Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado

The Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado is a tax-exempt organization founded in 1981 in response to cuts in federal funding for legal aid. Its mission is to promote equal access to justice by raising funds to provide civil legal services for low-income people in the State of Colorado.

Colorado Legal Services (CLS) provides free civil legal assistance to low-income people through a network of 14 offices throughout the state.  A family is eligible for assistance, with few exceptions when its annual income is less than 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.  In 2011, for a family of four, this was only $27,938.

Priority is given to individuals and families who have critical legal problems affecting their most basic needs.  For CLS clients, justice is not an abstract ideal.  It is food, shelter, necessary medical care, and protection.

In 2010, CLS provided legal assistance to over 11,000 people.  At least that many people were turned away because CLS did not have the resources to serve them.  There is currently one CLS lawyer for every 13,000 income-eligible clients in Colorado, as compared to one active lawyer for every 250 people in the state.

Your contribution to the Legal Aid Foundation allows CLS to help the most vulnerable families in our community get back on their feet.