2025 Birdsall Grant Recipients
The Bucks County Bar Foundation received a $1,000 grant to support its BCBF Civics Program Website Discovery project, for their newly established Civics Program, for which they are beginning to develop a website. Their Civics Program Committee is comprised of BCBF Leadership and Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judges and partnered with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit's Leadership Team and Social Studies Team. This group will seek feedback from local educators, students, and citizens. The Civics Program Committee will meet regularly to review feedback and to evaluate the success of the Program.
The Dauphin County Bar Association received a $1,000 grant to support its Civics Education for our Community (Understanding Your Government, the Balance of Powers, and the Rule of Law) Project. The purpose is to provide civics education to the public, particularly focusing on the rule of law, the necessity of an independent judiciary, and the balance of powers, in a non-partisan and apolitical way. The objective is to deliver information to their community, via a panel (combination of retired federal judges and academics) and through screened Q&A time, in a way that can be replicated by the DCBA, its partners and other County Bar Associations. Their impact is to create a neutral avenue for citizen and voter education through community forums; to inform the public so they may become better equipped to analyze social and other media and better withstand manipulation by partisan actors.
2024 Birdsall Grant Recipients
The Dauphin County Bar Foundation received a $1,000 grant to support its We Care About Children Campaign, which focuses on causes that promote access to justice, particularly to those struggling with poverty and family issues. The Campaign has collaborated with MidPenn Legal Services to provide a full-time custody attorney, resolving more than 1,000 cases to-date. This year-round program provides local families who have nowhere else to turn, a way to access the court system for a peaceful and fair resolution in family court.
Pennsylvania Bar Foundation President, Michael B. Jones presents Dauphin County Bar Association President, Jonathan D. Koltash with the grant on May 9, 2024, during the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation’s Annual Meeting in Hershey, PA.
2022 Birdsall Grant Recipients
The Dauphin County Bar Association received a $1,000 grant to support its We Care About Children Campaign, which focuses on causes that promote access to justice, particularly to those struggling with poverty and family issues. The Campaign has collaborated with MidPenn Legal Services to provide a full-time custody attorney, resolving more than 1,000 cases to-date. This year-round program provides local families who have nowhere else to turn, a way to access the court system for a peaceful and fair resolution in family court.
2021 Birdsall Grant Recipients
The Delaware County Bar Association (DCBA) received a $500 grant to support its Community Outreach Committee Virtual Event Series for the Public, which provides timely legal information to the community impacted by the pandemic. These webinars were advertised through DCBA promotional material, the DCBA Facebook page, though local legislators’ offices and other community groups. In all, 536 members of the public and attorneys have participated in these virtual events. The DCBA will also make these video recordings available on its website for members of the public to view. The DCBA plans to continue to host similar virtual events for the public during 2021. In 2020, they hosted 12 programs.
The Jefferson County Bar Association received a $1,000 grant to provide both financial and attorney assistance to our five local area high schools that participate in the annual High School Mock Trial Competition held by the PBA. Jefferson County Bar annually contributes $500 to each mock trial team. The objective is to encourage continued participation in the mock trial competition but also to encourage teams to expand students’ opportunities for more experience with such competitions to hone their writing, research, critical thinking, public speaking, and persuasion skills.
Past Birdsall Grant Recipients