1996 - 1997 Grants 1997 - 1998 Grants 1998 - 1999 Grants 1999 - 2000 Grants 2000 - 2001 Grants 2001 - 2002 Grants 2002 - 2003 Grants 2003 - 2004 Grants 2004 - 2005 Grants 2005 - 2006 Grants 2006 - 2007 Grants

The Illinois Bar Foundation Board of Directors awarded $234,900 to twenty seven not-for-profit organizations throughout Illinois.

Watch a short video overview about our Grants program.

A Woman's Fund
Located in Urbana
Serving Ford, Champaign, Douglas and Piatt Counties
$5,000 to support the Court Advocacy Project, which provides victims of domestic violence legal advocacy and information about the orders of protection process. A Woman's Fund provides a safe, non-violent shelter, two 24-hour crisis intervention programs and support services to survivors of domestic violence as they begin to take control of their own lives.

BUILD, Inc.
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County
$5,000 to support Project BUILD. Project BUILD is the rehabilitation program at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Project BUILD works with youths released from the Detention Center to teach them life skills, such as appropriate behavior, violence prevention strategies and conflict resolution in order to reduce recidivism.

Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic
Located in Chicago
Serving Chicago
$15,000 to support its volunteer program. CGLA provides free legal services in the areas of family, housing and criminal law to low-income residents of Chicago. The CGLA volunteer program trains and empowers hundreds of pro bono attorneys and law students to assist with and to handle Clinic cases.

The Center for the Prevention of Abuse
Located in Peoria
Serving Peoria and Tazewell counties
$10,000 to support its Court Advocacy Program. The Advocacy Program assists victims of violence in their efforts to petition the court for orders of protection. The Center for the Prevention of Abuse is the only agency in the state of Illinois to provide emergency and longer-term housing and supportive services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault/abuse and elder abuse. They serve more than 4,000 individuals affected by violence each year.

CARPLS
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County
$20,000 to expand its legal assistance hotline. CARPLS' legal assistance hotline provides low-income clients with immediate access to legal advice, referrals and brief services and streamlines the legal aid system in Cook County. CARPLS attorneys resolve more than 65% of its cases without the need for further referral, alleviating the burden on traditional legal aid programs designed to provide in-court representation. Through expanding its hotline services, CARPLS hopes to increase its client services to 56,000 people.

Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM)
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County and downstate correctional facilities
$5,000 for its on-site legal aid and client education programs. CLAIM currently provides programs on legal aid and family law matters to mothers in jail and prison, educational programs to help mothers forge sound plans for their children and in many cases avoid foster care placement, and advocacy for more humane policies by raising public awareness and through educating policy makers.

Chicago Legal Clinic (CLC)
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County
$7,500 to support the establishment of the Expedited Child Support Division Desk. CLC provides quality legal services and education to underserved individuals in the Chicago area. CLC will establish an advice desk to provide litigants in the Expedited Child Support Division with pro bono assistance. The new desk is a collaborative effort of the judiciary, the clerk's office and the Expedited Child Support Division.

Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County
$12,000 to fund the Domestic Violence Court Policy and Advocacy Project. This project will help increase the safety of victims by removing guns from the abusers in cases where orders of protection are issued or pending. The Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network helps improve the lives of victims of domestic violence through operating the City of Chicago Domestic Violence Help Line, operating the Centralized Training Institute and leading public policy and advocacy efforts.

Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS)
Located in Chicago
Serving Cook County
$10,000 to support the Chancery Court Access to Justice Program. The CVLS Access to Justice Program assists the judges in the Cook County Chancery Court ensuring that pro se litigants who have meritorious defenses receive assistance and representation in mortgage foreclosures and partitions, subsidized housing evictions and appeals of government administrative decisions. During its first year, CVLS has taken and placed 120 cases.

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) of Peoria County
Located in Peoria
Serving Peoria County
$5,000 to support the expansion of the new CASA program. CASA of Peoria County began in 2005 and currently operates out of the Peoria County Juvenile Court. CASA volunteers are highly trained community volunteers who are appointed by a judge to represent the best interest of abused and neglected children in court. Each CASA volunteer is assigned to one case at a time and serves on that case until it closes.

Constitutional Rights Foundation
Located in Chicago
Serving Statewide
$10,000 to support its expansion of its Equal Justice Under Law program to schools south of I-80. The Equal Justice Under Law program engages students and their peers from diverse education and socioeconomic backgrounds in discussions of the U.S. Supreme Court cases and examinations of public issues. The Constitutional Rights Foundation works with elementary and secondary schools to develop critical thinking skills and to promote a commitment to the rule of law and to encourage civic participation among young people.

Crisis Center for South Suburbia
Located in Tinley Park
Serving South and Southwest Suburban Cook County
$5,000 for its Court Advocacy Program. This program assists victims of domestic violence in the process of obtaining orders of protection. The Crisis Center for South Suburbia provides emergency shelter, a crisis hotline, safety planning, counseling, advocacy and case management for individuals and families victimized by domestic violence.

Crisis Center Foundation
Located in Jacksonville
Serving Morgan, Scott, Cass and Greene counties
$5,400 to increase the services of its Legal Advocacy Program. This program educates domestic violence survivors of their rights and options under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act, and assists survivors in accessing and navigating law enforcement, civil and criminal justice systems.

Family Rescue
Located in Chicago
Serving Chicago
$8,000 to support its Court Advocacy Program. Family Rescue provides comprehensive support services and shelter to victims of domestic violence and encourages prevention through community activities. Family Rescue is the largest single purpose agency in the state serving victims and survivors of domestic violence.

First Defense Legal Aid
Located in Chicago
Serving Chicago
$10,000 for its legal services. First Defense Legal Aid is the only program offering free, around-the-clock legal assistance for individuals in Chicago Police Department custody. Since the Office of the Cook County Public Defender is prohibited from representing clients in criminal matters until appointed by a judge, First Defense volunteers provide legal services to arrestees and detainees at a critical time until a public defender can be appointed.

Illinois CASA
Located in Peoria
Serving Statewide
$8,000 to fund the initial stages of the CASA Community Awareness Program. The Community Awareness Program will help educate the 29 local CASA programs by developing print and digital media and by increasing its web presence. Illinois CASA is the organizing body for CASA in Illinois and is responsible for developing new CASA programs and expanding existing ones.

Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice
Located in Chicago
Serving Statewide
$5,000 for the downstate Pro Bono Conference. The goal of the summit is to stimulate new thinking on how technology and the use of other innovative approaches might engage more attorneys in the delivery of needed pro bono legal services to low-income clients throughout Illinois.

Illinois Judges Association
Located in Chicago
Serving Downstate
$8,750 for its Judicial Intern Opportunity Program. This program offers a $1,500 stipend for full-time summer internships outside of Cook and Lake counties to first and second year minority or financially disadvantaged law students who want to do legal research and writing for state judges in Illinois. This year, IJA expects to provide internships to more than 19 law students.

Illinois Legal Aid Online
Located in Chicago
Serving Statewide
$17,500 to support its Statewide Website Content Management Project. Illinois Legal Aid Online provides comprehensive, internet-based resources for legal aid advocates, pro bono lawyers and members of the public seeking legal information.

Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation (LOLLAF)
Located in East St. Louis
Serving 65 counties in Southern and Central Illinois
$9,750 for its community outreach. LOLLAF is the sole provider of free, comprehensive legal services to low-income people in a geographic area roughly the size of the state of Indiana. LOLLAF will design, print and mail informational brochures that will be distributed to courthouses, social services agencies and other public venues.

Lee/Carroll/Ogle County CASA
Located in Dixon
Serving Lee, Carroll and Ogle counties
$4,000 to support its volunteer recruitment and training efforts. Lee/Carroll/Ogle CASA aims to provide for each abused child they represent, an advocate who, free from heavy caseloads and bound only to protect the child's best interests, will take the time to carefully monitor the case and make sound recommendations to the court.

McLean County Child Protection Network/CASA of McLean County
Located in Bloomington
Serving McLean and Livingston counties
$4,000 to support CASA expansion into Livingston County. A CASA volunteer is a highly trained and managed community volunteer who is appointed by a judge to represent the best interest of abused and neglected children in court. A CASA volunteer gathers information about the child and reports it to the court at every hearing.

Mutual Ground, Inc.
Located in Aurora
Serving Kane and Kendall counties
$5,000 to support its Domestic Violence Legal Court Advocacy Program. Bilingual/ bicultural court advocates provide victims of domestic violence assistance in courthouses in Kane County, the Aurora Branch Court, the Kane County Judicial Center and the Kendall County Courthouse. They are the only provider of court advocacy services in their area.

Prairie State Legal Services
Located in Rockford
Serving Northern and Central Illinois
$20,000 to support its Telephone Counseling Service which is the primary point of access for more than 21,000 applicants for legal services in their service area. Prairie State Legal Services provides legal services to low-income residents in 35 counties in Northern and Central Illinois.

Sarah's Inn
Located in Oak Park
Serving Western Cook County
$5,000 to fund its Legal Advocacy Program. Sarah's Inn's Legal Advocacy Program works with victims of domestic violence in the Circuit Court of Cook County 4^th Municipal District (located in Maybrook) by providing them information about their legal rights, counseling and other services.

Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Located in Chicago
Serving Statewide
$5,000 for the Safe Homes Initiative. The Shriver Center was part of an advocacy team that succeeded in passing the Safe Homes Act. The purpose of the Act is to allow a victim of domestic violence living in rental housing to break her lease early or request an emergency lock change if there is an imminent threat of domestic violence against herself or her family. Under the Safe Homes Initiative, the Shriver Center will help educate advocates and victims of domestic violence about their rights so they can take appropriate action if needed.

The Will County Legal Assistance Program, Inc.
Located in Joliet
Serving Will County
$10,000 to assist with its expansion costs. Will County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, and WCLAP has expanded to meet the needs of the residents. WCLAP provides legal services to low-income and senior citizen residents of Will County.

Grant Screening Committee
Elizabeth Jensen, Chair, Peoria
Dennis J. Beninato, Chicago
Jack Carey, Belleville
John W. Damisch, Chicago
Howard W. Feldman, Springfield
Thomas M. Harris, Jr., Bloomington
Lori G. Levin, Chicago
John G. Locallo, Chicago
George F. Mahoney, III, Joliet
John L. Nisivaco, Chicago
Christine M. Ory, Wheaton
Debra B. Walker, Chicago