Nonprofit organizations need to "do more with less" money this year because of a 20 percent reduction in state funding, the head of a legal aid group said.

"We had to cut over $300,000 out of our grant budget," said Leslie Corbett, executive director of the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation. "For all of these programs, it really pulls the vice tighter."

The foundation award about $1.3 million in grants to 14 nonprofit organiations this year. Its board of directors approved the grants last month. Money for the grants comes from the Illinois Equal Justice Act, which created the foundation to distribute the money.

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Flora, Ill. — Judge William Robin Todd, Circuit Clerk Rita Porter and Flora Public Librarian Donna Corry have announced the opening of a new internet-based Clay County Legal Self-Help Center that is designed for use by lower income residents of Clay County who need to go to court but cannot find or afford an attorney to represent them. The Flora Public Library will serve a public access location for the new online Clay County Legal Self-Help Center.

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Legal self-help center can be accessed from personal computers, local libraries.
EUREKA — Legal assistance for low-income residents of Woodford County is as close as their personal computers. Or, absent those, their local library. The Woodford County Legal Self-Help Center came online last week. The website is designed to provide information and answers to questions about simple, civil legal issues.

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For millions of Illinoisans, access to justice in civil cases remains a promise, and a largely unrealized promise at that. To the working poor and the immigrant, the destitute and the disabled, the vulnerable and the forgotten living on society's edges, the steps to the courthouse can be incredibly steep and slippery.

The Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice (ICEJ) felt a sense of urgency for the creation, under the auspices of the Illinois Supreme Court, of a permanent commission responsible for assessing and influencing statewide access issues. (ICEJ is a joint project of The Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Foundation, and funded by the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois. ICEJ's major endeavor has been arranging self-help legal centers in county courthouses and local libraries throughout Illinois.

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The Illinois Supreme Court announced Wednesday the formation of a commission to remove barriers and increase the ease of interacting with courts by those persons who can’t afford lawyers to represent their interests and needs.

It will be known as the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and is made up of 11 persons, seven of whom are appointed by the Supreme Court. The Illinois Bar Foundation, the Chicago Bar Foundation the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation appoint one member each. Those groups are all active in raising and distributing funds to legal aid organizations.

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The El Paso Public Library, the Eureka Public Library and the Illinois Prairie District Public Library will serve as public access locations for the new online Woodford County Legal Self-Help Center. To read more, click here.