Georgia Bar Foundation Awards $3.7 Million in Grants
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0028 |
BY LEN HORTON
The Georgia Bar Foundation (Foundation) awarded almost $3.7 million in grants at its annual grants meeting on July 21. This was the foundation's first meeting under its new president, Hon. Derek J. White, judge, State Court of Chatham County, and with five new board members.
"This was a significant meeting where our five new board members joined with existing trustees to make many important decisions that will end up helping thousands of Georgians,” said White. "It was also the fifth and last round of Bank of America grants from the settlement funds awarded to the Georgia Bar Foundation. I am proud of how the new board members collaborated with experienced board members to make these grant decisions.”
IOLTA Grant Awards
The IOLTA grant awards to 20 law-related organizations totaled $2,480,100. Georgia's two major legal aid organizations received about 68% of the total IOLTA funds awarded. Atlanta Legal Aid received $505,500 and Georgia Legal Services received $1,179,500, totaling $1,685,000. According to Steve Gottlieb, executive director of Atlanta Legal Aid for more than four decades, "... what makes IOLTA grants so valuable for Atlanta Legal Aid and Georgia Legal Services is the fact that the foundation permits the funds to be used to support lawyer salaries and not just to support specific programs.”
Having received grant awards annually since 1991 except for five years during the Great Recession, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) received $120,000 for its Safe Families Office where AVLF attorneys, paralegals, social workers, support staff and volunteers respond typically to more than 3,500 people annually who are seeking protective orders, family law assistance and holistic support in trying to deal with intimate partner violence.
For the first time, the Georgia Bar Foundation awarded funds to DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (DVLF). Like AVLF, DVLF seeks to pair volunteer lawyers, but with an indigent population in DeKalb County who need legal assistance. DVLF received $20,000.
Catholic Charities Atlanta received $10,000 to continue its work of representing children who have come to the United States without their parents. The Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network (GAIN) received $80,100 to provide legal assistance to asylum seekers and immigrant victims of crime. Specifically, the award will be used to add legal staff.
The Georgia Appellate Practice and Educational Resource Center received $100,000 to support staff and operations to provide legal representation to approximately 42 people on Georgia's death row. Georgia is one of only two death penalty states not fully funding legal assistance to people on death row. Since 2005, the Georgia Bar...
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