The Delaware Bar Foundation – Community Grants Program

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The Delaware Bar Foundation employs a formal grant application process for community organizations and projects that aim to serve its mission of improving the administration of justice in Delaware by providing legal services for our neediest citizens, promoting study and research in the field of law, fostering knowledge of citizenship rights and responsibilities and enhancing public respect for the rule of law. Grant applications should be submitted by March 22, 2024. Decisions should be made in April 2024.

This year the Foundation forged new collaborations and partnerships and supported the following programs:

Delaware Volunteer Legal Services

The Board of Directors of the Delaware Bar Foundation is pleased to announce its grant awards through the FY2022 Community Grants program. Funds were awarded to Delaware Volunteer Legal Services to overhaul its website and create a pro bono portal for volunteering Delaware attorneys. The Foundation is pleased to partner to promote pro bono service by members of the bar.

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La Esperanza

The Foundation is also proud to support a virtual citizenship course for immigrants residing in Sussex County who seek citizenship. Partnering with La Esperanza, this citizenship program had 12 participants complete it. Through La Esperanza’s Immigration Program generally, the nonprofit assisted in supporting the citizenship process for 22 new citizens this past year.

Community Legal Aid Society

The Board of Directors also awarded funds to Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. to provide an eight-week program of workshops to supplement the commercial bar preparation course for civil legal aid attorneys who sat for the 2022 bar examination.
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Camp Barnes

Funds were also awarded to Camp Barnes a summer camp owned and operated by the Delaware State Police that welcomes over 600 campers each summer. The granted funds supported the purchase of all new beds to ensure the safety and wellness of the campers.

Delaware Center for Justice

In the fall of 2021, the Foundation’s Board of Directors approved two grants of funds to the Delaware Center for Justice and Partners for Justice expungement programs. The grant awards pay for the application expenses of previously justice-involved, needy Delawareans. Thus far, funds have been used for record requests, obtaining fingerprints and completing applications for expungement or pardons. The process is arduous, intimidating and expensive to obtain court records. The Foundation is pleased to support this effort by covering application expenses.
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Past programs supported by the Delaware Bar Foundation include:

The Warehouse

Funds were awarded to The Warehouse for its F*(ollow) The Law Program. The Warehouse is a state of the art teen center located in Northeast Wilmington, and a service entity of the WRK (The Warehouse, REACH Riverside and Kingswood Community Center) Group. Teen members consider, evaluate and decide which programs will be offered to their peers within the center. The F*(ollow) The Law program teaches teens how to engage safely and productively with the police. From a traffic stop to encountering a police officer in the neighborhood, the program educates teens about their rights and responsibilities while guiding them on how to avoid any escalation of the encounter. Brian Alleyne, a former Wilmington police officer along with Daniel Logan, a federal prosecutor, walk the teens through various scenarios with role play to show how reactions & actions can be misinterpreted or unwittingly escalate the situation.  The Foundation is proud to support The Warehouse and this program which matches the Foundation’s mission to foster knowledge of rights and responsibilities and promote respect for the rule of law.

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Bryan A. Stevenson School of Excellence

The Foundation is also proud to support the Bryan A. Stevenson School of Excellence, an emerging charter high school located in Sussex County. The school is preparing to open in the fall of 2023 and will be a free public service-learning high school in Sussex County opening with grades sixth and seventh, with a strong focus on academic rigor and social justice. The Foundation is proud to support to this school in Sussex County serving an underserved population.

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Community Legal Aid Society, Inc.

The Board of Directors awarded funds to Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. to provide trial advocacy training to public interest attorneys. In 2021, Delaware has just 45 civil legal aid attorneys available to address all of the civil legal needs of Delawareans living in poverty. This program will provide a three-day training of basic advocacy skills for 24 civil legal aid attorneys who have less than ten years of experience. In partnership with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), the program will include opening statements, closing statements, direct and cross examination, impeaching witness and introducing evidence. The Foundation is pleased to assist in offering this program.

Delaware Center for Justice

The Foundation’s Board of Directors approved a grant of funds to the Delaware Center for Justice for its expungement program. The grant award will pay for the application expenses of previously justice-involved, needy Delawareans. Thus far, funds have been used for record requests, obtaining fingerprints and completing applications for expungement or pardons. The process is arduous, intimidating and expensive to obtain court records. The Foundation is pleased to support this effort by covering application expenses. Previously, the Board awarded funds to DCJ for a juvenile expungement clinic and its annual Visions of Justice conference.
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Seaford District Library

The public’s access to current and accurate legal self-help and forms is critical in assuring that access to justice for all is achieved in Delaware. The Seaford District Library received a grant to purchase access to an online data base for those who live in that district. Through the library website, the database’s resources may be accessed from anywhere, providing Delawareans use of resources on their time and in their own home. The Foundation’s grant also supported the purchase of legal resource books for its collection.

Project New Start

The mission of Project New Start is to create programs and partnerships that assist individuals in transition regain their dignity and contribute positively to their families and communities.

Project New Start operates a comprehensive, no-nonsense, results-oriented occupational skills/job-readiness program for offenders transitioning out of state and federal institutions. The New Start reentry program combats violence and reduces recidivism. Goals include developing marketable skills, obtaining and sustaining employment and developing positive behaviors. Project New Start ‘s recidivism rate is 22% compared to 76% in the state, and over 90% of program graduates have secured employment.
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Combined Campaign for Justice

The Foundation has partnered with the Combined Campaign for Justice (CCJ) to assist them with improved materials to aid in raising funds for civil legal services for the poor.  A video, linked HERE, was created with a grant from the Delaware Bar Foundation.  With this grant, the CCJ was also able to improve their website, www.DelawareCCJ.org,  which enabled online donations and a better user experience.

Since 1999, the Combined Campaign for Justice (CCJ) has been a coordinated approach to fundraising to support Delaware’s three nonprofit legal aid agencies (CLASI, DVLS, LSCD), ensuring statewide and coordinated legal representation to:

  • Reduce domestic violence by helping victims obtain protective orders;
  • Prevent homelessness by defending eviction and foreclosure actions;
  • Eradicate housing discrimination through enforcement of state and federal housing discrimination laws;
  • Advocate for the rights of children with significant disabilities in their schools and communities, and with the government agencies that serve them;
  • Protect disadvantaged people with consumer cases that involve exploitation and fraud.

Delaware Law Related Education Center

Also know as DELREC, this organization is closely aligned in mission with the Delaware Bar Foundation’s mission to foster knowledge of citizen ship rights and responsibilities.  This year, the Foundation sponsored Project Citizen Showcase and Teacher Training, and “We the People” Program. 

These programs focus on the civic education of the k-12 students in Delaware schools. Despite students learning remotely this year, teachers innovated so that students were able to make their presentations virtually and develop public advocacy skills around a civics topic. More information related to these programs can be found on the DELREC website.
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Howard Technical School Job Shadowing

Consistent with its mission to foster knowledge of citizenship rights and responsibilities and enhance the public’s respect for the rule of law, the Foundation embarked on an exciting collaboration with Howard High School of Technology. Since 2012 the Foundation has partnered with Howard High School’s Legal Administrative Assisting Program to host high school sophomores interested in careers in the legal profession at area law firms for an afternoon work/shadow opportunity. Each year 15-20 students visit a variety of legal environments including public interest, state legal agencies and private firms of all sizes, attend information sessions and receive office tours. By all reports, the experience has been extremely worthwhile for the students. As Covid-19 impacted both work and school environments this past year, the Foundation was unable to offer the program in 2020-2021.

Sisters in Success

With a mission to foster a positive, engaged network of leaders who empower justice-involved women in Delaware to overcome adversities, Sisters in Success hosted an event for over 150 residents of Baylor Correctional Institution offered by a steering committee of criminal justice professionals alongside multiple volunteers and support from community partners. The Foundation supported “What Inspires You”, an art project involving 140 participants and volunteers each of whom painted a tile representing a dark side and a bright side image. Led by Michael Kalmbach, Tiernan Alexander and volunteer artists from The Creative Vision Factory, the square tiles were constructed into quilt murals that have been displayed at the Biggs Museum in Dover as well as the Brandywine Festival of the Arts.
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Liberty Day

From the fall of 2014 through 2019, the Delaware Bar Foundation together with the Delaware State Educational Association has funded Liberty Day. This program provided fifth graders in the public school system with a pocket Constitution and their teachers received specialized curriculum to teach the students what is in the Constitution. Designed to spread the message of the founding of our country and provide the children with the knowledge of their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the United States of America, the program was founded in 1996 by the Lions Club of Denver. Since then, the Liberty Day program has grown to distribute over 2 million copies of materials distributed to teachers and students across America.

Senior Lawyer Video Project

Since 2013, the Delaware Bar Foundation has provided funds to assist the Delaware State Bar Association’s committee dedicated to preserving legal history through first person video narratives. Prior subjects have included Pierre S. “Pete” duPont, William Prickett, Joseph Walsh, and many others. These oral histories are available here on the Delaware Bar Foundation’s website.
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Kent and New Castle County Courthouse Mural Project

In 2014, the Delaware Bar Foundation sponsored a mural by foster children in both the Kent and New Castle County Family Court. The artwork reflects the hopes, choices and challenges faced by youth in foster care. The positive messages within the mural include believing in yourself, education and overcoming obstacles. The New Castle County Family Court mural is installed on the third floor of the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington.

Bullying Prevention

In 2012, the Foundation, in partnership with area volunteers, constructed a website to pull together all of Delaware’s materials and resources on bullying prevention for students, parents, teachers and school administration officials. The site included a short film on bullying prevention created by local film producer and screen writer, G. Lloyd Morris of the Morris Project, and was filmed at Howard High School of Technology. In 2017 the Foundation forged a new partnership with Prevention of Child Abuse Delaware (PCAD).  With PCAD’s mission focused on protecting children, marrying the resources of the Foundation’s bullying prevention website with PCAD’s site was a natural fit. These materials and more information are available here.
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CONTACT US

Megan S. Greenberg
Executive Director
704 N. King Street, Suite 110
Wilmington, DE 19801
phone: 302-658-0773
fax: 302-658-0774
Email us here

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