Grantees Events

Foundation Convenes Grantees
On January 16 and 17, 2008 the Foundation welcomed all IOLTA-funded organizations for an inaugural grantee gathering. Kelly Carmody, President of Carmody and Associates, served as the conference facilitator. Carmody has more than 25 years experience in the civil justice system on a variety of issues including program assessment, delivery system improvements, loan repayment programs and project development.

The two-day workshop began with an in-depth introduction process that allowed each grantee to speak about current projects and how they utilized IOLTA dollars. Though grantees have been aware of other organizations, this was the first formal attempt to bring together each of the groups working under the IOLTA umbrella.

Civil legal aid and administration of justice grantees discussed how to coordinate community education materials as well as how to make connections with each other in regard to client outreach. It was discovered that there are many opportunities to join forces when educating clients including the coordination of brochure publication.

The law related education grantees started a dialogue which resulted in identification of ways in which the programs could learn from each others experiences. In addition, the groups begin to discover ways for program offerings to feed into the offerings of a sister LRE program.

Day one of the workshops concluded with a presentation on volunteer recruitment – a common theme for all IOLTA grantees. The session was led by staff and volunteers from Richland County CASA and focused on an IOLTA-funded minority recruitment effort that received national acclamations. Known as the Quarterback model, CASA illustrated how it diversified the volunteer pool so that was more reflective of the client pool. The presentation provided insight to all grantees on how similar volunteer recruitment initiatives could benefit their organizations.

Day two of the workshops invited grantees to consider how to encourage excellence in staff – both monetarily and through more creative methods. Panelists included Reba Campbell, SC Municipal Association; Terry Linder, Communities in Schools of the Midlands and Rick Noble, Richland County First Steps.

Civil legal aid grantees also began a critical discussion on the reporting system used with IOLTA grants. The session served as a “sounding board” where facilitators sought insight on the realities of reporting to the Foundation. This same community also participated in a session on pro se assistance in South Carolina. While not dismissing the need for attorneys, the session was guided by the premise that, in reality, people are attempting to appear in court by themselves. The discussion addressed challenges that surround the area of self represented litigants as well as provided insight on some grantee success in the area including instructional clinics.

The conference ended with a joint session highlighting the obvious and not-so-obvious links between IOLTA grantees. Conference attendees left more informed and better positioned to serve their communities. The myriad of IOLTA grantees all have different missions and visions. However, the workshops enforced the common theme of all grantees – to enhance the lives of others and to do so in conjunction with the IOLTA grantee network.