Grantee Stories

The Alabama Law Foundation administers an annual grants program to fund nonprofit efforts that promote access to civil justice across Alabama. It awards IOLTA-funded grants in three main categories: free legal aid for low-income individuals, projects that improve the administration of justice, and law-related education. Most of the grants go to organizations — especially Volunteer Lawyer Programs and legal aid providers — that offer civil legal services to people who cannot afford them.

In recent years, grants have also supported foreclosure-prevention legal services and education programs, helping thousands of Alabamians navigate complex legal challenges. Together, we can make justice possible for every Alabamian.

Volunteer Lawyer Programs

Volunteer lawyers bridge the gap to provide essential legal representation for the most vulnerable among us, who might now otherwise have access to justice. The Alabama Law Foundation is proud to support the work of these important organizations through our grant program. So far in 2025, programs providing civil legal services for low-income Alabamians collectively received grants exceeding $700,000. Watch the video below to hear from leaders of Alabama’s Volunteer Lawyer Programs about how pro bono service benefits those in need.

YWCA “Justice on Wheels” Program

The YWCA of Central Alabama’s domestic violence services include two shelters, a 24-hour crisis hotline, individual court advocacy, and legal representation. The program serves a three-county area: Jefferson, St. Clair, and Blount counties. Although the city of Birmingham, population 212,237, is located in Jefferson County and considered an urban center, the rural population of Jefferson County is almost double. It is identified as having areas with deep pockets of unemployment and poverty. These characteristics are shared by residents of St. Clair and Blount counties, which also suffer a lack of meaningful social services and present significant social and cultural challenges associated with geographical isolation.

Through its history of serving victims of domestic violence, the YWCA identified the tremendous need to provide legal services to victims of domestic violence who are isolated due to location, poverty, or their living situation. Beyond the obvious issues of protection orders, divorce, child custody, and support, a battered woman often faces other legal obstacles brought about by her financial condition, such as foreclosure on her home or loss of employment.

Director Jennifer Caraway J.D. explains that many women in the rural areas of Jefferson, St. Clair, and Blount counties “have no access to legal services,” and these women often find traveling to an urban center for help is impossible. Often, a victim in these areas has little or no resources to generate income to pay an attorney; some do not have driver’s licenses or cars; some do not have access to telephones. Some fear traveling into a city to access services.

In these cases, the YWCA’s “Justice on Wheels” comes to them. The logistics are simple: A paralegal and an attorney travel by van to safe, public places and meet with women who want and need to leave an abusive situation. The YWCA has utilized community connections to find these locations where the women can safely seek legal counsel. Director Jennifer Caraway explains that women in an abusive situation are often in dire need of legal assistance in dealing with the many problems caused by domestic abuse, such as safety, shelter, child custody, and child support.