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This report outlines activities implemented by LSC during calendar year 2021.

This report outlines activities implemented by LSC during calendar year 2022.

This report outlines activities implemented by LSC during calendar year 2023

• Design, develop, and launch “LSC University”, which will provide on-demand resources focusing on LSC’s Performance Criteria, LSC regulatory requirements, non-profit leadership and management, and board governance. LSC University will also become a repository to feature Model Practices and Innovations of LSC grantees and curriculum from external partner organizations.
• Develop and provide training designed to enable client eligible board members to serve as grantee board members and to develop their leadership skills.
• In collaboration with grantees, and mindful of existing resources, conduct a gap analysis on a regular basis to identify emerging training and technical assistance needs.
• Utilize virtual workshops, webinars, LSC’s Model Practices and Innovations initiative, LSC board meetings and Access to Justice Forums, and regional and national meetings and conferences regularly to share model practices and innovations.
• Identify, validate, and disseminate model practices and innovations related to the use of technology to support and improve client intake, the delivery of civil legal services, and organizational efficiency.
• Encourage grantees to continue to collaborate with non-traditional partners such as hospitals, housing boards, schools, libraries, mental health facilities, rehabilitation clinics, veterans centers, community centers and foster care programs to provide more efficient service to clients in addressing civil legal needs.
• Promote peer support and collaboration to ensure that model practices, innovations, and lessons learned are routinely shared and disseminated among grantees.•Promote private attorney involvement (PAI) with grantees, including a review in collaboration with grantees of the effectiveness of the recent changes to the PAI rule.
• Continue to identify, refine and streamline regulatory requirements that may unduly burden grantees.
• Undertake, in consultation with grantees, Native American communities, and subject matter experts in relevant native American issues, a comprehensive analysis of LSC’s Native American service areas and its Native American allocations to assess whether: (1) any Native American services areas need to be redrawn, and (2) LSC needs to adjust the grant allocations to those service areas.•Continue to promote effective and efficient legal services to Agricultural Workers.

• Update, in consultation with grantees, client communities, and national partners, LSC’s Performance Criteria to ensure they reflect the evolving landscape of service delivery in a post-pandemic environment.
• Assess grantees’ capacity to satisfy the various elements of LSC’s Performance Criteria to better support grantees and foster improved client services.
• Provide leadership in the legal services field for the development and analysis of outcome, needs and efficiency measures to help legal aid programs identify and monitor effective services, benchmark performance, and improve services to people in need. 

• Continue to clearly communicate LSC’s high standards for grants management, including programmatic, regulatory compliance, and fiscal accountability, for all grantees.
• Continue to benchmark and evaluate best practices in non-profit grant making, oversight, and grantee training and technical assistance.
• Continue to train grantees on the use of LSC’s new grants management system, GrantEase, and to identify opportunities for improvements in its use.
• Foster a culture of compliance through educational, training, and outreach efforts, and collaboration with grantees.
• Rollout and train grantees on LSC’s revised Financial Management Guide.
• Recommend internal control improvements in grant programs and recommend practical solutions to improve the stewardship of LSC funds.
• Continually refine LSC’s risk assessment instrument to prioritize and ensure oversight efforts are appropriately targeted.
• Assess and analyze opportunities to create efficiencies and streamline oversight processes to lessen current or future burdens on grantees while safeguarding taxpayer dollars.

• Provide resources and training to ensure grantees can effectively support underserved communities in their service areas.
• Evaluate the circumstances of populations traditionally underserved by lawyers and those eligible for but not utilizing LSC-funded services.
• Develop guidelines as part of the Performance Criteria to foster grantees’ awareness of the diverse cultural and other contexts in which clients and potential clients live and work.
• Identify and work to overcome difficulties related to access to legal services experienced by eligible clients, including populations such as veterans, residents of rural communities, communities of color, people with limited English proficiency, and work to ensure that their legal needs are adequately addressed.

• Collaborating with grantees, client communities and national partners, proactively expand outreach and education efforts to the Administration and federal agencies where there is a nexus with legal services issues, for example, eviction, unemployment insurance, consumer protection, domestic violence, veterans, disaster relief.
• Proactively expand outreach and education efforts to members of Congress, and congressional staff to demonstrate the importance of legal aid services.
• Continue to develop and promote annual congressional budget requests that would significantly reduce the Justice Gap between the unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans and the resources available to address those needs.
• Support and encourage the expansion of grantee outreach efforts to educate members of Congress and congressional staff.
• Expand the use of data and research to increase outreach and advocacy efforts with different audiences, for example, the Justice Gap and Eviction Studies.
• Working with grantees, expand grantee client stories and leverage output data to communicate the impact and benefits of LSC’s grants, e.g., through the Disaster Relief Emergency Supplemental appropriations grants, Technology Initiative Grants (TIG), and the Pro Bono Innovation Fund (PBIF) grants.
• Include and elevate the voices of clients in national discussions about access to justice.
• Develop communications outreach strategies to target local news, specialty, and social media outlets to reach members of Congress, other stakeholders, and the public.

• Identify and engage partners outside of the traditional legal services community such as nonprofits serving low-income people, the business community, judges, law schools, faith-based organizations, and leaders across a wide range of disciplines. Utilize the LSC Task Forces to amplify outreach and to publicize LSC grantees work and critical resources related to new and emerging issues.
• In addition to ongoing outreach efforts, build a strategic, year-long, multi-pronged public awareness campaign around LSC’s 50th Anniversary to celebrate its achievements, build awareness, and educate stakeholders on the continuing demand for civil legal aid, the Justice Gap, and future initiatives. The campaign will include various events, themed briefings, social media campaigns, podcasts, and other outreach activities.
• Promote the development and expansion of the role that members of LSC’s Leaders Council and Emerging Leaders Council can play to raise public awareness of the civil legal aid crisis.
• Collaborate with other funders, legal services providers, national partners, bar associations, state judicial associations, the business community, and nonprofits on issues affecting the provision of civil legal services to the poor.

• Identify and nurture partnerships with national, state, and local foundations to expand private support to civil legal aid programs and LSC special initiatives.
• Foster and increase support from law firms and corporations to advocate for additional support for LSC projects and Board Task Forces.
• Identify new programmatic and research opportunities beyond what is supported by congressional appropriations and connect with potential funders.
• Initiate plans for LSC’s 50th Anniversary celebration in 2024.
• Encourage funders and donors to support grantees.

• Maintain best fiscal practices with strong internal controls and adherence to non-profit and government standards.
• Maintain best practices to ensure excellence and transparency for regulatory compliance.
• Manage and maintain LSC’s budget to ensure appropriate programmatic support with agility to address shifting and emerging needs.
• Continue to train staff on the use and features of LSC’s new NetSuite accounting system and continue to identify opportunities to take advantage of the new system.
• Create and revise core resources, such as the Accounting Manual, to train staff to effectively use the new accounting system.
• Maintain a strong, cooperative, and productive relationship with the Office of Inspector General.
• Maintain full compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act.

• Encourage continuity of governance at LSC to maintain institutional history through practices such as the sequencing of Board appointments.
• Continue the practice of having experts (who are not LSC Board Members) in accounting, finance, and other relevant disciplines serve on LSC Board committees.
• Maintain and support a strong management team that models collaborative leadership practices that are equitable and inclusive; that engage, develop, and coach staff to perform at their best; and that lead teams to produce excellent results.
• Continue development and exercise of the Continuity of Operations Plan to ensure LSC business continues at all times, no matter the circumstance.
• Maintain a strong and productive relationship with the LSC union.
• Assess the impact of remote working arrangements, including the need for competent and productive work as well as the challenges faced by employees working remotely.

• Evaluate the current staffing needs and staffing models to ensure a sufficient level of personnel to promote LSC’s mission of oversight and support of grantees.
• Cultivate robust systems to recruit, hire and onboard a dedicated, diverse, and talented workforce of senior leaders and staff committed to, and capable of, achieving positive change and delivering value to our grantees.
• Cultivate and support a culture of learning, growth, and development throughout the organization to ensure employees have the skills they need to grow and thrive in their career, allowing them to fully contribute to LSC.
• Develop and communicate shared core values and incorporate those values into messaging, policies, and procedures.
• Strengthen internal transparency through open, honest, and respectful communications.

• Promote and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion, and integrate those values into LSC’s policies and practices.
• Provide ongoing training and programming to leverage LSC’s rich diversity and create a culture in which every employee feels valued and do their best work to help LSC carry out its mission.

• Assess technology and realign as needed to achieve strategic goals and accomplish operational objectives.
• Provide technology solutions that enable the seamless operation of LSC business operations across departments and provide staff with the training and resources needed to maximize safe and effective use.
• Provide secure, predictable, and resilient systems, services, and solutions that can be scaled and that ensure continued essential functions no matter the situation.
• Stay abreast of latest technology threats and countermeasures to address those threats.
• Provide staff with regular cyber security training.
• Maintain technological management systems that use data and metrics to ensure effective business operations.
• Maintain robust contract and vendor management system to ensure vendors that host or process sensitive data have adequate privacy and security safeguards in place.