The Legal Aid Society today announced that it has been named a finalist in Robin Hood’s AI Poverty Challenge for breakthrough AI solutions to fight poverty in the U.S. Nine finalists received $100,000 each, and were announced during the Fast Company Innovation Festival.

Legal Aid was awarded the grant for its AI-powered Housing Justice Helpline Information Retrieval Tool, which enhances efficiency by reducing hotline response times and improving client satisfaction. Developed with Columbia University, the Tool operates in a closed secure ecosystem, using vetted materials to help staff promptly find and summarize information.

“We are honored to be named as a finalist in Robin Hood’s AI Poverty Challenge for our innovative AI approach to helping thousands of low-income New Yorkers annually through our Housing Justice Helpline,” said Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society. “This grant will be instrumental as we develop and scale similar AI-powered tools to serve our clients facing issues not only in housing, but immigration, employment, government benefits, and more.”

The Housing Justice Helpline is staffed by Legal Aid’s highly trained paralegals and attorneys who provide advice and brief services to low-income tenants on issues such as non-payments, holdovers, and lease inquiries. Last year, the Housing Justice Helpline supported clients in nearly 17,000 calls, handling over 14,600 case matters that were opened and closed. 

With support from Robin Hood, Legal Aid aims to develop and scale similar retrieval tools for implementation across seven other hotlines and intake processes. In 2023, Legal Aid responded to over 31,000 helpline calls organization-wide and managed nearly 200,000 individual legal matters.