The pro bono committee made 17 grants during 2009. The following selective sampling shows how the College and Foundation's resources have helped indigent consumer debtors.

1. Iowa Legal Aid. Two college fellows (Eric Lam and Dan Childers) formed an emergency pro bono project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in response to a major flood that caused a spike in Chapter 7 petitions by devastated low-income residents. The local bankruptcy court joined the Iowa College of Law to form a team of Legal Aid lawyers and law students who provided "free pro bono services" and work space for indigent debtors. We funded bankruptcy software and licenses needed to process schedules and statements of affairs.
2. LAW Advocates. This Bellingham, Washington project offers a regular debtor/creditor clinic to assist working poor people with serious debt problems and to advise them on possible bankruptcy options. Our grant enabled the project to purchase appropriate bankruptcy software and an office computer for use by volunteer lawyers.
3. Bankruptcy Bar Association, Southern District of Florida. We funded a Spanish-Creole translation of this project's basic bankruptcy video. The project had already produced a basic bankruptcy video for English-speaking pro se debtors, explaining the basics of bankruptcy for individuals who cannot afford counsel. With a heavy Spanish and Creole-speaking population (more than 45%), Florida has been hard hit by home foreclosures and bankruptcy. The Spanish-Creole translation appears on the bankruptcy court's website.
4. Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. This project serves five economically depressed Ohio counties beset with a high rate of employment (9.2%), a high rate of foreclosures, and soaring medical expenses. The project provides bankruptcy-related legal help to elderly and disabled indigent debtors; encourages pro bono legal work by private lawyers; and educates indigent debtors. Staff and volunteer lawyers first help indigent debtors avoid bankruptcy by negotiating with creditors. The project also mentors and trains pro bono lawyers to negotiate with creditors. Our grant supported clinics for consumer debtors and training for volunteer lawyers
5. Volunteer Lawyers for Justice. This New Jersey Project provides bankruptcy assistance to indigent clients, with volunteer lawyers working in clinics and the bankruptcy process. We funded the project's clinics, a direct referral program and training for volunteer lawyers. Expenses covered included bankruptcy software, mailing, volunteer recruitment and related expenses.
6. Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin ("ARCW"). ARCW established a pro bono "Legal Services Program" to meet the needs of a growing population of indigent HIV positive individuals who are living longer and encountering ongoing legal problems. In the last three years, LSP experienced a 95% increase in bankruptcy engagements. With help from the College and the Foundation, it was able to purchase two new computers and a printer for legal interns, bankruptcy guidebooks, consumer brochures and continuing legal education for staff attorneys.
7. The Legal Aid Society (NY City). The committee approved a grant to Legal Aid's Predatory Lending Project ("PLP"), a vital component of Legal Aid's civil practice, established to help low-income New Yorkers obtain and maintain the basic necessities of life, housing, healthcare, food and subsistence income. Because of huge funding cuts due to the severe economic downturn in New York, Legal Aid was experiencing a dramatic increase in demand for its services. As the subprime mortgage crisis intensified, low-income communities were saddled with mounting debt plus the loss of homes and equity. Legal Aid's PLP has been increasingly called on to rescue low-income and elderly clients. The grant from the College and the Foundation enabled PLP to continue its vital work in individual representation, training and community education. The PLP project represents indigent consumer debtors with respect to unlawful debt practices, affirmative litigation under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and bankruptcy-related services. PLP has also prepared materials for volunteers, explaining how to vacate consumer debt judgments, defend collection cases and to comply with applicable bankruptcy procedures.
8. Widener University School of Law Financial Advocacy Program for Seniors (Wilmington, DE). The committee worked to establish a new bankruptcy consumer debtor program in Wilmington, Delaware. Widener Law School's program, based in Wilmington, was launched in the summer of 2009. Intended to benefit low-income seniors, this program has met a critical need. Student fellows, funded by a stipend from the College and Foundation, apprised elderly individuals of their rights regarding debt collection and acquainted them with basic financial concepts in workshops and individual counseling sessions. In particular, the new project assisted indigent seniors threatened with aggressive debt collection by advising them of their rights under applicable state and federal statutes; helped them develop strategies for dealing with debt collectors who harassed them; and, when necessary, made appropriate legal referrals to volunteer lawyers. In addition, the Widener law students were introduced to consumer bankruptcy law and had an opportunity to work with clinical faculty on current bankruptcy cases referred to them by the community. At the conclusion of summer workshops, the fellows continued working for credit under the supervision of the law school's consumer bankruptcy clinic on a volunteer basis.
9. The Tides Center (San Francisco, CA). The committee helped fund the Center's Zachery Dorsett Project intended to ameliorate some of the most predictable pernicious effects of the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code. The project provides consumer debtors with the benefit of a free, well-designed and efficient means of meeting the credit counseling requirements of the 2005 amendments; identifies and supports competent consumer bankruptcy practitioners; and funded a web-based credit counseling service that meets the requirements of the 2005 Code amendments. In addition, each indigent consumer debtor gained access to pre-approved consumer bankruptcy counsel.
10. Consumer Advocacy Legal Aid Clinic (Southwest Detroit, MI). This pilot project established a legal aid clinic providing legal representation to indigent Latino consumer debtors, including counseling on consumer debt and, if necessary, bankruptcy advice. The target population for the project are residents of Southwest Detroit, long a magnet for indigent Latino immigrants, many of whom are not fluent in English. With our support, the Project helped debtors to avoid bankruptcy by providing a resource of available options, including legal representation in negotiating with creditors. Among other things, the project held a series of clinics for the community to explain legal rights and creditor relationships, bankruptcy law, loan defaults, the effects of a money judgment, and how to confront litigation and notices of default. Two local consumer lawyers made presentations, helped by volunteer bankruptcy lawyers from private law firms. The pilot program created an infrastructure for a clinic in order to attract permanent funding. Clinics and other training sessions have been held at the offices of Latino Family Services, Inc., a well established non-profit organization based in Southwest Detroit.
11. Bet Tzedek/House of Justice. This Los Angeles-based project helps individuals and families avoid financial victimization and address debt collection and bankruptcy issues. It operates a clinic to educate prospective clients on collection practices, judgment enforcement, credit reporting, bankruptcy and other legal options. We funded bankruptcy software and training materials for volunteer lawyers to deal with the project's increased demand for its bankruptcy advisory services
12. Legal Services Law Line of Vermont, Inc. This Vermont project provides legal services to low income individuals and families. We funded support for pro bono bankruptcy lawyers with training and information materials for both counsel and clients, including financial education materials for consumer debtors.

The College and the Foundation support existing or newly formed bankruptcy consumer debtor programs or projects that counsel or deliver bankruptcy-related legal services to indigent consumer debtors. The Committee favors grants to organizations with educational programs for indigent consumer debtors and for volunteer attorneys who provide pro bono indigent consumer legal advice. Facilitating the delivery of effective volunteer bankruptcy legal services to indigent debtors is an essential goal of the College's pro bono effort. A grant applicant must show in its request that its services are free of charge and generally available to indigent consumer debtors.