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WASHINGTON – The ���˶���’s (LSC) G. Duane Vieth Leadership Development Program has awarded more than $45,000 in grants to six legal aid organizations. This competitive grant program, now in its fourth year, fosters leadership growth in the field of civil legal aid.

Generously funded by the Arnold & Porter LLP Foundation, the Vieth Leadership Development Program awards professional development grants annually to leaders of LSC-funded legal aid organizations. Promoting entrepreneurial, business, and leadership skills among civil legal aid leaders is critical to expanding their organizations’ capacity to serve low-income Americans. The program is named in honor of Arnold & Porter’s longtime Managing Partner, the late G. Duane “Bud” Vieth, who led the firm for 22 years. Mr. Vieth died on October 10 at the age of 95.

“Leading a legal aid organization today is challenging and requires a deep knowledge of client needs, integration with the community and other services providers, fundraising capacity, management savvy, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills,” said LSC President Jim Sandman, himself a former managing partner of Arnold & Porter. “I am grateful to the Arnold & Porter Foundation for helping us develop these talents among legal aid leaders. It is particularly appropriate that this grant program honors Bud Vieth, who was an extraordinary leader and a mentor of mine.”

LSC selected these recipients from 11 applications:

Kentucky
Legal Aid of the Bluegrass
Legal Aid of the Bluegrass received $9,800 to allow the program’s Executive Director to study nonprofit leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School, which will prepare him to assess strategies for ensuring the effectiveness of the organization’s services.

Louisiana
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) received $6,000 for fundraising coaching for its Executive Director and to refine donor retention strategies.

Massachusetts 
Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association
Volunteer Lawyers Project received $10,000 to support leadership coaching for its senior team to advance organizational goals.

Minnesota
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services received $6,990 to allow two of its leaders to receive executive leadership training.

Tennessee
Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands
Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands received $10,000 to provide four members of its executive team with the opportunity to study fundraising and marketing at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Utah
Utah Legal Services
Utah Legal Services received $3,720 to support training in Tableau Desktop, an interactive data visualization tool. Using Tableau will help the organization determine how to employ resources to best serve legal aid clients.