Dr. Stephen Sill s(Center for Housing and Community Studies) received new funding from the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission for the project “South Carolina Legal Needs Assessment 2021-2022.”
This proposal was developed by the UNCG Center for Housing and Community Studies in response to a request from the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission, for a statewide legal needs assessment. A legal needs assessment is a process used by organizations to determine priorities, make improvements, or allocate resources. It will be used to determine gaps between the legal concerns and needs of low-income communities and current pro-bono legal assets across the state. It is an opportunity for building stakeholder support, engaging clients and referral agencies, eliciting staff and legal system feedback, and promoting community support. It is also an opportunity to identify barriers that low-income people face in accessing services. The process will help to set priorities for SC Access to Justice Commission members and other civil legal practitioners. Results may be useful in determining how to allocate scarce resources and staffing.
