LSC Awards Vieth Grants to Support Leadership Development in Civil Legal Aid
WASHINGTON – The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today that nine legal aid organizations will receive grants from its G. Duane Vieth Leadership Development Program. This competitive grant program, now in its third year, supports leadership development in the field of civil legal aid.
Generously funded by the Arnold & Porter LLP Foundation, the program awards grants annually to leaders of LSC-funded legal aid organizations. The program honors longtime Arnold & Porter Managing Partner G. Duane “Bud” Vieth, now a retired partner after having led the firm for 22 years. It also serves to highlight the importance of developing entrepreneurial and business acumen among leaders of civil legal aid organizations.
“Leading a legal aid organization today is hard,” said LSC President Jim Sandman, himself a former managing partner of Arnold & Porter. “It requires deep knowledge of client needs, integration with the community and with other services providers, fundraising capacity, management savvy, entrepreneurship, and top-level leadership skills. I am grateful to the Arnold & Porter Foundation for helping us develop these talents among legal aid leaders.”
The program received 24 applications this year and made the following awards:
California
Legal Aid Society of Orange County
Legal Aid Society of Orange County will receive a $5,876 grant to allow the program’s Executive Director to participate in the One Justice Executive Fellowship Training program, a nine-month program during which faculty from private practice, business schools, and legal aid programs train legal services managers in leadership, human resources, finance, and project management.
Georgia
Atlanta Legal Aid Society
Atlantic Legal Aid Society will receive $8,125 in funding for executive coaching and to hire a leadership management consultant to develop a pilot team leadership program for a core group of managers.
Illinois
Prairie State Legal Services
Prairie State Legal Services will use its $8,064 grant to support an in-house leadership and management training program for the organization’s next generation of leaders.
Iowa
Iowa Legal Aid
Iowa Legal Aid will use a $3,900 grant to strengthen the program’s succession planning. Two assistant/deputy director-level staff will participate in the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute's Community Leadership Program to develop important management skills.
Kentucky
Kentucky Legal Aid
Kentucky Legal Aid will receive a $2,560 grant to support nonprofit management training for the program’s Executive Director at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Center for Nonprofit Management.
Michigan
Michigan Indian Legal Services
Michigan Indian Legal Services will partner with a leadership training and coaching nonprofit with its $8,125 grant. The program’s leadership team will be coached in resource development and helped to develop a comprehensive plan to raise private funds. One member of the team will receive fundraising training at the Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
New Hampshire
Legal Advice & Referral Center
Legal Advice & Referral Center will use a $2,100 grant to support financial management training for the program’s Executive Director at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Executive Education.
Ohio
Legal Aid of Western Ohio
Legal Aid of Western Ohio will use a grant of $8,125 to hire a nationally recognized firm to develop and deliver project management training for up to eight staff members.
Vermont
Legal Services Law Line of Vermont
Legal Services Law Line of Vermont will receive a $3,125 grant to support non-profit management training at Marlboro College for the program’s Executive Director.