NCSB Journal Spring 2026

IOLTA UPDATE

Grantees Report Impacts of Continued Freeze on NC IOLTA Grantmaking

The North Carolina General Assembly’s freeze on NC IOLTA grantmaking contin ues. NC IOLTA recently surveyed 2025 grantees who were planning to apply for 2026 funding about the impact of the freeze on their organization’s operation and capacity to serve those in need of legal services. Below are some of the findings of the survey. • As a direct result of the loss of antici pated funding due to the freeze, grantee organizations have been forced to lay off 56 full-time employees, including attorneys, paralegals, and other staff, that support access to justice for low-income North Carolinians. Additional layoffs are expected this year absent the freeze being lifted or other funding being identified. • In addition to layoffs, grantees report ed reducing staff hours, consolidating posi tions, not filling vacant positions, and con

sidering reductions to staff benefits. • While the extent of changes in service capacity is not yet fully known, grantees have already begun to limit intake of new clients and scale back staffed hours at intake and service sites (for example, hotlines, courthouse desks, and clinics). • As staff adjust to reduced capacity without funding from NC IOLTA, organi zations acknowledge that the number of individuals served will decrease, processing of cases will be slower, callback times will increase, and clients will receive assistance that is less holistic. The freeze also affects prospective first time grantees who were planning to launch new programs and/or expand existing suc cessful programs that either improve access to civil legal aid for low-income North Carolinians or enhance the administration of justice. Goldsboro family law attorney Shelby

Duffy Benton, a former chair of NC IOLTA’s Board of Trustees, explores this topic in greater detail on page 7. For more information, visit the Media Resources page at nciolta.org>About Us. Grantee Impact Story: Wake County Legal Support Center “The process of representing yourself can be very intimidating and overwhelm ing,” Jared Graham (visitor’s identity is pro tected through use of a pseudonym), a Wake County pro se litigant, said of his experiences in civil court. While many North Carolinians navigate such legal matters on their own—often because they can’t afford an attorney’s help—the prospect can indeed be daunting. At every step, whether it’s a divorce or child custody agreement, a pending eviction or foreclosure, a contract dispute or another civil matter, the stakes are high. That’s why the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission, charged with identifying and implementing strate gies to increase access to justice across the state, has made it a priority to develop materials and resources that support resi dents as they address problems through legal processes. One innovative program resulting from the commission’s work is the Wake County Legal Support Center, which opened in January 2023 with funding support from NC IOLTA. A resource for pro se litigants in Wake County Housed in the Wake County Courthouse in downtown Raleigh, the center is a free, walk-in resource hub where pro se litigants can access online tools, get help filling out forms, learn more about how their cases will be adjudicated, and receive referrals for attor neys and other services. Trained volunteers also assist visitors in using Odyssey, the

Wake County Legal Support Center Director Anh LyJordan, at center, with staff members Faith Reeves and Julissa Corporan.

SPRING 2026

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