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Tennessee Legal Aid Providers Receive Grant to Improve Pro Bono Services

WASHINGTON— The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today that it is awarding Pro Bono Innovation Fund grants of $73,218 to Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands (LASMTC) and $424,694 to West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc. (WTLS). LASMTC and WTLS are two of 21 legal aid organizations receiving a grant. In total, LSC is awarding $5.4 million to support efforts to expand and improve pro bono legal services for low-income Americans. 

Nationally, half of eligible low-income Americans who seek legal aid are turned away because legal services programs lack sufficient resources. Pro bono services are a vital resource that legal aid organizations funded by LSC draw upon to increase their reach, establishing a vital network of volunteers who can help address the unmet needs of people experiencing issues like eviction, job loss, divorce, debt collection, denial of benefits, scams or natural disasters.   

“Civil legal problems have serious consequences and accessing a lawyer has a huge impact on the outcome of a person’s case,” said LSC President Ron Flagg. “The organizations LSC funds work hard to effectively leverage pro bono services to expand the availability of legal assistance and LSC is glad to support their efforts with these grants.”  

With the $73,218 grant, LASMTC will transform its pro bono services to increase efficiency and impact, fully integrating them with the broader legal services across all eight offices. To achieve this vision, LASMTC will conduct a six-month assessment focusing on staffing structures, integration of services, and technological enhancement to optimize pro bono legal service delivery. The assessment aims to evaluate and improve upon existing processes, aligning pro bono efforts more closely with the needs of both clients and volunteer attorneys.

WTLS will use its $424,694 grant to modernize and enhance its pro bono program, guided by the findings of a recent planning assessment. WTLS aims to address key challenges, such as inadequate staffing, lack of integration and insufficient volunteer support. The organization will focus on building a strong internal foundation and fostering a pro bono culture by hiring dedicated staff, integrating pro bono into core practice areas, developing clear priorities and protocols and improving volunteer engagement. WTLS will also pilot a high-impact expungement clinic to address the region’s urgent need for re-entry legal services.

Since the PBIF grant program began in 2014, LSC has awarded 161 grants totaling more than $46 million. The funding for these awards comes from LSC’s FY 2024 congressional appropriation. Each organization’s grant effort seeks to address critical, unmet civil legal needs by creating solutions to persistent challenges in pro bono delivery systems or exploring new methods of pro bono service implementation. The funds are directed to grantee efforts that are replicable and scalable so that innovative practices at successful programs can have an impact across the country.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 130 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.