Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Awarded Technology Initiative Grant and a Pro Bono Innovation Fund Grant
Posted on: September 25, 2017
From LSC’s site:
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation Receives $250,515 Pro Bono Innovation Fund Grant, $68,119 Technology Initiative Grant
WASHINGTON – The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today that Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation will receive a $250,515 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant and a $68,119 Technology Initiative Grant.
LSC’s Pro Bono Innovation Fund is intended to encourage and expand robust pro bono efforts and partnerships to serve more low-income clients. “We are grateful to Congress for establishing the Pro Bono Innovation Fund to increase pro bono support for civil legal aid,” said LSC President Jim Sandman. “This grant program stimulates more volunteer participation in legal aid and allows our grantees to serve more people.”
This Pro Bono grant will go towards Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation’s Pro Bono Transformation Project. This project will enhance the organization’s pro bono program by centralizing its volunteer lawyers program and undertaking an in-depth assessment of how the program engages in pro bono activities. The goal of the project is to increase the program’s infrastructure capacity, promote better coordination of resources, increase positive volunteer experiences, facilitate greater collaboration, and expand pro bono services for clients.
The grant will also allow Southeast Louisiana Legal Services to create web-based legal resources and upgrade volunteer communication strategies. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation is one of 15 recipients of grants from LSC’s $4 million Pro Bono Innovation Fund
Established in 2000, LSC’s Technology Initiative Grant program supports projects that develop and replicate technologies to improve efficiency and provide greater access to high-quality legal assistance. The program distributes up to $4 million annually to LSC-funded legal aid organizations. Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Corporation is receiving one of 25 technology grants.
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services will use its Technology Initiative Grant to improve its website, LouisianaLawHelp.org. The project will progress in three stages: a website evaluation phase, a site overhaul and redevelopment phase, and a site outreach and marketing phase. It will incorporate many of the recommendations from LSC’s recent statewide website evaluation project with the goal of optimizing the website for use on mobile devices and increasing overall usability.