Editing Ford Foundation (section)

=== Law school clinics and civil rights litigation ===
In 1968, the foundation began disbursing $12 million to persuade [[law school]]s to make "law school clinics" part of their curriculum.  Clinics were intended to give practical experience in law practice while providing [[pro bono]] representation to the poor. Conservative critic [[Heather Mac Donald]] contends that the financial involvement of the foundation instead changed the clinics' focus from giving students practical experience to engaging in leftwing advocacy.<ref name="macdonald">{{cite news| first=Heather| last=MacDonald| title=Clinical, Cynical| newspaper=[[Wall Street Journal]]| date=11 January 2006| page=A14 | access-date=2017-01-11| url=http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/clinical-cynical-1617.html}} Mac Donald's characterization of clinics as primarily vehicles for leftwing advocacy was disputed in several letters to the editor published two weeks later. See "Letters to the Editor" (25 January 2006). Wall Street Journal. p. A13.</ref>

Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, the foundation expanded into civil rights litigation, granting $18 million to civil rights litigation groups.<ref name="CSPCS">{{cite web|url=http://cspcs.sanford.duke.edu/sites/default/files/descriptive/civil_rights_litigation.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308103035/http://cspcs.sanford.duke.edu/sites/default/files/descriptive/civil_rights_litigation.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-08 |url-status=live|title=Case 36: Social Movements and Civil Rights Litigation", Ford Foundation 1967|last=Schindler|first=Steven|publisher=Center for Strategic Philanthropy & Civil Society, [[Sanford School of Public Policy]]|access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref> The [[Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund]] was incorporated in 1967 with a $2.2 million grant from the foundation.<ref name="CSPCS" /> In the same year, the foundation funded the establishment of the Southwest Council of La Raza, the predecessor of the [[National Council of La Raza]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf858006dc/admin/|title=Guide to the National Council of La Raza Records,1968-1996|website=www.oac.cdlib.org|access-date=2017-12-08}}</ref> In 1972, the foundation provided a three-year $1.2 million grant to the [[Native American Rights Fund]].<ref name="CSPCS" /> The same year, the [[Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund]] opened with funding from numerous organizations, including the foundation.<ref name="CSPCS" /><ref name="latino">{{cite web|url=http://latinojustice.org/about/history|title=Four Decades of Protecting Latino Civil Rights|publisher=Latino Justice|access-date=2014-05-14|archive-date=June 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615010345/http://latinojustice.org/about/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1974, the foundation contributed funds to the [[Southwest Voter Registration Education Project]].<ref name="acosta">{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wcs01|title=Southwest Voter Registration Education Project|last=Acosta|first=Teresa Palomo|date=2010-06-15|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]]|access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref>