LAS Receives $55k Grant
Legal Aid Society Awarded $55,000 Grant from the Baptist Healing Trust
Funds will be used to support Legal Aid Society’s Middle Tennessee Medical-Legal Partnership
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Jan. 27, 2015 – Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Tennessee’s largest non-profit law firm, announced today it has received a $55,000 grant from Baptist Healing Trust.
The grant money will be used to support Legal Aid Society’s Middle Tennessee Medical-Legal Partnership (“MTMLP”). Medical-legal partnerships bring civil legal aid on-site at health care locations where people in the community go to seek help for other issues. The MTMLP staff will also train and educate health care professionals to recognize a patient’s legal issues that can adversely affect their health. The MTMLP is a partnership with United Neighborhood Health Services and Vanderbilt University’s student-run Shade Tree Clinic. Audrey Seamon, an attorney in Legal Aid Society’s Nashville office, serves as the MTMLP attorney at both sites.
“Medical-legal partnerships are one of the most important developments in the delivery of civil legal services in the last twenty years. They represent the kind of innovation and entrepreneurship our community needs. For several years, the support of the Baptist Healing Trust has been an integral part of sustaining and growing our Middle Tennessee Medical-Legal Partnership,” said Gary Housepian, executive director of Legal Aid Society. “Because of their generosity, we can extend our limited resources and reach a larger number of clients to address chronic problems with systemic solutions. Medical-legal partnerships do this by sharing health and legal data that identify patterns of need. Working together, we can achieve positive health and legal outcomes.”
The Baptist Healing Trust awarded funds totaling more than $1.2 million in its most recent grant cycle.
“We are proud to help support 31 local non-profits working to create access to quality, compassionate health services for the community’s most vulnerable residents,” said Baptist Healing Trust President and CEO Dr. Cathy Self.
The mission of the Baptist Healing Trust, a private grant making foundation, is the sacred work of fostering healing and wholeness for vulnerable populations through strategic investing, philanthropy and advocacy.
Recipients of the contributions include non-profit organizations from 40 counties in Middle Tennessee that focus on physical health, mental health, recovery from alcohol and drug abuse or healing from abuse, neglect and violence. This year’s grants bring the collective grant making of the Baptist Healing Trust to over $68 million since 2002. The Baptist Healing Trust was created when Baptist Hospital in Nashville sold to St. Thomas Health Services, a ministry of Ascension Health in St. Louis, Missouri.
Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands advocates for fairness and justice under the law. The non-profit law firm offers free civil legal representation, educational programs and advice to ensure people in its region are able to protect their livelihoods, their health and their families. It serves 48 counties from offices in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma. Legal Aid Society is funded in part by United Way. Learn more at www.las.org, or by following the firm on Facebook.