NCJ Number
247211
Date Published
April 2014
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This report profiles the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable "Toolkit," an online tool that provides guidance on ways in which civil legal services can improve Federal strategies for serving vulnerable and underserved populations.
Abstract
The legal Aid Interagency Roundtable consists of 17 Federal partners in a collaboration to serve the Nation's poor and middle class by providing civil legal aid to people who cannot afford attorneys to represent them in legal matters that involve access to health, housing, education, employment, family stability, and community well-being. Such legal aid can prevent case outcomes that would be harmful not only to the client but also to the larger society. The online "toolkit" consists of three sections. One section provides basic information on the nature of civil legal aid, whom is served, and some of the common barriers to accessing civil legal aid. The second section presents civil legal aid "case studies," which involve common challenges faced by vulnerable populations, examples of Federal responses to these challenges, and examples of ways in which civil legal aid supports the efforts of Federal agencies involved in the Roundtable. Among the vulnerable populations served by Federal agencies are veterans and those serving in the military; victims of domestic violence; children excluded from school; the homeless and those under the threat of homelessness; those needing access to health care; and those with criminal records attempting to reenter society. The third section of the toolkit lists by agency selected grants and programs for which civil legal aid providers are eligible for grants or sub-grants. Also listed are other examples of Federal Government activities that engage civil legal aid.