Generous contributions from lawyers, judges, and others have made possible $35,000 in grant money from the State Bar of Michigan's Access to Justice (ATJ) Fund to support projects that address the critical civil legal needs in our state.

The Michigan State Bar Foundation, which receives and manages the funds and their distribution, recently awarded the fourth round of grants to the following six non- profit agencies:

• EMU/Washtenaw County Legal Resource Center (LRC) received $9,000 toward start-up costs of a community legal assistance center. The LRC will use attorney-supervised paralegal students from Eastern Michigan University to help pro se patrons with legal forms, provide legal information and make referrals to legal aid or local lawyer referral as well as to non-legal community support agencies.
• Underground Railroad's Civil Legal Assistance Program was awarded $9,000 to expand services through a collaborative of six domestic violence shelters in mid-Michigan to assist low-income victims needing legal help with domestic violence and other family law problems.
• Elder Law of Michigan was given a grant of $7,000 for the Michigan Caregiver's Legal Hotline to provide legal information, advice, brief services, and referrals over the telephone to low-income people who face legal issues related to caring for an elder. The grant will help toward matching dollars needed for federal funding.
• University of Detroit Mercy School of Law received $3,000 for the Mobile Law Office Outreach Project, a donated motor home that travels to low-income neighborhoods, including non-English speaking communities, to offer legal advice, counsel, and intake for additional representation. The project uses attorney-supervised law students and pro bono lawyers to assist with legal education presentations and other services.
• Lakeshore Legal Aid was awarded $5,000 for the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Education Outreach Project to work with other agencies in updating legal education and pro se materials for grandparents raising grandchildren and to develop training on this topic for human service personnel who work with seniors.
• Free Legal Aid Clinic at Wayne State University received a grant of $2,000 toward costs of software and additional monitors to go with donated computers to increase the number of workstations available for attorney-supervised law students assisting low-income clients with family law matters.

Since 2000, a total of $165,000 in ATJ Fund grants have supported 19 innovative projects to help serve low-income families who have no where else to turn with problems such as protection from family violence, recourse from unscrupulous contractors, access to medical care, support for children, and other critical civil legal needs.

Visit www.atjfund.org for more information including possible tax benefits for ATJ Fund contributions and options for lifetime gifts and bequests. Contact Candace Crowley or Lesa Smith at the State Bar of Michigan at 1-800-968-1442 for details.