For the past two years, the Foundation has been working to build a Coordinated Intake and Referral (CIR) System that will streamline the process for DC residents to access legal aid through a single phone number or website. With more than 60 legal services providers in DC, CIR has the power to transform the city's legal aid network.
The DC Bar Foundation is proud to release a new report on our Coordinated Intake & Referral efforts. Designing a Coordinated Intake and Referral (CIR) System for Civil Legal Aid in the District of Columbia: Input from Legal Services Providers and Allied Organizations, created in partnership with NPC Research, is a compilation of the feedback and recommendations we received from our Request for Design Feedback and Input (RDFI).
One of our top priorities in developing CIR is hearing from individuals and organizations that will use the system. Last fall, we released a request for feedback to allow the legal services community to provide insight on CIR. From that request, we received 21 responses from local legal organizations, existing collaborative bodies related to access to justice, and other interested parties who operate within the DC legal services community.
We invite you to read this latest report, which shares findings from the RDFI and complements the report published in August: Designing a Coordinated Intake and Referral (CIR) System for Civil Legal Aid in the District of Columbia: Client and Community Member Input. The August 2022 report focused on the feedback we received during the client focus groups we held from December 2021 – April 2022, highlighting challenges users previously experienced and recommendations for the future system.
To learn more about the DC Bar Foundation and Coordinated Intake and Referral, please visit the CIR section on our website.