Morgan Maloney ‘22
Lizzy Harris ‘22
Guest Writers
PILA is incredibly excited for our new supplemental grants program, PILA+! Last spring our board discussed ways PILA could better serve the public service community and adapt to its growing needs. In particular, we had heard about the experiences of a number of students who struggled to make ends meet while relying solely on the guaranteed public service summer grant when interning in high cost-of-living cities like D.C. and New York. We felt that while the guaranteed public service summer grants are a great way to create a stable baseline for financial support of public service students, their limited flexibility of these grants to vary in amount based on factors such as geographic area, financial need, and lack of family support can create vast inequities for students with different internships and in different job markets. Given this inflexibility and need for greater assistance, we decided to do something about it, and thus the idea for PILA+ was born. Since then, we have worked closely with the Public Service Center to transform our idea into reality and to create an additional source of funding to help try to close the gap and make summer public service internships more feasible for students with increased financial need. We are very grateful to Dean Annie Kim ’99 and Assistant Director of Public Service Andrew Broaddus in the Public Service Center for their extensive support and advice as we worked through how to create an entirely new and student-run grants program to offer additional assistance, on top of the guaranteed summer public service grants, which was no easy feat.
The guaranteed public service summer grant, which is now called the “UVA Law Public Service Grant,” will remain unchanged in both its amount and its qualification requirements, and it will still be guaranteed to all students who meet the eligibility requirements. To qualify for a PILA+ grant, students must first qualify for the UVA Law Public Service Summer Grant.
Additionally, students must also meet five additional criteria to qualify for the PILA+ supplemental grant. Students must (1) live in a high cost-of-living city; (2) anticipate to receive less than $2,000 in familial support for costs of living; (3) receive less than $1,000 in wages or a stipend from their public service employer; (4) pay two rents over the summer; and (5) receive less than $2,000 in total summer fellowship funding. The deadline for submitting a PILA+ application is March 18, 2022. For more information about the PILA+ grant and each of the above criteria, students can visit our website at www.pilauva.com. As for the amount of the grants, all money raised (after paying applicable taxes and other necessary expenses) will be divided equally between all eligible students. Therefore, each dollar raised is another dollar in the pockets of public service students!
The new PILA+ program is entirely student run, fundraised, and administered. Because of this, we are entirely dependent on the help of everyone in the UVA Law community. Members of the UVA Law community, including both students and faculty, can support us by volunteering to help with—or simply attending—our numerous fundraisers throughout the year, as well as donating to the upcoming auctions. This program was designed by public service students for public service students. If students have any questions, concerns, or ideas about how we can improve this grant, we invite them to reach out to PILA.
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mvm7rw@virginia.edu
ebh9pz@virginia.edu