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News Release
Texas Access to Justice Commission
Texas Access to Justice Foundation
December 11, 2009
Speaker Straus Honored with Star of Justice Award for Access to Justice Efforts
A USTIN,
Texas
The Texas Access to
Justice Commission and Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) presented
the “Star of Justice Award” to Texas House of Representatives Speaker Joe
Straus for his outstanding leadership efforts to help increase state funding
for civil legal services to the poor.
The 81st Texas Legislature approved a $20 million
appropriation for the biennium dedicated to civil legal services to help
offset a dramatic drop in funding due to low interest rates’ affect on the
Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOTLA) program, a primary funding source
for legal aid in Texas.
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) administers the IOLTA program,
and is the largest Texas
funding source for legal aid in the state.
TAJF Board member and San Antonio attorney Lamont
Jefferson presented the award to Straus during the Dec. 10 meeting of the
San Antonio Bar Association. “We could not have obtained funding for
legal services this biennium with the Speaker’s steadfast support.
These funding measures will allow us to keep the delivery system going as
we, hopefully, work our way out of these challenging economic times,” said
Jefferson.
Nearly 40 nonprofits receive grant funds from the
Texas Access to Justice Foundation. In San Antonio, the six nonprofit legal organizations receive
funding from TAJF, include: Catholic Charities of San Antonio, Equal Justice
Center, Family Violence Prevention Services, Inc., Refugee & Immigrant Center
for Education, St. Mary's Immigration Clinic, and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
The services legal aid provides encompass basic civil matters like domestic
violence, child custody, foreclosures, disability rights, etc.
As job losses and a slow economy affect everyone,
poor and low-income Texans suffer disproportionately as
their need for basic civil legal services increase.
More than 5.1 million Texans qualify for legal aid and
there is only one legal aid lawyer for every 11,512
Texans who qualify.
Legal aid organizations help more than 100,000
low-income Texas families each year
with their civil legal needs. However, for every one person helped by legal
aid, a qualifying individual is turned away; there are simply not enough
resources to help everyone who needs the service.
# # #
The Texas Access to Justice Commission was
created in 2001 by the Supreme Court of
Texas
to develop and implement policy initiatives designed to expand access to and
enhance the quality of justice in civil legal matters for low-income Texans.
The Commission has created several initiatives to increase resources and
awareness of legal aid. For more information, please visit
www.TexasATJ.org.
The Texas Access to Justice Foundation (www.teajf.org),
created by the Supreme Court of Texas in 1984, is the primary state-based
funding source for the provision of civil legal aid in Texas. The
organization is committed to the vision that all Texans will have equal
access to justice, regardless of their income. The Foundation administers a
variety of funding sources, which are earmarked to assist nonprofit
organizations in providing legal aid to approximately 100,000 Texans each
year.
Contact: Kimberly Schmitt
512-320-0099, ext. 104
kschmitt@teajf.org
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