The IEJF grant budget for fiscal year 2007 was $3,325,000. Over the course of the year, the IEJF was able to award an additional $30,000 in grants due to investment income. The grant total as of June 30, 2007 was $3,355,000.

Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic (Chicago)
To assist hundreds of low-income people with their family law problems ($30,000);

To assist individuals wishing to expunge arrest records and/or seal non-violent, misdemeanor convictions in order to obtain employment and economic self-sufficiency ($30,000).



Casa Aztlan (Chicago)
To establish the Aztlan Legal Information Center to serve the civil legal information needs of the low-income Latino community in Pilsen ($30,000).



Catholic Charities (Chicago)
To expand the Legal Assistance and Resource Center’s telephone legal advice and referral service for low-income people with civil legal issues ($10,000).



Center for Conflict Resolution (Chicago)
To assist thousands of people throughout Cook County in resolving a wide array of disputes through mediation ($135,000);

To plan, in partnership with the Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems, a statewide initiative for the development of mediation programs outside of Cook County that serve the needs of low-income residents ($7,500).



Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (Chicago)
To provide outreach and legal information on education rights to homeless parents, youth and children ($15,000).



Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. (Chicago)
To support pro se guidance in employment discrimination settlement conferences via the Settlement Appointment Program in federal court ($30,000).



Chicago Legal Clinic (Chicago)
To provide education, resources and referrals for Cook County residents faced with foreclosure proceedings at an Advice Desk in the Cook County Circuit Court ($69,150);

To provide legal representation on family law matters to Latina victims of domestic violence in the South Chicago community ($25,000).



Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (Chicago)
To protect hundreds of children by serving as Guardian Ad Litem in Cook County probate guardianship cases ($50,000);

To support the Access to Justice Program in its appointed representation of low-income families facing foreclosure, subsidized housing eviction and other Chancery Court matters at the Richard J. Daley Center ($50,000).



Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services (Chicago)
To help thousands of low-income people in Cook County by providing legal advice, self-help materials, guidance on how to use the court system and referrals through a telephone hotline ($263,500);

To assist unrepresented parties with advice, information and form preparation at the Domestic Relations Self-Help Desk ($35,000) and at the Collections Self-Help Desk ($35,000) in the Cook County Circuit Court.



DePaul College of Law Asylum & Immigration Clinic (Chicago)
To support the Legal Resources Project For Immigrant Services Providers plans to identify the most effective means of delivering legal information to low-income immigrants and refugees through its network of local community-based organization partners ($10,000).



Equip for Equality (Chicago, Rock Island, Carbondale & Springfield)
To provide legal information on the American with Disabilities Act, special education and guardianship to people with disabilities across the state through the Training Institute ($65,000);

To provide legal advice, information and referrals on Special Education legal issues via a telephone helpline ($70,000).



Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice (Downstate)
To support the convening of a conference dedicated to diversifying pro bono options in downstate communities with the goal of increasing pro bono participation and client service in those regions ($1,500).



Illinois Legal Aid Online (Statewide)
To support a Statewide Virtual Self-Help Center that provides Illinois residents with user-friendly online legal resources and interactive forms to help them better resolve their legal problems and which coordinates, supports and provides technical assistance to self-help and legal information projects across the state ($204,250).



Immigration Project (Granite City)
To support monthly legal information and advice clinics in nine downstate communities with large immigration populations ($50,000).



Kankakee Center for Conflict Resolution of the Victims Assistance Center (Kankakee)
To assist people throughout Kankakee County in resolving a wide array of disputes through mediation ($37,500).



Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation (Alton, Champaign, East St. Louis, Carbondale and Springfield)
To serve thousands of low-income people in 65 counties in central and southern Illinois by providing legal advice, self-help materials, guidance on how to use the court system and referrals through a telephone hotline ($260,000);

To help elderly people in 25 counties in central and southern Illinois by providing legal assistance for elder abuse and neglect, guardianship, health and long-term care issues and consumer matters through senior centers, nursing homes and home visits ($50,000);

To provide low-income people in 65 counties with representation on family and housing law cases ($370,000);

To provide information and assistance to low-income people with landlord/tenant issues in Madison, Morgan and Sangamon County Circuit Courts and to provide instruction on divorce to self-represented litigants in the southern and eastern regions of the state ($9,000);

To coordinate legal information centers in the Madison and Sangamon County Circuit Courts and to develop similar centers in Macon & Jefferson County ($60,000).



Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing (Chicago)
To support a Pro Bono Coordinator and a Legal Assistant position to increase and improve pro bono representation of low-income defendants facing eviction and other housing matters ($17,000).



Legal Aid Bureau of Metropolitan Family Services (Chicago)
To protect and support families on the south side of Chicago in which grandparents are assuming full-time parenting roles and to protect seniors abused by guardians and caregivers ($58,000);

To support an attorney position to provide legal advice, information and representation on housing and consumer issues to low-income people served by the Calumet and Midway service offices ($32,000).



Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (Chicago)
To support the Pro Se Divorce Clinic, a series of classes taught in English and Spanish to guide low-income people to represent themselves in uncontested divorces ($17,500);

To support a bilingual domestic violence/family law attorney in the Northwest Chicago Office to focus on the needs of Latina immigrant families ($30,000);

To protect elderly people throughout Cook County against consumer fraud by providing information and legal assistance ($55,000);

To help low-income families with housing legal issues in the south suburbs ($45,000);

To help victims of domestic violence in 22 western Cook County suburbs by providing information, advice and legal assistance ($45,000);

To provide legal assistance on family and housing issues to families in the north and northwest suburbs of Cook County ($33,500);

To provide legal representation for public housing tenants affected by the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation ($45,000); and

To provide legal services to families victimized by rescue fraud via the Home Ownership Preservation Project ($55,000).



Life Span Center for Legal Services (Chicago)
To provide domestic violence and family law assistance to battered immigrant women in Jefferson Park ($50,000).



Midwest Center for Law and the Deaf (Statewide)
To produce video/web-friendly content in American Sign Language to help deaf and hard of hearing people use the court system more effectively ($15,000).



National Immigrant Justice Center (Chicago, Berwyn, Waukegan)
To educate immigrants on consumer and immigration issues in partnership with Instituto del Progresso Latino ($50,000).



Prairie State Legal Services (Carol Stream, Waukegan, Galesburg, Peoria, Ottawa, Batavia and St. Charles)
To serve thousands of low-income people in 35 counties in northern and central Illinois by providing legal advice, self-help materials, guidance on how to use the court system and referrals through a telephone hotline ($260,000);

To provide representation to victims of domestic violence and families in crisis, families with housing emergencies,  victims of consumer fraud and senior citizens in northern and western Illinois ($325,000):

To assist in the development of Legal Information Centers in courthouses in Kankakee, McLean and Winnebago counties ($63,300). 



Pro Bono Center for Disability and Elder Law (Chicago)
To support Pro Bono Coordinator positions to provide legal services to elderly people in Chicago ($30,000).



Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law (Statewide)
To educate domestic violence survivors, social service providers and landlords on the provisions of the Illinois Safe Homes Act, which takes effect January 2007 ($30,000).



Southern Illinois University School of Law Foundation (Carbondale)
To help low-income families and children resolve custody and visitation issues by providing mediation services through its Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic in nine counties in the First Judicial Circuit ($21,750);

To serve thousands of people in southern Illinois by providing access to legal information by mail, via the internet and a community outpost ($16,350); and

To educate immigrants on their legal rights via a program at the Ullin Tri-County Detention Center and via naturalization classes in the Carbondale community ($1,200).



Will County Legal Assistance Program (Joliet)
To support victims of domestic violence in Will County by providing comprehensive legal services to facilitate permanent escape from abuse ($25,000);

To provide representation to families in housing crisis and to low-income people impacted by consumer fraud ($25,000).