Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation Awards $2.7 Million to Dallas Metro Area Groups to Provide Legal Aid to the Poor.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Five nonprofit organizations in the Dallas Metro Area will receive grants totaling $2.7 million from the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation to provide civil legal assistance, such as advice or representation, to individuals who cannot afford attorneys. The Foundation will disburse $11.8 million statewide to providers of legal aid over the 2005 grant year.

AIDS Outreach Center will receive $25,000; Catholic Charities of Dallas will receive $164,589; Dallas Bar Association Community Service Fund will receive $68,981; Dallas Legal Hospice will receive $70,555; and Arlington-based Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas will receive $2,404,071. Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas is the primary provider of legal aid for the Northwest Texas Service Area, which is composed of 106 counties, including Dallas, Lubbock, Midland, Potter, Tarrant and Tom Green.

In addition to the organizations located in the Dallas Metro Area, the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation allocated $68,792 to Austin-based Advocacy, Inc. to provide legal assistance to people with disabilities in the Northwest Texas, including Dallas and Tarrant counties.

The Supreme Court of Texas created the Foundation (www.teajf.org) in 1984 to administer funds earmarked for the provision of civil legal aid to low-income Texans. Currently, the Foundation manages funds from the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program; the Basic Civil Legal Services (BCLS) Program, a court filing fee add-on; the Crime Victims Civil Legal Services (CVCLS) Program; and private donations.

Unlike the criminal system, Texans facing civil legal problems are not guaranteed an attorney. Each year, legal aid organizations assist more than 100,000 poor Texans with their civil legal needs in matters such as protection from domestic violence, access to medical care and landlord-tenant issues.

"Legal aid advocates work tirelessly to provide much needed civil legal services to the most vulnerable people in our society -- from the elderly to the abused to those with disabilities," said Lisa Melton, director of grants for the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation. "With these grant funds, legal aid organizations can continue their wonderful work of providing access to justice for those in seemingly hopeless situations."

To be eligible for legal aid under IOLTA and BCLS funding, an individual must not earn more than $11,638 per year. To be eligible under CVCLS, an individual must not earn more than $17,456. However, because the need for legal services is so great, legal aid groups only meet about 25 percent of the legal needs of poor and low-income Texans According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 293,000 Dallas County residents, or 13 percent of the county population, live below poverty level. Eleven percent of the Tarrant County population, or 150,000 residents, live below poverty level.

For a complete list of TEAJF 2005 grant awards, go to www.teajf.org.