Summary/Overview 

LSC requests an appropriation of $1,018,800,000 for FY 2022. Our request addresses the anticipated increase in demand for civil legal services due to the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 is having on low-income communities as well as the continued lack of adequate resources to provide civil legal assistance to millions of Americans eligible for LSC-funded services before the pandemic. As a result of COVID-19, we expect the number of people seeking legal assistance to increase significantly over the next several years. LSC grantees across the country desperately need additional resources to assist vulnerable people facing increases in evictions, foreclosures, domestic violence and problems with unemployment insurance and consumer scams. 

LSC’s request has two components: (1) reducing the justice gap by 60% and (2) increasing our Basic Field grants by 50% to respond to COVID-19. To enable LSC grantees to provide some level of service to address 60% more civil legal problems than they served before the pandemic, the budget for Basic Field Grants must be increased to $650 million. An additional $325 million is needed to address pandemic-related services bringing our Basic Field request to $975 million. This represents more than 95% of our overall budget request.