Alaska Legal Services Corporation- AK-Pro Se-Statewide Interactive Network- Alaska Legal Services Corporation and the Alaska Court System created an interactive statewide network, developing a variety of web-based self-help modules, and installing public access PC's in six selected courthouses in Alaska. The project expanded access to legal educational materials, providing assistance individuals that would otherwise have no resources. Through careful scrutiny of website usage statistics, ALSC was also able to identify additional needs of the pro se litigant community and address them via this web-based venue.
Atlanta Legal Aid Society- GA- Pro Se- Self-Help OfficeThis project was awarded in 2002 to create legal Self-Help Offices in underserved, low-income communities in Georgia, testing two approaches to the SHO model developed by AARP: (1) To test a SHO in an urban high-traffic area and (2) to create a mobile SHO that can travel to job fairs, community service sites or senior centers.
Legal Aid Society of Orange County, Inc. -Pro Se Forms
One of the first Technology Initiative Grants was in 2000 to create the Interactive Community Assistance Network (I-CAN!). I-CAN! provides completed legal documents such as Domestic Violence Restraining Orders, Unlawful Detainer Answers, and Complaints and Answers in Paternity actions, using kiosks in Court Self-Help Centers, also available over the Internet. Users answer short questions to provide the information needed for the forms and are assisted with written instructions and video clips. There are now TIG funded I-CAN! projects in Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. In 2004 I-CAN! won the Justice Achievement Award from the National Association of Court Management.
Legal Aid Society of Orange County, Inc. – ICAN! EIC
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a multi-billion dollar tax credit available to low-income workers, yet billions of dollars go unclaimed each year. I-CAN! EIC is a web based system that allows users to file their income taxes to claim their EITC. It is available to any organization to use for free and provides e-filing to help users avoid high-interest Refund Anticipation Loan rip-offs. TIG has been funding this project since 2002 and last tax year (2005) the I-CAN! EIC project returned over $5 million to low-income workers
Ohio State Legal Services –OH- National HotDocs Server
TIG has supported the development and implementation of a National HotDocs Server to deliver online forms for pro se users and advocates. These forms prompt users for the information needed to complete the forms. The server enables a form developer to upload forms and make them available on the Statewide Web Site. In addition, by coordinating this nationally, efforts can be pooled, thereby leveraging scarce resources. A HotDocs forms designer in one state has access via the Internet to forms that have been developed for use in another state. The developer need not develop from scratch the forms needed for their state. Instead, they can build on and adapt other states' forms for use in their state. The use of the server is free to all statewide web sites.
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