Just in time for the holidays, the Board of Directors of the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation (IEJF) approved grants totaling $2,465,000 to 34 Illinois civil legal aid providers.

Grants were made possible with funding from the state appropriation for civil legal aid as well as settlement funds awarded to the IEJF by Attorney General Lisa Madigan.  The civil legal aid appropriation was not funded during the two-year state budget impasse. Reinstatement of this funding was a holiday wish come true.

Sixteen grants were funded by the state appropriation.  The HANA Center is a new grantee. Click to read the grant list.

Twenty-six grants were funded by the settlement funds. Four new organizations were added including the Community Activism Law Alliance, Family Defense Center, James B Moran Center for Youth Advocacy and Working Family Solidarity. Click to read the grant list.

Last year’s settlement fund grant awards provided 21,734 legal information, advice, mediation and representation services to low-income families, seniors and veterans in crisis.  Online legal information tools funded by the IEJF were accessed over 126,000 times.