A $20,000 Community Foundation of Collier County grant to Legal Aid Service of Collier County assisted 385 local residents in needs, according to the LASCC.

The grant proceeds were used to support the capacity of LASCC’s Affordable Housing and Income Maintenance Legal Project over the last year.  The grant funds were applied toward the cost of the paralegals supporting the Project Attorneys in LASCC’s Housing and Consumer Law Unit.  Over the 12-month grant term that ended on February 6, the Housing and Consumer Law Unit at LASCC assisted 385 low-income clients with housing and income maintenance-related legal services, keeping 52 clients in safe and affordable housing, saving three clients from foreclosure, and securing $1.2 million in total economic benefits.

“This generous grant from the Community Foundation of Collier County came to us at a critical time and allowed our Housing and Consumer Law unit to continue to serve the community with Housing Law and income preservation services when our clients needed them the most,” said Carol O’Callaghan, managing attorney of LASCC.  “The paralegals funded in part through this grant enabled our Project Attorneys to work at peak efficiency to meet the demand for our services which grew as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  The funding was already in place before the pandemic occurred and this underscores the importance of the Community Foundation of Collier County’s support of human services projects such as our Affordable Housing and Income Maintenance initiative to protect and safeguard the public.”