Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indianapolis Bar Foundation, funded by donations from the local legal community, recently gifted $35,000 to Exodus Refugee, a nonprofit organization that focuses on assisting refugees’ legal needs when coming to Indiana. The foundation is the charitable arm of the Indianapolis Bar Association.
The foundation received 24 applications from various community nonprofits, government agencies, and more this spring. Finalists were selected and invited to IndyBarHQ for in-person presentations. At these presentations, the finalists also recorded two-minute ‘elevator pitch’ videos. These videos helped the IndyBar Foundation Fellows, who vote to decide the ultimate recipient, learn more about the organizations and how they would use grant funds to help enrich the community, providing volunteer outlets for IndyBar members in the process.
Rachel VanTyle, Director of Legal Services for Exodus Refugee, filmed one of those elevator pitch videos. “The last few months have been a time of dramatic change in immigration law,” said VanTyle. “Many humanitarian immigrants – including refugees, asylees, those with humanitarian parole and temporary protective status – have seen laws quickly changing… Combined with efforts to erode due process for immigrants, this has led to an increased need for legal assistance,”
Through funding and volunteer support from the IndyBar Foundation, Exodus Refugee will create a volunteer-based legal intake system and “will help Exodus develop an electronic form that will guide volunteers through necessary questions to determine if clients have a strong legal case, and whether Exodus can assist,” VanTyle explained. The creation of this volunteer-based legal intake system, the accompanying form, and subsequent in-depth training videos will ensure that more humanitarian immigrants have access to legal services, and that more professionals in Central Indiana have exposure to immigration law.
The Indianapolis Bar Foundation funds numerous programs in Indianapolis to assist law-related needs of our community providing nearly $150,000 annually. The foundation has been serving the community since 1986. Please consider joining us for our Community Empowerment Celebration on September 30, where we’ll publicly recognize Exodus Refugee at a special breakfast. You can learn more at www.indybarfoundation.org.•
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