NAPLES CHILDREN FOUNDATION AWARDS $600,000 GRANT TO LEGAL AID SERVICE OF COLLIER COUNTY

Legal Aid Service of Collier County has received a $600,000 grant from the Naples Children Foundation, founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, to continue providing free civil legal services to at-risk children across Collier County.

The grant supports Legal Aid for Collier Kids, a program that provides free legal representation and advocacy to children facing difficult circumstances in the community. The award covers the 2026-2027 grant term and is expected to serve 500 children.

The Naples Children Foundation has funded the project since 2012, when its initial investment allowed Legal Aid to launch Legal Aid for Collier Kids. More than 4,500 at-risk children have been served through the project since 2013. During the most recently completed grant term, the program served 748 children.

"The Naples Children Foundation has stood behind Collier County's most vulnerable children for more than a decade, and this grant allows our attorneys to keep showing up for them in courtrooms, classrooms, and IEP meetings,” said Carol O’Callaghan, regional deputy executive director of Legal Aid Service of Collier County. “For many of these children, a Legal Aid attorney is the only advocate in the room whose sole job is to protect their interests."

Legal Aid is the only provider of free legal services to at-risk children in Collier County in the areas of dependency, family law, kinship care, guardian advocacy, Marsy's Law, and education law. It is also the largest free service provider to victims in domestic violence court.