Paula Boggs Muething begins her term as board president of the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation with years of leadership under her belt. As chief legal and administrative officer for FC Cincinnati and previously as city manager for the City of Cincinnati, Boggs Muething is accustomed to leading teams tackling complex problems.
Thus, it’s fitting that she will lead the Foundation through a new strategic planning process, the results of which will inform the Foundation’s priorities for the next three years.
Throughout her board service, which began in 2016, Boggs Muething has helped the Foundation grow its mission by funding not only Ohio’s legal aids but also innovative community economic development projects, the Ohio Justice Bus, Ohio Legal Help, and other civil legal services nonprofits that comprise Ohio’s justice ecosystem.
“We’re in such an interesting place,” Boggs Muething said. “We have done a lot of work to become the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, which I think was a major step forward in both being clear about our mission and being that resource in Ohio for removing obstacles to achieve justice.”
A former board member of the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, Boggs Muething attended law school at the University of Cincinnati College of Law because of its human rights program, and her career path ever since has been highly motivated by her interest in equality and justice.
During the foreclosure crisis, she was an attorney with the City of Cincinnati, looking for solutions to blight and nuisance abatement issues. With a statewide coalition, Boggs Muething helped pass legislation that allowed for the creation of land banks in Ohio, after which she led Cincinnati’s land bank in her role as general counsel of the city’s Port Authority.
During her long career with the city and now at FC Cincinnati, Boggs Muething is committed to making Cincinnati a city that works for all its community members.
“I want to make the city an even better place for its residents, my kids, everybody’s kids,” she said. “My husband grew up here, and his family has been here for generations. We’re not moving. This is where our roots are, and we need to do the work we can to invest here.”
Following in the footsteps of two previous Foundation board presidents, Jennifer Day and Kim Shumate, both of whom she calls “tremendous leaders,” Boggs Muething says she has big shoes to fill but is up for the challenge.
“Continuing to strengthen the bonds between our organization and the legal aid societies and other organizations providing access to justice is really our mission,” she said. “It’s very exciting, this notion of removing obstacles for people and partnering with organizations that can continue to do that.”
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation’s Board of Directors serves from around the state and is committed to improving access to justice. Meet the Board.