 to increase the number of lawyers working on housing issues and in underserved areas; fund the legal services Community Legal Interpreter Bank; and this year fund three new projects for lawyers to serve vulnerable communities in the District.  Grants include funding for a new project at Our Place, DC that will provide civil legal services to formerly incarcerated women, co-located with an Anacostia-based social services provider. 

“The District’s Access to Justice funds have helped bring legal services – and lawyers – to the places and people where they are most needed.   Creative projects based in the courts, co-located with other services, and anchored in the communities of greatest need are helping make access to justice possible for the most vulnerable in our city.   The City Council’s leadership has helped effectively leverage private resources to bring much-needed help to expand access to justice throughout our community,” said Emilio W. Cividanes, President of the DC Bar Foundation, in announcing the awards. 

A list of FY2012 Access to Justice projects and grantees is attached and also available on the Foundation’s website, www.dcbarfoundation.org.

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The DC Bar Foundation, a  501(c)(3) organization, was established in 1977 to provide a vehicle for members of the bar to contribute to legal services providers.  Since 1985, the Foundation has also administered the District of Columbia’s IOLTA program.

Access to Justice Grant Recipients for Fiscal Year 2012

DC Bar Foundation

*Newly funded project

Katia Garrett is Woman Lawyer of the Year

Katia Garrett, executive director of the DC Bar Foundation, will be honored by the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia (WBA), in conjunction with the Women’s Bar Association Foundation (WBAF), as Woman Lawyer of the Year at the WBA/WBAF Annual Dinner on May 22, 2012, in Washington, D.C. The Woman Lawyer of the Year is recognized for her exceptional achievements in the legal profession and/or for extraordinary contributions to the advancement of women in the profession. This year, the award honors a woman who has taken a different path to success.

Katia Garrett - Photo courtesy of Tim Coburn Photography.

“Katia has exemplified a deep commitment to justice and fairness throughout her entire legal career,” said Marna S. Tucker, vice president of the DC Bar Foundation. “She has consistently followed her own path in her career, and has throughout pursued ways to strengthen the justice system for women, minorities, and those without a voice. For the past six years, she has ably piloted the DC Bar Foundation through unprecedented growth while managing the challenges of a difficult economy.”

After graduating from The George Washington University Law School, Ms. Garrett clerked on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where her experience informed her of the desperate need for access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged. Her career since that time has carried her from private practice to the D.C. Circuit’s Task Force on Gender, Race, and Ethnic Bias to positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, including as Chief of Staff to Assistant Attorney General Eleanor D. Acheson in the Office of Policy Development, to Alternative Dispute Resolution, and finally to the DC Bar Foundation. Along the way, Ms. Garrett took time in Central America to learn Spanish in order to work with the Spanish-speaking community in the District. Under her leadership, the Foundation has launched a poverty lawyer loan repayment assistance program, expanded the reach of its grants by putting in place a training program for poverty lawyers, and strengthened its operations and governance.

“I truly am thrilled to receive this honor, and am humbled to be in the company of so many extraordinary women who have received this honor previously,” said Ms. Garrett.

The 2012 WBA/WBAF Annual Dinner and awards ceremony will take place at the National Building Museum at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 22, 2012. For additional information, visit www.wbadc.org or call 202-639-8880.