[District of Columbia, July 1, 2015] – The DC Bar Foundation is now accepting applications from civil legal services providers based in the District of Columbia that serve low-income, underrepresented DC residents in the areas of foreclosure prevention legal assistance and/or community redevelopment legal assistance.
More than $243,000 has been made available to DC-based legal services providers. The DC Bar Foundation is able to award these funds as a result of the 2014 settlement on mortgage-related litigation between the U.S. Department of Justice and Bank of America Corporation. The settlement provided that every Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts program in the U.S. and its territories receive funds for legal aid organizations in its jurisdiction for foreclosure prevention legal assistance and community redevelopment legal assistance.
DCBF Board member and Chair of the Grants and Technical Assistance Committee Vonya McCann stated, “Civil legal services in foreclosure and community redevelopment are critical for many of DC’s residents who may be on the verge of becoming homeless. The Foundation is pleased to run this one-time grant cycle that supports DC’s legal aid organizations in their efforts to assist in foreclosure prevention and community redevelopment.”
Applicants must submit an executive summary and a two-page narrative by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Application instructions can be downloaded from this page of the DC Bar Foundation’s website. Awards will be announced in mid-September 2015, and the grant term is October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
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 D.C. poverty lawyers to help with their educational debt.
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