A Bittersweet 60th Birthday for Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas
By: Steve Grumm
The good news for Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas is that, this year, it can look back on 60 years of service to low-income Texans. From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
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The group started in 1951 with $500 and an idea that access to justice was not just for those with deep pockets. At that time, 11 attorneys created the Fort Worth Legal Foundation to give free legal advice and aid to people who could not afford legal services.
The Foundation later evolved into Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, which has become the fifth-largest provider of legal services in the U.S. It covers 114 counties, with 100 lawyers in 16 offices in North and West Texas. About 2,000 private attorneys also donate their time, providing over 40,000 hours of legal assistance.
The bad news: the organization has recently lost $700K in funding, and it’s working to pay off expenses related to the opening of a new headquarters building in Ft. Worth.
…[T]he timing of the fundraiser could not be better. Last week, Legal Aid officials learned they had lost $350,000 in funding from United Way of Dallas. That news came on top of a loss of $350,000 in the recently approved federal appropriations bill.
Errol A. Summerlin, Legal Aid’s CEO, said the nonprofit has received funding from the United Way since 1957, and losing all of it came as a “total shock.”
