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Kansas Legal Services asks Harvey County for $5,000 to support local self‑help center and protection docket
Summary
Kansas Legal Services requested a $5,000 county grant to sustain a monthly self‑help legal clinic and a Friday protection‑from‑abuse docket that provides free representation to victims; commissioners asked for grant details and funding sources to be included in the county budget packet.
Becky Hesse, an attorney with Kansas Legal Services, asked the Harvey County Commission on June 3 for a $5,000 contribution to support a monthly self‑help legal clinic and a protection‑from‑abuse docket that Kansas Legal Services staffs in Harvey County.
Hesse described two statewide grants that fund the program—Access to Justice (for the self‑help center) and VOCA (Victims of Crime Act, for the protection docket)—and said Kansas Legal Services also receives funding from Legal Services Corp. She said some state and federal funding streams are expected to decline (she cited an anticipated roughly 15% cut from the federal Legal Services Corp. allocation) and that VOCA funding may be reduced; she offered to provide commissioners with the grant amounts and expected changes by email.
Hesse said the program provides free legal advice and representation: the self‑help clinic offers no‑cost legal advice to county residents and the protection docket provides attorney representation for victims in protection‑from‑abuse and protection‑from‑stalking cases. She gave examples of cases where attorney representation changed outcomes for petitioners and noted Kansas Legal Services also handles related matters such as divorce cases for victims at no charge.
Commissioners asked whether the grants are competitive and about local partnerships. Hesse said the grants are applied for statewide and that Kansas Legal Services also seeks local donations and partnerships; she said Sedgwick County provides a larger direct contribution for a similar docket and that Kansas Legal Services works with local nonprofits such as SafeHope.
The commission did not take a vote but asked staff to include the Kansas Legal Services funding request and the materials Hesse offered in the county budget packet for further consideration during budget discussions.
