More and more legal aid offices and support centers are learning new ways to look at what they do and how it works. They are taking a good, hard look at how they can improve their programs and services to get the best results for clients and client communities. They are finding new and better ways to ask "How well did we do?" and "Could we do better?," and then to communicate about the value of the work they do.

In California, there is an extra incentive to increase the evaluation of legal services programs. Along with a $10 million annual line in the state budget for free legal assistance to low-income individuals and communities comes a requirement for a report to the state Legislature on the "efficiency and effectiveness" of funded projects.

To help prepare the report, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, and the Legal Aid Association of California are inviting grant recipients to participate in an ambitious program-owned evaluation of the projects funded with Equal Access Fund grants. This project builds on existing evaluation work already ongoing within legal services programs, but creates an ongoing statewide evaluation process that is more formal and structured.

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