The Texas Bar Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to CASA of Tarrant County and a $4,000 grant to St. Mary’s University School of Law.
The grant to CASA of Tarrant County will fund recruiting and training of community members to become volunteer advocates for children who are living in foster care settings outside of the community. Volunteers provide children with familiar faces and help to gather information that Child Protective Services, attorneys, and judges need to help achieve what is best for the child.
St. Mary’s will use its grant to encourage pro bono legal work through its Alternative Spring Break Program. Students in the program spend spring break at sites throughout Texas and Washington, D.C., providing legal aid, reviewing wills, and more. St. Mary’s hopes to increase the number of participating students to 90 and to contribute more than 2,500 public service hours in 2020.
“We are grateful for the Texas Bar Foundation’s generous support of our students’ public interest work,” said Gregory Zlotnick, director of St. Mary’s University School of Law pro bono programs, in a press release. “Such a grant allows our students to advance justice and pursue a vocation committed to the common good.”
For more information about the Texas Bar Foundation, go to txbf.org.