The Oklahoma Bar Foundation’s mission is to promote justice, advance legal education and fund critical legal services. Each year OBF receives dozens of applications for assistance from worthy charitable organizations seeking funding. This year’s requests greatly exceeded available funds. Economic conditions continue to exhaust the resources of law-related charitable organizations which struggle to meet ever increasing needs.
The OBF’s Grants and Awards Committee is charged with the consideration of grant requests. The members of the committee review the written applications and then conduct applicant interviews prior to making a final recommendation to the full OBF board. This year 23 programs will receive OBF grant awards totaling 814,500 with an additional 54,500 awarded for law student scholarships, bringing 2008 awards to 869,000.
With the help of generous attorney donors and income from Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) and other invested funds, the OBF strives to meet legal service and law-related educational needs. The 25th anniversary of Oklahoma IOLTA will be celebrated during the OBA Annual Meeting this year. IOLTA was established in Oklahoma in 1983 as a voluntary program and became mandatory in 2004. Of the more than 8.4 million in total OBF grant awards to date, only some 500,000 was awarded prior to establishment of the program. OBF awards have dramatically increased by 2,865,810 since IOLTA became mandatory.
| American Councils for International Education |
$2,000 |
| Oklahoma participation in the Open World Rule of Law programming |
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| Center for Children & Families Inc. of Cleveland County |
7,500 |
| Court ordered supervised visitation and family exchange assistance services |
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| Domestic Violence Intervention Services Inc. |
20,000 |
| Civil legal services and educational programming in Tulsa and surrounding counties |
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| Family Shelter of Southern Oklahoma Inc. |
10,000 |
| Civil legal services for victims of domestic violence in Southern Oklahoma |
|
| Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma Inc. |
450,000 |
| Maintenance of upgrade salary funding and program expansion into satellite regions |
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| Marie Detty Youth & Family Services Center Inc. |
17,500 |
| Civil legal services and educational programming in the Comanche County area |
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| Norman High School National “We the People” Constitution Competition |
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| Oklahoma representation in the final rounds of the competition |
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| OBA Law-Related Education PACE Teacher Institute |
12,000 |
| Program maintenance for presentation of a statewide summer classroom teacher workshop |
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| OBA/YLD Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Program |
50,000 |
| Statewide program presentation and addition of web based seminars |
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| Oklahoma CASA Association Inc. |
10,000 |
| Statewide training conference to provide mandatory training for Court Appointed
Special Advocates staff and volunteers for abused and neglected children |
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| Oklahoma CAAVA Association Inc. |
30,000 |
| Court Appointed Advocates for Vulnerable Adults program maintenance and expansion |
|
| Oklahoma City University Law School, Native American Legal Resource Center |
20,000 |
| Implementation of the Wills Legal Services Project in Western Oklahoma |
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| Oklahoma Indian Legal Services, Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic |
20,000 |
| Support staff maintenance for the provision of free legal tax services and advice statewide |
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| Oklahoma Lawyers For Children Inc. |
40,000 |
| Funding to provide legal representation for abused, neglected and deprived children in
Juvenile Court and at emergency show cause hearings through volunteer pro bono lawyers in Oklahoma county and surrounding areas |
|
| Oklahoma University College of Law |
2,000 |
| Travel expenses for the Law Students for Access to Justice Program participation |
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| Open World Leadership Center |
2,000 |
| Oklahoma representation in the Rule of Law Program and educational conference |
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| Senior Law Resource Center Inc. |
25,000 |
| Free educational outreach program to promote informed, thoughtful incapacity planning
and prevention of elder exploitation |
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| Teen Court Incorporated of Comanche County |
20,000 |
| Program maintenance funding for teen court presentation serving first time juvenile offenders and their peers |
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| Trinity Legal Clinic of Oklahoma Inc. |
3,000 |
| One-time funding to purchase computer equipment for coordination of a program providing legal services to the OKC homeless (supplementing LASO services) |
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| Tulsa Lawyers For Children Inc. |
55,000 |
| Funding to provide legal representation for abused, neglected and deprived children in Juvenile Court and at emergency show cause hearing through volunteer pro bono lawyers |
|
| Tulsa University College of Law Boesche Legal Clinic |
7,500 |
| Immigrant rights legal clinic project utilizing law-student interns to provide civil legal services |
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| William W. Barnes Children’s Advocacy Center |
5,000 |
| Presentation of free educator workshops to train participants to better recognize, respond and report child abuse in Rogers, Mayes and Craig counties |
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| YMCA Oklahoma Youth & Government Program |
4,000 |
| High school officer leadership training program and presentation of the junior high Model Legislative Day |
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