The Kansas Bar Foundation (KBF) has received $3,273,938.50 from the national settlement to be used for the sole purpose of providing funding to legal aid organizations in the State of Kansas to be used for foreclosure prevention legal assistance and community redevelopment legal assistance. Distributions of grants from these funds may be made incrementally according to project complexity and distribution needs. The CRHA (Community Redevelopment & Homeowners Assistance) Grant Committee has discretion to award a total of nine (9) grants annually: two (2) grants of up to $50,000 each, and seven (7) grants of up to $25,000 each. The KBF and the CRHA Grant Committee has discretion to increase or decrease the number and amount of grants actually awarded.

Eligibility is restricted to legal aid organizations domiciled in Kansas. For the purposes of these grants “legal aid organization” is defined as any not-for-profit organization or distinct part of a not-for-profit organization that regularly makes civil legal assistance available to low-income individuals or groups without charge or at greatly reduced cost. The term is intended to be applied broadly to include organizations even if they may not, for practical or legal reasons, be able to meet every standard. The term does not include outside practitioners or law firms that accept referrals from a legal aid provider for the representation of low-income clients. Subgranting of these funds to another entity, which is to be responsible for carrying out grant activities, requires written approval from the Foundation.

All grant recipients will be required to participate in a national data gathering effort as described below.

Grant applicants shall describe their project and include how their request meets one (or both) of the purposes listed below.

A. Community Redevelopment Legal Assistance

*These grants may cover a period of up to two years due the nature of the work.

Proposals should describe how grant funds will be used for community redevelopment legal services. Proposed projects should support and promote economic development by providing legal services that revitalize or stabilize low and moderate-income communities with programs such as support to nonprofits or small businesses on projects that generate affordable housing or job creation.

Strategies may cross a broad range of options from counseling advocacy groups, transactional law, representation, or policy and impact work, but should reflect an understanding of the current needs and challenges within the communities served, and knowledge of successful models for meeting those needs. The organization should have established partnerships that are necessary to achieve the stated goals.

The KBF looks to applicants to develop creative projects that will have far-ranging and lasting impact on communities. Applicants have flexibility in defining community redevelopment.

B. Foreclosure Prevention Legal Assistance

Proposals should describe how grant funds will be used for foreclosure prevention legal assistance, or foreclosure-related legal assistance issues, in the context of the specific circumstances faced currently by the communities served, such as assistance to homeowners receiving notice of arrearage, assistance to homeowners threatened with court action or notice of foreclosure, loan modifications to avoid foreclosure, legal assistance with servicer violations resulting in foreclosure notice, and foreclosure mitigation. An applicant should discuss and cite current reliable data on the foreclosure trends and continuing client needs that its program specifically seeks to address, and how its foreclosure services will meet those needs.

Strategies may be across a broad range of options from advice and counsel, representation, mediation programs, or policy and impact work. Applications should reflect an understanding of the current needs and challenges within the communities served, knowledge of successful models, flexibility and creativity, and necessary collaborations to achieve stated goals.

Demonstrated Need of the Targeted Population: Although there are no income-eligibility requirements for this funding, the KBF will consider the articulated needs of a defined target population, with consideration to special needs of the community to be served.

Impact of Services: The KBF will consider the anticipated outcomes of the services, including the number of people that will be served, and the nature of the impact on the lives of targeted populations.

Deliverables within Grant Period: Grant deliverables must be achievable within the one- or two- year period of the proposed grant, depending on the nature of the grant application (foreclosure prevention or community redevelopment) and must directly correlate to the work proposed and staffing on the project. Although funding a portion of a project (e.g., impact litigation) coupled with other funding as a bigger project or over a longer term will be considered, the proposal should articulate the specific deliverable that will be achieved with this specific grant funding during the grant period.

Partnerships and Collaboration: As relevant, the KBF will consider the extent to which an applicant already has developed necessary partnerships, or has demonstrated the ability to partner with community organizations, local government, or other stakeholders to accomplish goals. The KBF anticipates the added value of strong partnerships particularly in regard to community redevelopment proposals.

Leverage and Sustainability: The KBF is interested in how the proposed project fits within current organizational programming. If it is an existing project, how will funds be leveraged to increase services? If the project is a new innovation, how will the organization sustain the project past the first grant year? Is it replicable or scalable?

Organizational Excellence: The KBF will also consider the experience of the applicant in successfully executing similar projects; the stability of the organization infrastructure as will impact its ability, as necessary, to hire, retrain, and supervise attorneys; and to successfully administer the grant, including grant budgeting, reporting and evaluation.

Past Performance: Applicants should indicate their prior track record in operating similar projects.

Avoidance of Duplication: Consideration will be given to applicants whose proposed projects do not duplicate services already being provided.

Applicants must state the methods they intend to use to meet their goal and a timetable in which they expect results.

Things to consider:

• Programs using local bar volunteer lawyers are encouraged.
• Priority will be given to applications requesting funds for direct services to the public. The provision of those services shall be broken down into estimated cost per direct service, if possible.
• The Foundation will make every effort to distribute grant funds evenly throughout the state.
• Any "experimental" project shall have statewide transferability and be innovative in nature. Applicants funded through this program will be required to provide information to other organizations interested in duplicating their program in other areas.
• Additional consideration will be given to projects that work cooperatively with other grantees within the state.

Applicants must complete the Project Budget worksheet found at the end of this document.

• Applicants shall indicate all sources of their program’s funding. The Foundation encourages applicants to search for additional sources of project income. Added consideration will be given to such programs.
• If the applicant is reapplying for funding, they will need to indicate how much they received in the last year they received funds. This information will be used for purposes of comparison with their current request.

Please include how your group intends to evaluate the success/effectiveness of your proposed project. The evaluation should include data regarding the number of people assisted and the impact the project or program has had on the public. Some projects will require a written impact statement illustrating how an individual or organization benefited from the assistance.

The Foundation reserves the right to require quarterly reports from grant recipients. Consideration will be given to smaller applicants for a midyear and a final report. Single event projects will be exempt from quarterly reporting. The report will be due at the end of the event/year.

By submitting a grant application, an applicant agrees to collect and report the data described below, in addition to client stories and relevant main benefit data that programs will be collecting. The KBF, as a member of the National Association of IOLTA Programs, will require that grantees — at a minimum — collect and report the following data:

A. Community Redevelopment Legal Assistance

• How many individuals benefitted (separately, how many elderly, children and veterans)?
• How many non-profits benefitted, if any?
• How many small business clients benefitted, if any?

B. Foreclosure Prevention Legal Assistance

• How many individuals were served (separately, how many elderly, children and veterans)?
• How many foreclosures were prevented?
• How many foreclosure clients benefitted in other ways?

• 501(c)(3) tax-exempt letter from the Internal Revenue Service
• Last year’s final report or this year’s quarterly report, if you have received IOLTA or CRHA funds in the past year.
• A list of board of directors (please indicate officers and any affiliations)
• Applicant’s current fiscal year budget
• Support letters (limit to 2)
• CRHA Grant Application Budget Worksheet