COVID-19 Resources for Grantees and Civil Legal Aid Advocates

COVID-19 Updates on Non-LSC Federal Funding

The Justice in Government Project (JGP) and NLADA created a chart that provides information about COVID-19 related federal appropriations, law, and agency guidance relevant to various non-LSC federal funding sources of civil legal aid.

Go to the COVID-19 federal funding chart.

For more information about state-administered federal funds that can support legal aid, including legal aid examples, helpful tips, and language regarding legal aid, go to the JGP Grants Matrix, which now contains information on COVID-19 information and guidance. 

Go to the JGP Grants Matrix. JGP also created a more courts-focused version of the Grants Matrix.

Justice in Government Project COVID-19 Publications and Webinars

• Karlee Naylon, Anna deDufour and Karen Lash published an article in the Summer 2020 issue of the MIE Journal titled, “Civil Legal Aid Funding in the Time of COVID-19”. The article explains how new and old sources of federal pass-through grants can address civil legal problems tied to the COVID-19 fallout and provides examples of states that have incorporated civil legal aid into COVID-related funding opportunities.
• Karen Lash discussed the federal block/formula/open-ended reimbursement funding opportunities that are available to state and local courts navigating COVID-19 in NCSC's Tiny Chat video series. Watch Tiny Chat 3: Federal Pass-Through Funding and read the companion courts-focused Grants Matrix. 
• The ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives and The Justice in Government Project co-hosted a webinar on Civil Legal Aid Funding in the Time of COVID-19. The panelists included: Shubi Deoras (ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives), Karen A. Lash (JGP), Jim Bamberger (Washington State Office of Civil Legal Aid), Patrick Cicero (Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network), and Stephanie Harris (Ohio State Legal Services Association).

Other COVID-19 Media Resources

Voices for Civil Justice can help with media messaging. Utilizing the media can be an effective way to increase awareness of and propel legal aid pitches forward.

Here are some examples of effective legal aid op-eds:

• PLAN Executive Director Patrick Cicero wrote an article for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star on the escalation of the financial and legal crisis COVID-19 in Pennsylvania.

• Tzedek DC Executive Director Ariel Levinson-Waldman’s article in The DC Line on why the District should fully fund civil legal services to confront the coming tidal wave of debt collection cases.

• Katie Dilks (Executive Director, Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation) and Michael Figgins (Executive Director, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma) co-authored an article for The Oklahoman about how legal aid is a front-line responder.

• Mary Fairhurst (Former Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice) and Fred Rivera (Seattle Mariners General Counsel) warned how the coronavirus will overwhelm our civil legal aid system in a co-authored and well-timed article in the Seattle Times.