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ABOUT US: |
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The Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. began in 1924 with a budget of $600, courtesy of a grant from the Community Chest. The ensuing decades saw modest increases in funding, with the Community Chest, later the United Way, providing the majority of the budget. By 1960, Legal Aid's annual budget was only $50,000, most of which was used to support the salaries of 5 staff attorneys. Then came the civil rights movement and the 1960s. The introduction of the Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs in the mid-1960s not only revolutionized social services programs in the United States, but legal services as well. The Office of Economic Opportunity was mandated to fund local legal aid organizations, allowing them to move from small storefront operations to sophisticated neighborhood offices with multiple attorneys and support staff. The financial and psychological impact was incalculable: by 1971, Legal Aid grew to a staff of 44 attorneys in 5 offices and a $1 million budget. Federal funding for legal services to the poor was institutionalized with the creation of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in 1974. This private entity serves as the federal regulatory body and the federal funding conduit for legal service programs nationally. By 1980, Atlanta Legal Aid was receiving over 75% of funding through LSC. The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 offered a turning point in Legal Aid's funding. Reagan, ideologically opposed to government support of legal services and smarting from his experiences with legal aid as governor of California, propelled severe budget cuts for LSC, and by default, legal service organizations across the nation. Steve Gottlieb's tenure as executive director of Atlanta Legal Aid was only a few weeks old when news of likely dramatic budget cuts filtered down to the organizations. Gottlieb reacted proactively, recruiting Sutherland Asbill Brennan's Randolph Thrower, an elder statesman of Atlanta's attorneys, to help create an annual campaign in 1983. The target audience for the campaign was thousands of local attorneys and Atlanta's many law firms. These attorneys and firms remain Legal Aid's core support. The first campaign was a resounding success, raising more than $150,000. The 2007 campaign marks the 25th anniversary of Atlanta Legal Aid’s fundraising efforts. The private bar and corporate supporters have contributed over $16 million since the campaign’s inception, and the Annual Campaign now raises nearly $1.5 million a year. Through a little careful planning and a lot of hard work, Legal Aid has lessened it reliance on government funding and created a diverse funding mix that now includes the annual campaign, private foundations, and state and local grants in addition to LSC. LSC funding is now only a third of its budget. Major Gifts In recognition of Atlanta Legal Aid's exceptional staff, two attorneys, an anonymous donor and Tom Watson Brown, Atlanta Legal Aid's longest-serving board member, have donated $205,000 for a Challenge Fund to encourage donors to progress to a significantly higher level of giving over a three-year period. The giving period for the current matched phase of the campaign ends in 2007; over $700,000 has been committed. The year-round program allows the donor to commit to a significantly higher annual pledge and, with the help of the challenge fund in the first two years, to gradually “step up” to a larger gift in the third year. Foundations and Grants: Atlanta Legal Aid Society receives grant funding from both public and private sources from a wide range of sources. These donors, who make our work possible, illustrate the broad base of support that we enjoy from public and private sources in the Atlanta area and nationwide. The federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC), our largest funding source, provided about one-third of last year’s income. The Atlanta Regional Commission supported services to senior citizens through the Senior Citizens Law Project and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Fulton County also supported work for seniors in Fulton. The State of Georgia funded the Georgia Senior Legal Hotline and supported our Grandparent/Relative Caregiver Project. The City of Atlanta, DeKalb County and Fulton County supported housing work with Community Block Grant funds. The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council funded ombudsman work through the Victim of Crimes Act (VOCA). Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties supported legal work in those counties while DeKalb and Fulton counties continued to fund the family law pro se clinics we operate in DeKalb and Fulton county courthouses. HOPWA and Ryan White Care Act funded work with people living with HIV. The Georgia Bar Foundation (IOLTA) provided support through funding of attorney salaries. The United Way provided funds for programs to ensure housing stability. The State of Georgia funded work for protection of victims of domestic violence. Private foundations supported our work through specialized projects targeting vulnerable populations. Both the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation and the Charles M. and Mary D. Grant Foundation continued their multi-year support of the Health Law Partnership (HeLP), while the Atlanta Foundation and an anonymous donor through The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta also provided generous support to this project. Trinity Presbyterian Church once again supported the Grandparent/Relative Caregiver Project, as did the Sartain Lanier Family Foundation through a multi-year grant. The Osiason Educational Foundation made a charitable donation on behalf of the Breast Cancer Legal Project, and Primerica through Citigroup Foundation supported Gwinnett Legal Aid’s work in representing clients with housing problems. The John and Mary Franklin Foundation and the John H. & Wilhelmina D. Harland Charitable Foundation continued to help fund TeamChild Atlanta. Through The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc., the Shirley Bolton Fund continued to support the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, and the Giving Mutt Family Fund provided support for Legal Aid’s general program work in the five-county metropolitan area. |
Special Events: For 17 years, Legal Aid has hosted the Run for Justice, a 5k fun run. The November 8th, 2008 event attracted more than 1000 members of the community as runners, walkers and volunteers. The race was moved this year to the beautiful Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur, and once again, we enjoyed perfect fall weather. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart won the firm participation award for the fifth year in a row, and John Marshall Law School came in right behind them. Corporate sponsors and runners raised over $20,000 for the general operating fund of Atlanta Legal Aid Society. To volunteer or sign up, call Angie Tacker at 404-614-3922. Pro Bono Projects:Kilpatrick Stockton and BellSouth Corporation The pro bono partnership of Atlanta Legal Aid with Kilpatrick Stockton and BellSouth Corporation handles adoptions for the Grandparent/Relative Caregiver Project. These volunteers, as well as volunteers from other firms, expand the capacity of Atlanta Legal Aid’s staff and enable many more grandparents and other care-giving relatives to provide stable, loving homes for children whose parents cannot care for them. Since its inception, project volunteers have assisted around 240 families in adopting more than 450 children and obtaining in excess of $1 million in adoption assistance benefits. In 2003, Kilpatrick Stockton co-counseled with Atlanta Legal Aid on filing a federal lawsuit, Harris v. Martin, to ensure the provision of adoption assistance benefits to relative caregivers. In a decision of nationwide importance, the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the government regulation that prevented our clients from receiving adoption assistance because their grandchildren had not been taken into state custody was in violation of federal law.
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP Attorneys at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan have a long history of collaborating with Legal Aid in support of disability rights. In 2006, the firm began to support a paralegal position at Legal Aid to investigate the cases of disabled persons in nursing homes who could live outside of the home, if proper community health care services were provided by the State. That position is now filled by Kathryn Wierville, who comes to Legal Aid with significant experience with children needing special education services. The firm has committed its attorneys to represent cases for these clients using the authority of Legal Aid’s U.S. Supreme Court victory in Olmstead v. E.W. and L.C. Sutherland’s support for the paralegal position is only its most recent collaboration with Legal Aid on behalf of clients with disability rights issues. Sutherland co-counseled with Legal Aid in the Olmstead litigation, and then supported a reverse fellowship for Legal Aid attorney Susan Walker Goico, which led to the filing of Birdsong v. Perdue, to implement Olmstead in nursing homes. King & Spalding and Troutman Sanders The Eviction Defense Project is a partnership between Atlanta Legal Aid and King & Spalding and Troutman Sanders. Attorneys from the firms represent clients in eviction hearings in Fulton County Magistrate Court twice weekly. The project took its first case in July 2001; in 2006 it handled over 55 cases. Many of the tenants that these firms represented would otherwise not have had representation because of Atlanta Legal Aid’s limited resources. Maggie Kinnear, director of Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Tenant Hotline, provides extensive preliminary training and continuing back-up assistance to the volunteers. The Fellowship Program: In 1995, W. Terence Walsh of Alston & Bird arranged to have his firm committed an associate to work at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society for four months. That experience gave birth to the Fellowship Program, and since then, 13 Atlanta law firms have sent associates to Legal Aid for periods of four to six months. Under the program, the firms sponsor associates to work at one of Atlanta Legal Aid's five offices. These associates continue to receive their salary and benefits from their firm and maintain office and library privileges there. Legal Aid gets additional lawyers for an extended period of time, which enables the program to assist clients they might not have had the resources to help otherwise. The Fellows themselves, as Terry Walsh has put it, “obtain eye-opening, career-enriching experiences of inestimable value, and these experiences increase their value to their firm.” An outstanding collaboration between the private bar and public-interest practice, the program immerses the Fellows in a variety of cases and crises, giving them valuable opportunities for court time and for responsibilities that only come much later at a large firm. Sponsoring law firms have learned that the Fellowship Program is one form of pro bono service that rewards them, as well as the recipient, in many ways. In addition, the end of 2006 marked the first anniversary of our Breast Cancer Legal Project, a two-year Equal Justice Works fellowship funded by Ford & Harrison and staffed by Haley A. Schwartz. The Cancer and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Legal Initiative and the Breast Cancer Legal Project served 214 clients. Also in 2006, our Mental Health and Disabilities Unit paralegal staff was expanded to include Kathryn Wierville, who works on a special project surveying nursing home residents regarding community placement. Her paralegal fellowship is generously supported by one of our community partners, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.
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