Urgent Call to Action: Advocate to the D.C. Council to Restore Critical D.C. Access to Justice Funding by May 14

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed 2025 budget includes a catastrophic 67% cut to the D.C. Access to Justice Initiative. The program was cut by $21.211M – from $31.668M to $10.457M.

Last week, the Judiciary Committee (with the help of the Business & Economic Development and Health Committees) identified funds to partially restore the Access to Justice Initiative to $12.763M. While we are grateful for this support, the Access to Justice Initiative is still left with a $18.9M – or 60% - gap.

The Pro Bono Center and many other D.C. legal services providers rely on this funding to provide crucial legal assistance to over 40,000 D.C. residents living on low incomes each year.

Access to Justice Initiative funding represents 36% of the Pro Bono Center’s overall budget. This cut in funding would devastate our capacity to deliver critical legal services to the most marginalized and vulnerable District residents at a time when we have seen record-high increases in requests for legal help.

Please contact the D.C. Council (see contact details below) and urge them to prioritize the restoration of this funding:

• Volunteer Attorneys, Pro Bono Counsel, and other Firm Leadership, please contact each Councilmember. Individual emails are better than group emails, but any contact is helpful!

SEE EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR VOLUNTEER ATTORNEYS

SEE EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR PRO BONO COUNSEL/FIRM LEADERSHIP

• D.C. Residents, please contact your Ward Councilmember.

SEE EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR D.C. RESIDENTS

• Other Stakeholders, please contact each Councilmember. Individual emails are better than group emails, but any contact is helpful!

SEE EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR OTHER STAKEHOLDERS (GENERAL)

 

Position		Councilmember:		Send to:		Copy:
Chairman		Chairman Phil Mendelson		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
At-Large Chair Pro Tem		Councilman Kenyan McDuffie		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
At-Large, member of Judiciary and Public Safety Committee		Councilwoman Anita Bonds		[email protected]		[email protected]
At-Large		Councilman Robert White		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
At-Large, member of Judiciary and Public Safety Committee		Councilwoman Christina Henderson		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 1		Brianne Nadeau		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 2		Brooke Pinto		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 3		Matthew Frumin		[email protected]		[email protected]
Ward 4		Janeese Lewis George		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 5		Zachary Parker		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 6		Charles Allen		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 7		Vincent Gray		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]
Ward 8		Trayon White		[email protected]		[email protected] [email protected]

If you have questions, please contact Elizabeth Spivak at [email protected].