COVID-19 Legal Services

The COVID-19 pandemic’s long-lasting negative impacts have disproportionately devastated people with limited means and caused a spike in their related legal needs. Soon after the pandemic began, reports of domestic violence rose, service industry jobs were decimated, and people faced losing their homes through foreclosure and eviction as moratoria expired. Lost income, and in some cases COVID-19-related hospitalizations, resulted in cascading debt.

Recipients of our COVID-19 Legal Services grants have been able to assist people throughout Wisconsin in meeting a range of civil legal problems exacerbated by the pandemic.

Current grant levels and fund sources

In March 2022, Governor Tony Evers announced $7,936,000 in legal services funding to support Wisconsinites who need legal assistance to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This initial funding allocation had two components:

• $7,812,000 to fund COVID-19-related civil legal services.
• $124,000 to help build the Wisconsin Law Help website, a user-friendly online legal assistance portal that will help Wisconsinites access accurate legal information and referrals.

In December 2024, Governor Evers supplemented this funding with an additional $5 million to extend the program through June 30, 2026. Up to $750,000 of this new funding is designated for expanding the Wisconsin Law Help website, further enhancing access to legal information and legal services for residents across the state.

Funds for this project are part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), passed through the Wisconsin Department of Children & Families (DCF) to WisTAF for development and administration of a civil legal services grant program.

Application process

We held an open application process for these multi-year grants in 2022. In early 2025, existing grant recipients were invited to apply to extend their work under the additional allocation.

Client eligibility

Eligible clients have household incomes at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

Current grant recipients