question: Who is helping West Texas provide their services and is it effective? answer: Yes paragraph: A state foundation is giving West Texas Legal Services and the Fort Worth chapter of the NAACP more than $1 million to help provide civil legal services to the poor. The Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation announced that the Fort Worth-based nonprofit groups will receive grants from funds it controls, including the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, or IOLTA, program. West Texas Legal Services, which works with clients in 106 counties including Tarrant, Lubbock, Midland and Potter, will get about $1.03 million. The legal aid group cleared about 8,300 cases last year. "It is going to help us out tremendously with our program," said Kathy Duncan at West Texas Legal Services. "If it wasn't for the grant, we couldn't continue to do the work we are doing." West Texas handles such cases as divorces, protective orders in domestic violence cases and land-lord-tenant disputes. It has a staff of about 100 employees, including attorneys and support staff, in 10 branch offices. The NAACP's Fort Worth Justice Project will get $49,000. Officials from the group's legal assistance program were not available to comment. Created by the Texas Supreme Court, the Equal Access foundation has distributed about $8 million statewide. Besides the IOLTA program, the money comes from court filing fees and a state criminal victims assistance program. In Texas, 4.2 million people qualify for legal assistance because they make at or below 120 percent of the federal poverty guideline. In Tarrant County, 204,000 people are eligible for legal aid. The grants come at a time when funding for programs providing attorneys for the poor are in jeopardy from declining interest rates, cutbacks in federal funding and legal challenges. "It needs to be a whole lot more," said Betty Torres, executive director of the Austin-based foundation. "Although the poverty population in Texas has increased, statewide and federal funding for this vital work is in decline." About $4.9 million being distributed this year comes from the IOLTA fund, which is interest earned on money paid to lawyers as retainers or to cover court costs. 