Current Grantees

$1.1 Million in Grant Funds Put to Work in South Carolina

IOLTA and SC Bar opt out dollars awarded for July 2010 to December 2010

Administration of Justice:

Children’s Law Center: $20,000

The Center will to provide training and technical assistance to juvenile public defenders and attorneys appointed to represent youth in family court juvenile justice proceedings. The Center also will use grant funds to provide training and resource services for both attorney GALs and lay GALs for children in custody and visitation cases.

Law in Action: $10,000

LIA relieves the burden of overcrowding at the Greenville County Detention Center. Through the Jail Project, inmates detained for minor charges are assisted with obtaining pretrial release, addressing their bond situation and improving communication with the courts.

The National Judicial College: $3,970

The National Judicial College uses Foundation funds to train judges so that they may increase skills to better serve their communities. Participating judges are selected by SC Court Administration.

Richland County CASA: $11,250

CASA will use a combination of IOLTA funds and a special allocation from the Bar Foundation’s Children’s Fund to hire a volunteer coordinator position that will help transition the organization as it accommodates the changes in Rule 608. The grant also allows CASA to develop new Guardian training supplies.

SC Access to Justice Commission: $43,350

Created to expand access to civil legal representation for low income South Carolinians, the Commission has three work groups to support its activities – a Pro Bono committee, a Self-Represented Litigation Committee and a Staffed Programs Committee.

SC Bar Ask-A-Lawyer & Clinics Program: $34,396

Ask-A-Lawyer offers general education legal clinics throughout the state, supports the Law School for Non-Lawyers courses and conducts periodic statewide phone/Web blitzes. The Program plans to revise the public services portion of the Web site to make it easier to use for the public. 

SC Center for Fathers & Families Alternatives to Incarceration: $44,020

ATI places non-violent, non-custodial fathers in livable wage jobs so that they can make child support payments and reengage in the lives of their children. Job placement services are provided in tandem with legal assistance, money management training and fatherhood skill development.

Upstate Mediation Center: $12,500

UMC has been meeting mandatory mediation needs in Greenville county family and circuit courts since 1999. As the need for the Center’s services has increased 80 percent, Foundation funds allow the Center to continue existing services.

Civil Legal Aid

Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation: $34,918

The Center delivers comprehensive legal services to low-income persons in need of assistance with heirs’ property issues and also enhances the capacity of attorneys, legal professionals and students to handle property matters. Additionally, CHPP works to increase awareness and resolution of heirs’ property issues in the Lowcountry.

Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse (CODA): $17,628

CODA aids victims of domestic abuse in Beaufort, Jasper, Colleton and Hampton counties. The Foundation supports an attorney and a court advocate who not only assist victims free of charge, but also work to educate court personnel and law enforcement on the dynamics and effects of domestic violence.

Crisis Ministries Homeless Justice Project: $32,500

Crisis Ministries provides civil legal services and social services to more than 200 homeless men, women and families. Funding supports an attorney who provides civil legal services to the homeless as well as workshops for the community and legal professionals in the field of homelessness.  

LowCountry Legal Aid: $25,000

LCLA is a freestanding legal clinic with a niche of providing legal services utilizing the retired attorneys who can practice under Rule 415.

SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center: $65,000

Dedicated to advocacy for low income people through systemic change, Appleseed provides case support and information resource to IOLTA grantees, pro bono attorneys, community partners and legal services staff. NOTE: IOLTA funds do not support Appleseed’s lobbying efforts.

SC Legal Services: $600,000

South Carolina Legal Services is the sole statewide provider of civil legal services to low-income South Carolinians. SCLS has nine field offices and several satellite offices throughout the state. SCLS continues to develop more aggressive advocacy, strengthen capacity of Lead Attorneys and substantive work units as well as increase training opportunities for legal staff.  

Sistercare: $12,500

Sistercare offers legal representation at no cost to Midlands’ battered indigent women and their children. Foundation funding covers a portion of the personnel costs for the advocacy team.

Law Related Education

SC Bar Law Related Education Division: $99,981

LRE promotes the goals of civic education and, at the same time, enhances relationships between the state’s attorneys and students. Programming includes Mock Trial, We the People, LawForKids.org and Youth Court. In any of the offerings, LRE student participants not only learn the value of becoming a positive contributor to society, but also gain knowledge from the attorneys and judges who participate.  

SC YMCA Youth in Government: $7,500

The Program provides civic education and leadership development programs to middle and high school students in South Carolina. Foundation dollars provide scholarship assistance to students at Title One schools and in geographically underserved areas, allowing them to participate in the SC Model Legislature and Court Conference.

USC Pro Bono Program: $12,649

The USC School of Law Pro Bono Program and SC Bar Foundation are proud to announce the development of the SC Bar Foundation Public Interest Fellows project. This year-long effort is being designed to enhance the ability of legal services organizations by placing public service minded students as law clerks within those organizations. Through the utilization of Federal Work Study funds, the project seeks to leverage the amount of money needed for funding the clerking positions.

Foundation grants typically are one-year in duration. The combination of historically low IOLTA revenues and the effective date of the comparability provisions, led the Foundation to pursue six month grants.

Subsequent grants will be made for the period January to June 2011. The current allocation includes additional funds from a reserve fund. We need your help to sustain the work done on behalf of the legal profession by IOLTA grantees.