The Bremer Foundation based in St. Paul, MN, funds projects that promote economic and social justice with a focus on Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. This project targets residents of the northwestern Wisconsin counties that comprise the Tenth Judicial District. This large, primarily rural area is home to approximately 496,500 people, 45,766 of whom were recorded as below the federal poverty guidelines in the 2000 US Census. The grant will fund efforts to develop and implement a plan for improving access to the courts in northwestern Wisconsin. The project is expected to focus on standardizing court rules and procedures among the counties, making simplified forms and plain-English instructions available, training court staff, clerks, and judges to improve how they communicate with people representing themselves in court, and undertaking a major public outreach campaign. The Wisconsin Court System did a feature story on this grant in an issue of The Third Branch, titled "Grant will Help Residents of Northwestern Wisconsin Navigate Court System." Wisconsin Judicare Executive Director Rosemary Elbert was quoted, "We are elated by this news, and are grateful to the Otto Bremer Foundation for funding the proposal...It may truly be said that tens of thousands of Wisconsin residents will benefit from this effort."
