In addition to keeping the legal services community abreast of LSC-funding issues, NLADA disseminates information regarding other federal funding opportunities through the Advocacy Resource Project (ARP). Since its inception in 1993, the ARP has identified millions of dollars in new federal funding for legal services providers and equal justice advocates nationwide. Through the ARP's Advocacy Funding Fact$, e-mail and broadcast fax lists and direct technical assistance, members are kept abreast of current federal funding opportunities.

In addition, through the Advocacy Resource Project, NLADA engages in advocacy before federal agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the Administration on Aging and the Department of Justice, including DOJ's Violence Against Women Office, which administers VAWA programs. NLADA provides technical assistance in a variety of forms, including sharing successful federal grant proposals from legal services programs nation-wide and through individual consultation with programs considering applying for various types of federal funding.

A Word About Federal Funding

1. discretionary grants and
2. formula grants.

In contrast, formula grants are federal funds given to the states for distribution. A state applies for and receives funds from the federal government; eligible organizations then apply to the state agency administering the grant program rather than to the federal office where the program originates. Much of the state money is distributed through state-level competition. This means that many of the "state and local" level grants that programs receive are indeed federal grants, since the money and the regulations originate from the federal government.

Resources available through the Advocacy Resource Project include:

• Advocacy Funding Fact$, a broadcast fax and on-line newsletter for NLADA members (Archived issues are also available for downloading from this link).
• Copies of successful grant applications. Individuals and programs are invited to submit copies of successful grant applications and success stories.

For additional information on funding and other resource opportunities, you may want to visit the ABA's Standing Committee on Legal Aid & Indigent Defendant's Project to Expand Resources for Legal Services (PERLS) and the Management Information Exchange Fund Raising Project.