Georgia Bar Foundation Awards $2.5 Million in Iolta Grants
| Jurisdiction | Georgia,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 27 No. 2 Pg. 0038 |
| Pages | 0038 |
| Publication year | 2021 |
BY LEN HORTON
The Georgia Bar Foundation (the Foundation) held its annual meeting virtually on July 22, during which time they awarded $2,500,000 to 19 law-related organizations. Given the impact of the pandemic and the low interest rates, the amount of money awarded was surprisingly large.
The Board was pleased to see that IOLTA revenues remained strong enough last year to enable us to award $2,500,000 in grants for fiscal year 2021-2022, said Hon. Derek J. White, newly elected president of the Foundation and judge of the State Court of Chatham County. We are optimistic that current year revenues will remain strong, enabling us to continue to support our grantees into 2023 and beyond.
Grants Awarded
The primary focus of the Georgia Bar Foundation is funding civil legal services for those Georgians who need but cannot afford legal representation. Atlanta Legal Aid and the Georgia Legal Services Program are the major providers of legal aid in Georgia, and both continued to receive significant support from the Foundation. Atlanta Legal Aid, led by Steve Gottlieb, received $515,000, and the Georgia Legal Services Program, led by Rick Rufolo, received $1,200,000. Both programs are nationally recognized for their excellence.
Eight other organizations providing civil legal services to needful Georgians received grants. Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation received $120,000 for the operation of its Safe Families Office, which provides attorneys, paralegals and social workers to assist women seeking protective orders, family law assistance, holistic support and related help as they deal with intimate partner violence. AVLF is led by Executive Director Michael Lucas, who replaced Marty Ellin in January.
Catholic Charities Atlanta received $15,000 to support its program to represent unaccompanied alien children in removal proceedings.
Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network received $50,000 to support attorney salaries and rent for its program to assist legally those asylum seekers who cannot return to their home countries.
The Georgia Appellate Practice and Educational Resource Center received $120,000 to support its legal representation of people on Georgia death row. Georgia is one of only two death penalty states not providing legal assistance to people on death row.
The Georgia Heirs Property Law Center...
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