AUSTIN, TEXAS – Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) is pleased to announce its recently awarded grant of $943,446 from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) to continue the work with our Texas Foster Youth Justice Project and child welfare services.

This generous grant is part of TAJF’s 2023-2025 Legal Aid for Children’s Health & Security Grant (LACHS), which allows grantees to provide civil legal services to current, aged-out foster youth and young people in Texas impacted by the child welfare system or experiencing disabilities or mental or physical health challenges.

“We are thrilled to have TAJF’s support to increase the capacity of the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project to serve current and former foster youth and address the unique and often complicated legal challenges they face as they transition to adulthood,” said Director of the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project, Sarah Worthington.

With this grant, TRLA can continue the work toward supporting foster youth in Southwest Texas and providing child welfare services in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley. Through the grantee selection process, TRLA was selected as the lead organization amongst other grantees for the foster youth initiative to meet the civil legal needs of current and aged-out foster youth.

TRLA, similar to TAJF, believes Texans should have equal access to justice, and providing legal aid organizations with funds to continue the fight, particularly to create healthy outcomes for our children in the state, is at the forefront of both organizations.

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Contact: Sam Rucobo, Public Relations Manager, srucobo@trla.org

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free legal services to people who cannot afford an attorney in 68 southwestern counties, including the entire Texas-Mexico border. TRLA attorneys specialize in more than 45 areas of law, including disaster assistance, family, employment, landlord-tenant, housing, education, immigration, farmworker, and civil rights. Our hotline is open from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (CST) Monday - Friday: (956)-996-TRLA (8752) or toll-free at (833) 329-TRLA (8752).

Texas Foster Youth Justice Project provides free legal services for current and former foster youth throughout Texas. The team helps youth with various legal and administrative matters, such as obtaining copies of CPS records, erasing criminal and juvenile records, and accessing foster youth benefits and programs that help in the transition from foster care to independence. 

Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) is the leading funder of civil legal aid to the poor in Texas.  Created in 1984 by the Supreme Court of Texas, TAJF support for civil legal aid benefits hundreds of thousands of low-income Texans annually, including victims of crime, abused and neglected children, veterans, the elderly, and the homeless.