The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education Inc. has been awarded $8.73 million as part of Bank of America’s mortgage settlement in 2014 with the U.S. Department of Justice and six states.

The funding was mandated under the settlement to provide legal assistance in foreclosure prevention and community redevelopment.

The Arizona Foundation, headquartered in Phoenix, is one of 56 state-based legal-assistance organizations receiving funds under the settlement, which settled legal claims arising from mortgage-related activities by Bank of America and its subsidiaries.

The distributions – totaling more than $490 million nationwide – were triggered in December by President Obama’s signing into law an act extending federal tax relief through 2016 to homeowners who otherwise would have incurred income-tax liability from mortgage debt forgiveness they received under consumer-relief provisions of the settlement.