FFLA: Children's Legal Services Grant

The FFLA: Children's Legal Services grant supports legal assistance for needy children in Florida, focusing on areas such as foster care, health benefits, and educational needs. Established by the Florida Bar Foundation in the 1990s, this program encourages local collaboration and matching funds. Recent grants ranged from $25,000 to $315,000, and the program also seeks to engage private attorneys in pro bono services. Applications open July 1 for a January 1 – December 31 funding period.

Recognizing that children have special legal needs, and that those needs were going largely unmet, The Florida Bar Foundation (now FFLA) began funding grants for legal assistance to children in the early 1990s.
The mission of Children’s Legal Services is to provide legal assistance to needy children in critical areas that affect their safety, well being and future development. This mission is promoted through an annual competitive grant program centering on, but not limited to, legal assistance to foster care children, children seeking and in need of health benefits and children needing special educational assistance.
Grants are awarded to children’s legal services programs throughout Florida, both statewide and local. Through this grant program, FFLA also seeks to engage private volunteer attorneys in the provision of legal assistance to needy children by the funding of pro bono programs. The funding criteria established by FFLA for these grants are designed to encourage local matching funds and collaboration with other agencies providing services to children and among children’s legal services grantees.
Grant Amount
Grant amounts vary based on available funding. For the most recent grant cycle, the minimum grant award was $25,000 and the maximum grant award was $315,000.

Eligibility

Qualified grant applicants must:Be non-profit entities, tax-exempt and qualified to receive charitable donations within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code;Operate within the state of Florida;Have an audit mechanism that provides accountability of Foundation funds;Agree to satisfy all the Foundation’s reporting requirements, including the submission of audited financial statements;Have a primary purpose of providing legal services to low-income Floridians; or a primary purpose that advances the administration of justice in FloridaBe current in all filings required to be made by it with any governmental authority;Maintain open records;Be an equal employment opportunity employer; andBe able to demonstrate that it can utilize any funds granted to it in a manner consistent with rules and policies adopted by the Board of Directors of FFLA.

Ineligibility

Grants are not awarded to individuals.