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Ellen Beth Levitt, eblevitt@yahoo.com, 410-598-4711
(November 18, 2020—Plano, TX) – The Hillcrest Foundation has awarded a $300,000 grant to The Center for American and International Law (CAIL) for capital improvements to the center’s headquarters building. The funds will be used for much-needed repairs and to install a variety of COVID-related safety measures for the health of staff, visitors and program participants.
“This grant will help ensure that the building is well-suited to continue our important educational programs into the future,” said Mark Smith, President of CAIL. “Support from the Hillcrest Foundation is a recognition that CAIL’s work is important and has an impact far beyond the walls of our building.”
Located on Democracy Drive in Plano, the building houses CAIL’s offices and classrooms for ongoing educational programs for lawyers and law enforcement officials. Those programs include the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration’s nationally recognized courses that educate law enforcement officers about ethical decision-making, accountability, and diversity; CAIL’s criminal justice and actual innocence programs for prosecutors and defense attorneys, judges and law enforcement officers; and its acclaimed Academy of American and International Law, which draws lawyers from countries around the world to learn about the U.S. legal system, international trade and many other topics.
Budget constraints in recent years had caused a deferral of building repairs. With postponed in-person programs and reduced revenues due to COVID-19, those repairs faced further delays.
This is not the first time the Hillcrest Foundation has supported CAIL. The Foundation provided a major grant to help with the construction of the CAIL building in 2002.
“With this grant, we are pleased to once again support the vital educational mission of The Center for American and International Law,” said Kelly Garlock, Philanthropic Client Manager for Bank of America Private Bank, on behalf of the Trustees of The Hillcrest Foundation.
CAIL is a non-profit institution. Since it was founded more than 70 years ago, tens of thousands of lawyers and law enforcement officers from all 50 states and 131 countries have participated in CAIL’s programs. Participants play crucial roles in our society and CAIL’s programs help them better serve their communities, clients, and the public.
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