Legal Aid Gets $7 Million on its 50th
Joseph Barrios
On a day it celebrated 50 years of giving free legal advice,
Southern Arizona Legal Aid announced it has received two grants
totaling more than $7 million.
One of the grants includes the creation of a Web site with legal
advice for the poor.
A three-year grant worth $6.6 million and a separate technology
grant were announced at a press conference and dinner held Thursday
at Evo. A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse, 405 W. Congress St.
Deconcini was one of the organization's early board members.
Thursday's celebration was the first public even held at the
courthouse. About 100 members of the legal community attended,
including state Attorney General Janet Napolitano and Arizona
Supreme Court Justice Thomas Zlaket.
Both grants come from the Legal Services., a private, nonprofit
corporation established by Congress in 1974 to offer poor people
equal access to the justice system. It's funded through
congressional appropriation.
The $6.6 million grant will pay for staffing operations. The Web
site, which will be created with a $50,000 grant, is intended to
offer legal advice to poor people across Arizona, said Paul Julian,
chief executive officer of Southern Arizona Legal Aid. He said he
wants every poor person in Arizona to have legal help.
"This is another step in trying to realize that. We feel like we
do a pretty good job of helping people who find us," Julian
said.
Julian said that though most people do not own computers, they
can still access them at libraries, schools, and courthouses. He
said the Web site will help bridge the "digital divide" that keeps
the poor from using the Internet as a resource.
Southern Arizona Legal Aid was founded in 1951 as the Legal Aid
Society of the Pima County Bar Association. It offered free legal
advice on civil matters including disputes in small claims court,
divorce proceedings and obtaining Social Security benefits.
Charles Ares, a member of the board of directors in the 1950s,
said the office was kind of a charity operation. . . . a bare bones
operation" in the early years.
Today, staffers and volunteer attorneys help more than 12,000
people every year. The organization has 10 offices in nine
counties.
The group runs a toll free Elder Hotline for people 60 and
older. The group has received national acclaim for advocating
American Indian causes and efforts to protect battered immigrant
women. Both staffers and volunteer lawyers work in city, county,
tribal, state and federal courts across the state.
Organizers said the anniversary is particularly sweet because
the office has survived federal funding crises while similar
organizations have not. In 1995 Congress cut a third of funding to
Legal Services Corp., which caused Southern Arizona Legal Aid to
lose roughly a quarter of its $4 million operating budget.
