NLADA’s community of advocates—including civil legal aid, public defense, and representatives of low-income and marginalized communities—work daily to uphold the government’s commitment to safety and stability. This community both receives federal funding to provide services and in turn provides services to help clients access vital federally-funded supports.
At the heart of NLADA’s mission are individuals directly impacted by government policies who can not afford legal services. Civil legal aid and public defense stand in the gap providing those critical legal services and have been historically underfunded. And this is despite a glaring need for their services. The Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice states that approximately 66% of felony federal defendants and 82% of felony defendants in large state courts were represented by public defenders or assigned counsel. According to the Legal Services Corporation, which administers federal funding to nonprofit legal aid organizations across the country, around 92% of low-income Americans are forced to address civil issues without proper legal assistance. Federal funding cuts will decimate an already fragile system and impact people’s ability to access legal representation and secure essential resources.
Federal funding is essential to fulfilling the government’s obligation to ensure safety and stability for people across the country. This funding serves three primary functions:
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- Direct Federal Purchases: The government acquires services and products to meet its responsibilities to the public.
- Direct Assistance to Individuals: Programs like Medicaid and Veterans benefits directly benefit individuals and families. Civil legal aid and public defenders ensure that people are not wrongfully denied access to these entitlements.
- Support for External Service Providers: Funds enable organizations (like civil legal aid and public defenders) to support community development, veterans’ services, and other essential programs.
NLADA’s legal advocates receive funding through direct grants or as subgrantees of state and local government agencies. Various federal agencies provide millions of dollars in funding to support life-saving legal services including:
- Department of Justice
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Health and Human Services
- Department of Education
- Social Security Administration
- And many more…
This funding helps ensure:
- Family stability through child welfare and family reunification services
- Holistic legal services that provide alternatives to incarceration
- Access to safe and affordable housing
- Education support, including special education plans and ending the school-to-prison pipeline
- Access to veterans’ benefits, food security, and employment assistance
- Critical healthcare, including opioid crisis intervention
- Protection against illegal debt collection
Impact of Other Recent Government Actions
Recent executive orders and funding freezes have had a chilling effect on legal services nationwide. Without federal funding, offices nationwide would have to close, leaving millions of people without legal help.
These actions have:
- Disrupted Critical Services: We have heard from a veteran’s services program who had people coming in who were not able to access medication because healthcare access was frozen. The inability to access mental health services is critical, even one missed dose or consultation at its most devastating, can result in loss of life. But it also can set off a downward spiral that causes loss of employment, housing, and stability – you could view this also as a loss of life.”
- Impacted Legal Representation: Legal services providers, both civil and criminal, were unable to use funds that support time-sensitive and life-saving services. For example: acquiring protective orders in domestic violence cases, assisting with access to treatment services, and halting evictions and pursuing housing stability. They also were flooded with the need to help clients access direct support (SNAP, health care, housing), which reduced their ability to provide other life-saving services.
- Created Operational Uncertainty: Offices struggled to stay open, retain staff, and continue assisting clients amid funding freezes.
- Threatened Criminal Prosecution of Legal Professionals: Public defenders and legal aid attorneys face an environment of legal and ethical uncertainty in serving their clients. This country has decided that people are entitled to legal counsel in certain cases – in cases where someone is facing the full force of the state, in order to ensure fairness in the legal system.Public defenders cannot refuse to represent people, regardless of immigration or any other defining characteristic that may be singled out. This is a constitutional right. This country also has decided that people facing immigration proceedings are entitled to legal representation, and for decades, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has provided funding for those services. Our legal advocates do not discriminate in choosing clients; they are bound by a code of ethics and commitment to serve millions of people in need of legal help in every part of this country.
