WASHINGTON—The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced on Nov. 16 that it is awarding 33 Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) totaling $5.1 million. The TIG program supports civil legal aid organizations in leveraging technology to deliver high-quality legal assistance to low-income Americans. This year, 29 organizations are receiving TIG funding.
Established in 2000, the TIG program distributes grants annually to LSC-funded legal services providers. LSC has awarded 892 grants since the program’s inception—totaling more than $86 million to fund legal technology projects.
The Michigan grants are:
Lakeshore Legal Aid (LLA): Grant: $275,000
LLA will upgrade the JusticeServer case management system to improve intake and foster more effective advocate-client communication. The project includes developing customizable workflows for JusticeServer’s Intake Wizard that would streamline intake based on responses to relevant questions and upgrade the texting feature to display message threads like SMS, improving response times.
Legal Services of Eastern Michigan (LSEM): Grant: $110,404
LSEM’s Fair Housing Center (LSEM FHC) developed and launched a mobile-friendly web application for managing fair housing testing using prior TIG funding. The application allows testers to submit accurate, timely reports from mobile devices. LSEM FHC has implemented the application program-wide with positive feedback. This new funding will expand free access to this successful application to other centers working to advance fair housing.
Michigan Indian Legal Services (MILS): Grant: $34,410
MILS will conduct a technology assessment and security audit to address infrastructure and staffing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. The goals include leveraging technology to improve staff collaboration and workflows, while enhancing security and data protection.
The project will evaluate systems and functions like backups, malware prevention and remote access. It will also assess IT staffing needs and update policies and training.
