Equal Justice After Hours 2015

Thursday, March 26, 2015
5:00-7:00 p.m.

The Temple for Performing Arts
Des Moines

Featuring the Induction of Dave & Trudy Hurd into the Iowa Legal Aid Hall of Fame

Dave & Trudy are passionate and generous advocates of justice – including being long-time supporters of Iowa Legal Aid. They make Iowa a better place by providing leadership for many justice-related issues involving food security, immigrants, refugees, the environment, and the LGBT community. All of their accomplishments promote Iowa Legal Aid’s goal of providing Hope, Dignity and Justice to low-income Iowans.

Tickets: $50

Event sponsorships also available… Contact Terri Bennett at 515-243-2980 x 1611 or tbennett@iowalaw.org

*The Iowa Legal Aid Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Donations to the Iowa Legal Aid Foundation are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Why Iowans Support Iowa Legal Aid

There are several reasons why individual Iowans support Iowa Legal Aid. Some have directly benefited from the services provided by Iowa Legal Aid. Some have family members or friends who received help with their legal problem. Many Iowans believe it is the right thing to do and is part of our state’s tradition of fairness and caring.

The legal community has been Iowa Legal Aid’s most significant source of support. Iowa lawyers donated nearly $2 million per year in volunteer “pro bono” legal services through Iowa Legal Aid’s Volunteer Lawyers Projects. Iowa lawyers and law firms also contribute as professionals who have an ethical obligation to ensure access to justice.

Why Iowa Businesses Support Iowa Legal Aid

Access to the court system for vulnerable Iowans is an important part of America’s promise of “equal justice for all.” In fact, one of the primary criteria for business expansion is the assurance of a fair court system and a commitment to the rule of law. This commitment applies to vulnerable Iowans as much as it does to Iowa businesses and is an important component to a vibrant and stable community. Examples of how Iowa Legal Aid’s work results in benefits to the business community include:

Addressing the devastating personal and economic losses caused by domestic violence. The World Health Organization estimates that domestic abuse costs $5.8 billion a year in the United States, with costs associated with health care, incarceration, loss of wages and reduced productivity.

Helping low-income wage earners avoid consumer problems that prevent them from maintaining their homes and paying their bills.

Assisting persons with disabilities who are unable to work. By helping disabled individuals obtain federal benefits and retraining, the costs to local governments can be reduced thus reducing county property taxes.

How the Iowa Business Community Supports Iowa Legal Aid

In addition to individual donations from businesses and business leaders, there are other examples such as awesome websites which helped the business community significantly. Because of which business community has supported Iowa Legal Aid.

Musco Lighting, an Iowa business with its corporate headquarters in Oskaloosa has been a long-time supporter of Iowa Legal Aid through financial commitments and volunteer service. Musco established a business challenge to encourage other Iowa business to support Iowa Legal Aid. The Musco Challenge matches dollar-for-dollar new business donations.

Principal Financial Group has furthered the work of Iowa Legal Aid by having its Legal Department in Des Moines volunteer to do intake of new clients every Friday afternoon. Principal has made this commitment for over twenty years and has allowed legal aid attorneys to help more clients.

Below is a link to an article that was put out by the John Deere & Company Pro Bono Committee. Iowa Legal Aid was one of the entities recognized in Deere’s pro bono program.

John Deere’s Global Law Services Group provides support to Iowa Legal Aid financially and through pro bono services. Donations from the legal department totaled $10,408 which brought in a like amount that was made available to Iowa Legal Aid through the Musco Lighting Challenge. These donations came from 38 individual members of the legal department.

John Deere’s legal department in Johnston also helps with intake of new clients, the second and fourth Tuesday afternoons of each month in Iowa Legal Aid’s Central Iowa Regional Office in Des Moines.

Washington county residents benefit from new technology

Washington county residents benefit from new technologyIowa Legal Aid is pleased to announce it has received a $2,000 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation. These funds will be used to help purchase a new network server and desktop computers for our Iowa City Regional Office. The new desktop computers will replace old Windows XP computers in response to Microsoft’s decision to no longer support Windows XP. The new network file server will provide compatibility with the replacement Windows 7 desktop operating system. By upgrading to new equipment, Iowa Legal Aid staff will be able to continue to provide high quality legal assistance to low-income Washington County residents in an efficient, reliable and secure manner.

This entry was posted in Current News. Bookmark the permalink.

Low-income patients benefit from legal assistance

Low-income patients benefit from legal assistance

Iowa Legal Aid recently received a $15,000 grant from the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation for its Health and Law Project in Des Moines. These funds will be used to improve the health and well-being of low-income people in the greater Des Moines area through the provision of free civil legal assistance. There are over 50,000 Polk County residents living below the federal poverty level. Many of them will seek treatment for a health problem without realizing there is an associated legal problem or they simply may not have the resources to address the problem. Low-income families often face substandard housing, domestic violence, lack of utility service, inadequate nutrition and inappropriately denied public services and benefits. If their legal problems are not addressed, chances are their health situation cannot improve. The Health and Law Project can help mitigate the personal and environmental conditions preventing low-income patients from achieving health outcomes.

This entry was posted in Current News. Bookmark the permalink.

Union Pacific Foundation helps with technology upgrade

Union Pacific Foundation helps with technology upgrade

Union Pacific Foundation has awarded a $30,000 grant to help fund a $160,000 upgrade to our statewide telecommunications system. The new telecommunications system will replace a phone system that is more than 10 years old and is becoming increasingly difficult and costly to maintain.

An article in Council Bluff’s Daily Nonpareil newspaper on September 16, 2014 can be found HERE.

This entry was posted in Current News. Bookmark the permalink.