WASHINGTON—The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is awarding Disaster Relief Grants totaling over $1.1 million to civil legal services organizations in North Carolina, South Carolina and California. These funds are awarded to LSC-funded organizations in areas impacted by natural disasters and emergencies. They will support programs working to serve survivors of Hurricane Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires.

Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) is receiving a grant of $510,000. LANC provides statewide services to North Carolinians and is implementing a comprehensive response to Tropical Storm Helene’s destruction, which caused $59 billion in damage across the state. Housing legal issues are most critical: 92.5% of impacted homes were uninsured, over 8,800 low-income homes were destroyed, and 73,700 homes were damaged. These housing issues are complicated by other issues, including recovery of private roads and bridges or heir property and title issues. Since the storm, LANC has opened over 1,200 Helene-related cases and conducted more than 100 outreach events for survivors. This LSC grant supports LANC’s innovative approaches including mobile technology solutions for remote areas, partnerships with Long-Term Recovery Groups and coordination with state agencies on the new Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.

A $89,628 grant awarded to South Carolina Legal Services (SCLS) will help the organization recover from the significant office damage caused by Hurricane Helene to ensure continuity of client services and stability for staff.  The grant will cover necessary repairs to SCLS’s Rock Hill, Spartanburg and Greenville offices, which were not covered by insurance. This repair work is vital so SCLS can continue to serve the 28 counties and Indian Reservation that were severely impacted by the storm with continuing outreach and education.

Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) is receiving a $300,000 grant from LSC to support its response to the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires. LAFLA’s service area includes the Palisades and metro Los Angeles areas where over 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate, thousands of homes were destroyed, and low-income residents are facing job losses, rent gouging and a range of other legal problems. LAFLA has served thousands of Angelenos through outreach, information sessions and educational materials, and has opened over 750 cases. The funding from LSC will support a disaster legal services team including a project manager, a disaster legal services attorney, a training and outreach attorney, and two post-graduate UCLA Law School Legal Fellows.

Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLSLA) will receive a $300,000 LSC grant to respond to the devastating January 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires. NLSLA’s service area includes Altadena, where almost 6,000 homes were destroyed, including affordable housing for multigenerational households, along with Pasadena and other areas of L.A. County devastated by the fires. Survivors now face ongoing housing problems, including contamination from toxic smoke, ash and soot, along with insurance problems and a multitude of other legal issues. NLSLA has served over 1,500 survivors through outreach, community education and information sessions, and they have opened nearly 400 cases. This investment from LSC supports a disaster legal services team including a project manager, a disaster legal services attorney, a disaster paralegal and a legal secretary.

“NLSLA is deeply grateful for this generous grant, which will significantly strengthen our ability to provide critical disaster legal services and support to the fire survivors. This funding is not just an investment in legal services—it’s a lifeline for individuals and families navigating the aftermath of the devastating Los Angeles fires,” said NLSLA President and CEO Yvonne Mariajimenez.

Civil legal services are a crucial part of disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts. Earlier this month, legal aid attorneys and disaster response experts from LSC-funded organizations in five states—Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia—spoke at a forum on Capitol Hill. At the forum, the Executive Director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, Laura Tuggle, explained how the need for disaster legal services has been established since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, because everyday Americans cannot navigate the legal complexities of disaster recovery on their own.

“[Disasters are] going to keep happening and it is absolutely vital that civil legal aid organizations be around when we are most needed because if not, we are abandoning survivors,” said Tuggle. “People are not going to be able to deal with this stuff on their own…most of the time you need a lawyer to peel back the layers of the onion and figure out ‘how do I get this person back into their home?’”

Learn more about how LSC supports the role of civil legal services in disaster recovery here.