State AGs: Congress needs to step up to the plate, increase legal aid for low-income families

A bipartisan coalition of 37 state attorneys general are urging congressional leaders to increase their support for legal aid for low-income Americans.

The nonprofit Legal Services Corporation supports equal access to justice by awarding grants to nonprofit organizations that provide civil legal services to those in need and serves as the nation’s single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans.

“The powerful impact of LSC’s work cannot be overstated, particularly in rural areas that tend to have the highest poverty rates in our country. LSC’s grantees work to provide on-the-ground legal assistance to well over a million Americans annually: veterans struggling to access their benefits, seniors who have been defrauded, children in the foster system, renters facing eviction, victims of domestic violence, farmers struggling financially, individuals facing substance addiction, victims of weather-related events … the list is long and growing, but the legal needs of millions of Americans continue to be unmet due to a history of chronic underfunding,” the attorney generals wrote in a letter to leaders of the House Appropriation Committee and Senate Appropriation Committee.

LSC-funded programs assist those whose household incomes fall at or below 125 percent of federal poverty guidelines; and are an essential component of comprehensive relief in communities ravaged by natural disasters.

Seventy percent of clients served by LSC grantees are women struggling to keep their children safe and their families intact.

“The Legal Services Corporation supports legal aid agencies and performs crucial work for Americans in every corner of the country. Unless this funding is allocated, the legal needs of millions of low-income Americans will be at risk,” Virginia Attorney General Miyares said.