The South Carolina Bar Foundation will receive the 2008 National Conference of Bar Foundations (NCBF) Award for Bar Foundation Excellence in Public Service Programming.

The Foundation's project, Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI), is an initiative conducted by the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families and serves non- violent, low- income fathers who are underemployed or unemployed and behind in their child support payments. The ATI component at Midlands Fatherhood Coalition is funded through this grant.

The program allows participants to find employment, resolve legal issues and receive instruction on money management. Seven program sites throughout the state offer fatherhood classes that cover topics such as job readiness and retention, parenting, legal rights and responsibilities, communications skills and child support/visitation issues. Successful completion of the program is defined as a father who works full time and has paid child support consistently for six months. Fathers may be ordered to participate by the court or may enter the program voluntarily.

During its first year, the S.C. Bar Foundation made a grant award of $72,000. In that year alone, $61,000 was paid by participating fathers in child support. In addition, the fathers also earned $186,000 in gross wages. Without this program, most of these fathers would have spent time in jail at the expense of taxpayers.

In the 2008 grant cycle, the Marlboro County ATI program enjoyed an even higher return on the Foundation's investment. Within the first six months of operation, the 33 active court-ordered participants paid over $77,000 in child support payments and saved over $250,000 in incarceration costs.

The ATI effort funded by the Foundation has served as a model in the importance of investing in ATI programs for non- violent offenders. The programs put much needed child support dollars in the hands of the neediest citizens and saves millions of dollars in incarceration costs.

The S.C. Bar Foundation will receive the award at the joint luncheon of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the National Association of Bar Executives, and the National Conference of Bar Foundations Friday, August 8 at the Annual Meeting in New York.