Bay Area Legal’s Disaster Relief Team Will Receive $800K from Legal Services Corporation

The 3-year grant will support a new statewide Disaster Relief Helpline, an educational video series, and more.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced that it is awarding $38 million in grants to 19 civil legal aid organizations in regions impacted by natural disasters. Bay Area Legal Services will receive $800K over three years to fund new projects like a statewide FL Disaster Relief Helpline.

“We are so grateful that Bay Area Legal Services has been selected as a grantee of LSC’s disaster appropriation funds,” said Jena Hudson, Managing Attorney of our Volunteer Lawyers Program and the Disaster Relief initiative. “This award will allow us to continue the impactful disaster relief work that our organization has been providing through our dedicated Disaster Relief Team. Educating the Bay Area community in disaster preparedness and resilience will help families lessen the impacts caused by future storms.”

The helpline, which has been supported by the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division and the ABA Young Lawyers Division, will be available to eligible disaster relief survivors during “blue-sky” periods to help with disaster-related legal problems.

“Having a dedicated “blue skies” Disaster Relief Helpline will allow us to fill a gap in disaster relief services statewide, especially during times when traditional disaster relief and long-term recovery organizations have expended their funds and are no longer able to provide services with ongoing needs.”

The funding will also support a training video series and interactive web-based content to enhance community disaster education and resilience. This will be done in conjunction with our partner, Legal Services of North Florida. The Disaster Relief Team will also use the funding to design and offer expert training and mentoring of other legal aids in Florida and other states to set up and sustain a dedicated Disaster Relief project.

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About Legal Services Corporation
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 132 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

About Bay Area Legal Services
Bay Area Legal Services is a nonprofit law firm of skilled, professional attorneys whose objective is to help the most vulnerable members of our community. Our track record of legal success is enhanced by a culture of caring for the people we serve. We protect the legal rights of children in foster care, give veterans access to mental and physical health benefits, protect seniors from scam artists and abusive family members, ensure domestic violence survivors have the legal protections they need, and much more. Our clients do not have the means to hire private attorneys. Please visit us at bals.org.