The Maine Bar Foundation, an organization of 3,100 lawyers licensed to practice in Maine, announced the recipients of its 2009 discretionary grants. The grants total $203,950, and are dedicated to providing legal services to the poor and supporting the administration of justice programs, the organization says.
The recipients of this year’s grants are: Coastal Enterprises Inc.; Juvenile Justice Clinic at University of Maine School of Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic; KIDS Legal-Medical Collaborative; Legal Services for the Elderly; Maine Administration Office of the Courts; Maine Equal Justice Partners; University of Maine School of Social Work Center on Aging; and the York County Shelter.
According to M. Calien Lewis, the foundation’s executive director, the foundation is Maine’s only statewide nonprofit devoted exclusively to law-related charitable work. The MBF get 96 percent of its funding from the IOLTA Program it manages.
Realizing that people in Maine are in greater need in terms of finding help with foreclosures, heating assistance, education, health care and protection from domestic abuse, the foundation has made a commitment to use its reserve funds to keep funding level for the next two years, according to a press release.