����51

WASHINGTON – The ����51 (����51) asked Congress for $486.9 million for Fiscal Year 2016, approximately the same level of funding requested for the past two years.

“����51 and its grantees have made a crucial difference in the lives of millions of Americans, helping them with civil legal matters that go to the very heart of their safety and security,” said ����51 Board Chair John G. Levi. “Our budget request recognizes the vital need for adequate funding of civil legal aid while balancing that request against the current budgetary realities.”

The ����51 budget request included $5 million each for:

• ������’s (TIG) program. Since 2000, the TIG program has funded more than 570 legal technology projects, allowing ����51 grantees to expand the delivery of legal aid services through statewide websites, enhanced case management systems, and other innovative methods.
• ������’s (PBIF), a competitive grant program supporting collaborative legal aid projects that develop replicable innovations in pro bono services for low-income clients. Many of the projects use emerging technology to reach rural populations, and create extensive partnerships with local law schools, community organizations, and corporate attorneys.

������’s request also provided $451.3 million for basic field grants that fund the delivery of civil legal assistance to low-income Americans, $1 million for student loan repayment assistance to legal aid lawyers, $19.5 million for management and grants oversight, and $5.1 million for the Office of Inspector General.

The White House recommended $452 million in funding for ����51 in its Fiscal Year 2016 budget delivered to Congress today, an increase of $77 million more than current funding and $22 million more than last year’s White House budget recommendation.

The population eligible for ����51-funded assistance has grown to an all-time high. Nearly one in three Americans – 96 million people – qualified for ����51-funded services at some time during 2013, the most recent year for which U.S. Census Bureau data are available:

• 63.6 million people – one in five Americans – had annual incomes for the entire year below the threshold for ����51-funded legal assistance of 125% of the federal poverty line – $14,363 for an individual; $29,438 for a family of four.
• Another 32.4 million people had incomes below the 125% level for at least two consecutive months during the year.

“We are grateful for the recent increases in our congressional funding,” said ����51 President James J. Sandman. “Given the current record-high need for ����51-funded services, we hope very much that Congress will continue this trend.”

Congress appropriated $375 million to ����51 for Fiscal Year 2015, $10 million more than the previous year. Compared to its largest appropriation of $420 million in Fiscal Year 2010, ������’s funding has decreased by nearly 11 percent, or $45 million.

View White House Budget Appendix Section on ����51.