100 Years of Justice: On your side since 1925
Colorado Legal Services is celebrating 100 years of fighting for justice for Coloradans with low incomes in 2025.
The statewide legal aid organization serves around 10,000 Coloradans each year who are facing civil legal challenges, helping people in our communities stay housed, escape domestic violence, stop unfair debt collection, undo bureaucratic public benefits mistakes, solve tax disputes, protect the rights of farmworkers, advocate for survivors of human trafficking and severe crime, and fix complicated identification document issues.
“For 100 years, we have remained true to our core values of defending the rights of low-income people and seniors,” said Matt Baca, executive director of Colorado Legal Services. “I am eternally grateful to the continued dedication of Colorado Legal Services attorneys, paralegals, intake staff, social workers, and many others who do this important work. As we look forward to the next 100 years, it is with the dogged determination, compassionate dedication, and resilience that carried us through the first century of service. While our clients face continued hardships and threats to legal aid funding are ever present, the future of legal aid is one we will meet with the conviction that civil legal representation is a vital human right.”
Colorado Legal Services began in February of 1925 when the Legal Aid Society of Denver (later called the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver) was formed. Until the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs was founded in 1953, Denver was the only city in the state with a formal legal services program for low-income Coloradans, leaving people in other areas in civil court without representation if they could not afford it.
More legal aid organizations continued to start across the state, until several separate legal aid organizations, including the original Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver, consolidated in 1999 to become the cohesive, statewide legal aid program Colorado Legal Services is today.
Colorado Legal Services rings in the next century with support and collaboration from Coloradans and organizations statewide. It recently added social workers to help provide holistic services, continued to build community relationships, rebranded and built a new website to help people more easily access it and various resources, and worked to increase funding options for low-income Coloradans.
Artwork from Charlo, a Colorado artist whose work can be found at charlo.studio, highlighting Colorado Legal Services’ work and community impact. Words and images in the artwork reflect the organization and its staff’s commitment to Colorado communities.
The artwork was made possible by Charlo and a grant from the Kettering Foundation.
A Peek into the Past
Two Colorado Rural Legal Services bumper stickers. CRLS was founded in 1969.
A poster for Colorado Rural Legal Services, one of the three Colorado legal aid organizations that consolidated in 1999 to form Colorado Legal Services.
A Pikes Peak Legal Services sign. Pikes Peal Legal Services started in 1953 as the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs.
The original Colorado Legal Services logo.
A 1990s logo concept submitted for consideration by a staff member.
The current Colorado Legal Services logo, updated in 2024.
An Aunt’s Determination to Give Her Niece a New Life
Angela, who lives in northern Colorado, was shocked and worried when, in 2022, she learned that her young niece could be in danger. Angela, who has long acted as a caretaker and who raised children of her own, quickly reached out to her brother and asked if Lilly could visit Colorado for the summer.
When Angela flew to Tennessee to pick Lilly up, she found a 3-year-old with too-tight clothes, two stuffies, one extra outfit, and a tattered backpack.
“Throughout my career in legal aid I’ve experienced the serious challenges, from variations in funding to shifting legal landscapes and the significantly increasing number of people who need our help. Thousands of Coloradans over the last 100 years have had their legal rights asserted, defended, and, where possible, expounded, and their lives have been improved by Colorado Legal Services’ most able and important work.”
Historia
Colorado Legal Services comenzó como varias organizaciones de ayuda legal separadas, que se fusionaron en 1999 para servir mejor a los habitantes de color con bajos ingresos con eficiencia y cohesión. Hoy en día, la organización representa a miles de habitantes de Colorado de forma gratuita cada año.
Años de servicio
Se constituye la Sociedad de Asistencia Jurídica de Denver. En 1962, el nombre de la organización cambió a Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver. Hasta que se fundó la Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs en 1953, Denver era la única ciudad del estado que contaba con un programa formal de servicios jurídicos para los habitantes de Colorado con bajos ingresos.
Con el tiempo, la Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver añadió sus servicios a los condados de Boulder y Jefferson, y en 1981 inició también un programa pro bono para 11 condados rurales del noroeste de Colorado, conocido como Northwest Colorado Legal Services Project (Proyecto de Servicios Jurídicos del Noroeste de Colorado).
Pikes Peak Legal Services comenzó como la Sociedad de Ayuda Legal de Colorado Springs, con un abogado y una secretaria a tiempo parcial. La oficina a tiempo parcial creció más tarde a una operación a tiempo completo alojada en el palacio de justicia. El abogado de Pikes Peak Legal Services también trabajaba a media jornada como ayudante del fiscal del distrito en la tramitación de casos sin manutención.
In the late 1990’s, Pikes Peak Legal Services joined with Pueblo County Legal Services, which began in 1966. The combined program was renamed Pikes Peak-Arkansas River Legal Aid.
Colorado Rural Legal Services fue fundado y financiado en 1969 por una subvención de la Oficina de Oportunidades Económicas y comenzó como un programa diseñado principalmente para servir a los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes en todo Colorado. Los Servicios Jurídicos Rurales de Colorado se gestionaban desde una oficina en Boulder, con oficinas regionales situadas originalmente en La Junta, Alamosa, Grand Junction y Greeley. Se añadieron oficinas en Montrose, Trinidad y Durango cuando el estado proporcionó financiación durante un breve periodo de tiempo a principios de la década de 1970. Más tarde se añadieron oficinas en Fort Collins y Fort Morgan.
Colorado’s three existing legal services programs, the Legal Aid Society of Metro Denver, Colorado Rural Legal Services, and Pikes Peak-Arkansas River Legal Aid consolidated to form a new statewide program: Colorado Legal Services. The consolidation was recommended by a statewide planning group that included staff and board members from the three programs and other leaders throughout Colorado.
