When you make a gift to the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation, you are supporting our Bar’s impactful programs that are improving lives in our community.
Your support enables us to provide important programs in service to our community by leveraging the talents of our hundreds of volunteer lawyers in collaboration with business professionals and community partners. From free legal clinics in homeless shelters, local courts and Cleveland and East Cleveland schools, to pipeline programs that are inspiring students from high school through law school, our Lawyers Giving Back programs are making a positive difference.
Our programs serving youth provide law-related education, mentors, and positive role models along with access to resources and opportunities to help students in high school, college, and law school achieve their education and career goals. Your generous support is making dreams come true for students and helping build Cleveland’s future workforce through innovative programs that include The 3Rs: Rights, Responsibilities, Realities; High School Mock Trial Competitions and our summer experiences in the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Legal Adventure, Louis Stokes Scholars and 1L Clerkship Program.
For the most vulnerable in our community, navigating the legal system can be a frightening and overwhelming experience. Creating avenues for access to justice rests at the heart of the CMBA’s pro bono programs funded by Bar Foundation Without your support, many more people in our community would be forced to face their law-related challenges alone.
Our pro bono programs include the Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program which reaches the homeless and at-risk of being homeless population and Say Yes to Education Cleveland Legal Clinics for families of students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District with law-related issues that often negatively impact student attendance and school success.
The Cleveland Legal Collaborative (The Collaborative) aids those caught in the justice gap who are unable to access or qualify for free legal services. Through the Collaborative, newer lawyers engage in an 18-month paid fellowship with an in-depth curriculum exploring the nuances of representing underserved community members with high-quality, fixed-fee/low-fee/no-fee legal services.
Our Reach Out for Nonprofits program provides law-related education and pro bono services to income eligible nonprofit organizations that are serving people in need in our community. The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts program serves our significant arts community by providing law-related education, pro bono services and legal resources to artists and arts organizations who could not otherwise afford the help.
For further information about making a gift to the Bar Foundation, contact our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Jennifer Karnik.
