Four Illinois Democrat members of Congress -- Mike Quigley, Danny Davis, Tammy Duckworth and Bill Foster -- recently announced that LAF (formerly Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago) will receive a 24-month, $239,207 Pro Bono Innovation Fund grant to help improve services for low-income seniors.
“Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago does amazing work, helping people living in poverty with free professional legal services,” Quigley said. “The grant funding that LAF is receiving will help seniors obtain legal services in their time of need, and will expand access to legal information through the use of text messaging. The promise of justice for all is an empty one without access to legal assistance, and I will continue to advocate for grants such as these through my role on the House Appropriations Committee.”
Planning for incapacity is an important legal service for Chicago’s seniors. LAF will partner with the Center for Disability and Elder Law to adapt their pro bono workshop to help low-income seniors access important services, including powers of attorney for health care and property, living wills and transfer on death instruments.
Current local resources are inadequate to help this growing population. In collaboration with Illinois Legal Aid Online, the new project will create an eLearning curriculum that will be available to any volunteer attorney in Illinois.
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