The SECU Foundation is awarding a $300,000 grant to Legal Aid of North Carolina to expand services in rural areas.
The funds will support software development and statewide implementation of Legal Aid’s Innovation Lab.
The lab aims to foster collaborations between community partners, law schools and tech experts to improve access for rural North Carolinians.
According to Legal Aid, one-third of the state’s counties are considered legal deserts. That means they have fewer than one attorney per 1,000 residents.
Legal Aid will use hubs and mobile units to make help more readily available.
SECU Foundation Senior Grants Officer Parker Patterson says the funds will help launch a new AI chatbot that makes the intake form easier.
"It's really inclusive to the whole state, the software system. And it's going to reduce a lot of time that people will have to wait to get access to what they provide," Patterson says.
According to the Foundation, the shift to more virtual assistance is expected to impact up to 30,000 low-income individuals.