American College of Bankruptcy Announces 2019 Pro Bono Grantees
Monday, November 18, 2019
Stanardsville, VA - The American College of Bankruptcy and the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation announced today that they have awarded 50 pro bono grants, totaling $472,330, to legal services organizations located in 22 states, plus the District of Columbia and the territories of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. As one of their missions, the College and its Foundation, through the Foundation's Pro Bono Committee, award grants to organizations providing assistance to individuals and groups in need of bankruptcy-related legal representation, training and/or education. Since 2012, the College and Foundation have awarded over $3 million in grants to these worthy programs.
The grantees for 2019 are the following:
- Access to Bankruptcy Court, Bloomfield Hills, MI
- Brooklyn Bar Association VLP, Brooklyn, NY
- California Western Community Law Project, San Diego, CA
- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- City Bar Justice Center, New York, NY
- Community Law Program, St. Petersburg, FL
- Community Legal Services of Prince George's County, Inc., Greenbelt, MD
- Community Legal Services VLP, Phoenix, AZ
- Conejo Free Clinic, Thousand Oaks, CA
- Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, West Haven, CT
- Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project, Philadelphia, PA
- Dade Legal Aid-Put Something Back, Miami, FL
- DC Bar Pro Bono Center, Washington, DC
- District 10 Pro Bono Program, Bloomington, IN
- Georgia Legal Services Program, Brunswick, GA
- Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project, Dayton, OH
- Illinois Legal Aid Online, Chicago, IL
- Indiana Legal Services, Inc., Indianapolis, IN
- Kentucky Legal Aid, Bowling Green, KY
- Legal Access Alameda, Oakland, CA
- Legal Aid Association of California, Oakland, CA
- Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia, Norfolk, VA
- Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
- Legal Aid Society of San Diego, San Diego, CA
- Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc., Geneva, NY
- Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, Flint, MI
- Legal Services of North Dakota, Bismarck, ND
- Legal Services Vermont, Burlington, VT
- Maryland Legal Aid, Baltimore, MD
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service, Baltimore, MD
- Micronesian Legal Services Corporation, Saipan, MP
- Mid-Shore Pro Bono, Inc., Easton, MD
- Montana Legal Services Association, Helena, MT
- National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center, San Jose, CA
- Neighborhood Legal Services of LA County, Glendale, CA
- Nevada Legal Services, Las Vegas, NV
- Northeast New Jersey Legal Services, Jersey City, NJ
- Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
- Public Counsel, Los Angeles, CA
- Public Law Center, Santa Ana, CA
- Public Service Law Corporation, Riverside, CA
- Rutgers Law School, Camden, NJ
- South Jersey Legal Services, Inc., Camden, NJ
- The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH
- The Pro Bono Project, New Orleans, LA
- Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
- Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, Newark, NJ
- Volunteer Lawyers Network, Minneapolis, MN
- Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association, Boston, MA
- Western New York Law Center, Buffalo, NY
The Foundation has awarded its Michael L. Cook Extraordinary Grant to Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA), an organization which, for over fifty years, has provided legal services to low income individuals living in all 56 Montana counties and on Tribal Reservations. The Committee made this grant based principally on MLSA's request to expand its File-Your-Own-Bankruptcy Project to the more rural and underserved areas of the state, including seven Tribal Reservations.
The Michael L. Cook Extraordinary Grant was created in Mr. Cook's honor in 2016. It is awarded to a legal services organization that offers an innovative and exemplary approach to a previously under-served area of need. A Fellow since 1997, Michael Cook served as Chair and President of the College and Chair of its Board of Regents from 2010-2016, and as Chair of the Pro Bono Committee from 2008-2010.
At the most recent meeting of the College Board of Directors, Marc Levinson, Chair of the Board, expressed his thanks to the leadership of the Foundation and the Pro Bono Committee, and his appreciation to the members of the Committee for having reviewed and analyzed countless grant applications and selected such worthy recipients. He also praised the Fellows of the College for their generous donations, saying it was heartwarming that Fellows continually help fund public service organizations that are doing such important work for those in need.
The American College of Bankruptcy is an honorary association of bankruptcy and insolvency professionals. The Fellows of the College are selected for membership based on a proven record of the highest standards of professionalism and service to the profession, and include commercial and consumer bankruptcy attorneys, bankruptcy and other federal judges, bankruptcy trustees, United States Trustees and other federal officials, law school professors, and others involved in the bankruptcy and insolvency profession. The College offers unique and challenging educational programs and publications, maintains the National Bankruptcy Archives at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and is believed to be the single largest financial supporter of pro bono bankruptcy services in the United States. There are approximately 900 Fellows of the College. The American College of Bankruptcy Foundation is a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization, supported by the College and by tax-deductible contributions from Fellows of the College and others. For additional information about the College and the Foundation please contact Shari Bedker, Executive Director, at sbedker@amercol.org or 434-939-6004.
