Boston Bar Foundation Awards Adams Ball Grants

The Boston Bar Foundation today announced the distribution of proceeds from the 2007 John and Abigail Adams Benefit Ball.  The BBF awarded six grants totaling $205,000 to non-profit organizations and projects that provide civil legal services to low income and underserved populations in Greater Boston.  The BBF also awarded a $65,000 grant to the Boston Bar Association from the proceeds of the Adams Ball to support over two dozen public service and pro bono projects administered by the BBA’s Community Affairs department; these initiatives engage over 1,000 lawyers annually in community service activities in Greater Boston.

BBF Adams Benefit Ball Legal Service Grants:

Action for Boston Community Development - $40,000
Housing & Homelessness Department Stabilization and Prevention

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) provides multi-faceted services in order to enable low-income families and individuals to move towards self-sufficiency.  The Stabilization and Prevention program aims to sustain tenancies of low- to moderate-income households by assisting clients in the search of affordable housing.  ABCD also connects clients with other supportive human services or healthcare agencies.  The project provides advocacy in housing court, mediation with landlords, and educates household members on their rights as those rights pertain to legal proceedings, evictions, and appeals.

Boston Medical Center: Medical Legal Partnership for Children  - $25,000
Healthy Homes for Healthy Families

The Medical Legal Partnership for Children (MLPC) is a hospital-based legal services program that ensures that low-income families’ and children’s basic needs for food, safety, housing, and health care are met.  Healthy Homes for Healthy Families, in collaboration with the Volunteer Lawyers Project, works to screen for, identify, and respond to health-related housing problems such as conditions of disrepair, the need for disability and/or safety-based transfers, and threats to ongoing utility service.  The project places pro bono volunteers and other providers of legal services within the clinical setting.

Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC) - $35,000
Expanded Pro Bono and Staff Legal Services Project for Immigration Law

CLSACC uses volunteer professionals to provide free civil legal aid and affordable psychological counseling to low-income clients and their children, in order to meet basic human needs for safety, income, health, and housing.  CLSACC’s Immigration Law project provides free civil legal services to low-income refugees and immigrants who are seeking legal status in the United States.  The requested funding would expand the project to meet an emergency gap in services for asylum clients, particularly those seeking U visas under VAWA.

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), in collaboration with Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC), Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), and National Consumer Law Center (NCLC)  -  $80,000
Foreclosure Prevention Collaborative Initiative

The Foreclosure Prevention Collaborative Initiative is a project being launched by four major legal services providers, and will take a multi-pronged approach to address the foreclosure crisis affecting low-income homeowners and tenants.  The project will provide individual representation, brief service and advice, community legal education, and impact work. 

Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness - $20,000
Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization Referral Project

Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness (LCAHH) promotes the development of affordable housing and attempts to reduce homelessness and strengthen communities by providing pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations as well as to individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.  LCAHH will work with two existing programs to identify homeowners facing foreclosure and to refer them to pro bono attorneys.  As part of the project, LCAHH will recruit, train, and match lawyers with homeowners.  The goal of the Foreclosure Prevention Project is to allow some homeowners to save their property, and to assist those giving up their property with obtaining alternate housing and avoiding the debt usually associated with foreclosure. 

Political Asylum/Immigration Representation - $5,000
Immigration Court Pro Bono Project

The Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project is a non-profit that works with the Boston-area legal community to serve the legal needs of detained and non-detained asylum seekers and other indigent immigrants.  The Immigration Court Pro Bono Project offers legal screening, pro bono representation, and consultations to low-income immigration detainees in removal proceedings.  It provides legal, medical, and psychological services to refugees and survivors of torture and other trauma.

BBF Adams Benefit Ball Public Service Grant:

Boston Bar Association Department of Community Affairs - $65,000

The BBA Department of Community Affairs bridges the gap between the local community and the Boston legal community through more than twenty public service, leadership development, and pro bono initiatives.  The BBA facilitates member participation in programs such as the Boston Housing Court Lawyer for the day program, the BBA Summer Jobs Program, the Family Court Limited Representation Pro Bono Project, and the BBA Public Interest Leadership Program.