[District of Columbia, June 10, 2015] – The DC Bar Foundation (DCBF) announced the recipients of the midyear FY15 DC Poverty Lawyer Loan Repayment Assistance Program (DC LRAP). A total of $13,170 was awarded to nine civil legal services lawyers, who live in DC and work with eligible civil legal services providers organizations that serve low-income, underserved residents of the District.
The nine midyear DC LRAP recipients will receive a loan from DCBF to help pay their monthly law school student loan payments through December 2015. After December, these interest-free loans will be forgiven if the recipients maintain eligibility.
“Many of these DC lawyers devote their legal careers to providing legal representation to low-income residents of the District. They can afford to work in civil legal services because of the DC LRAP awards,” said Imoni Washington, the Director of Programs for the DC Bar Foundation.
For nine years, the DC Bar Foundation has awarded and monitored DC LRAP, which is now under the direction of the District of Columbia’s Office of Victim Services. DCBF manages LRAP with help from a team of volunteer paralegals and lawyers from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
In addition to DC LRAP, the DC Bar Foundation runs a privately-funded loan repayment program – DCBF LRAP – for attorneys who work in the District and live in Maryland or Virginia. Applications for full-year DC LRAP and DCBF LRAP will be available in November 2015 to cover monthly law school payments from January to December 2016.
To support the Foundation’s mission, visit www.dcbarfoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter (@dcbarfoundation) and like us on Facebook (facebook.com/dcbarfoundation).
The DC Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization established in 1977, is the largest funder of civil legal services in the District. The Bar Foundation’s mission is to fund, support, and improve legal representation of the poor, vulnerable, and otherwise disadvantaged in the District of Columbia, and it is committed to the vision that residents of the District have equal access to justice, regardless of income. The Foundation provides grants and training and technical assistance to local non-profit legal services organizations and awards loans to DC poverty lawyers to help with their educational debt.
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