What We Do
We Teach the Law - Building Community
Legal services attorneys and other community-based advocates are all too often overwhelmed and their agencies under-funded. They strive to meet the basic, everyday needs of their clients and often feel they do so in isolation. By providing legal training, backup support and technical assistance to these agencies, we build a sense of strength and community across the state and are building a strong core group of advocates who are better equipped to serve their clients.
We Improve the Law - Demanding Fairness
For poor and low-income families, government policies are often at the core of
their lives. Public policy determines whether they have access to food, shelter,
child care, employment and health care. Government policies on minimum wage, public
assistance, food
stamps, child
care and fair
housing are critical to these families struggling to meet their most basic
needs. For those living with disabilities,
government policies go even further, often determining not only their access to
basic necessities, but literally, their access to public places and their
ability to participate fully in society. By engaging in “systems change
advocacy,” we use the legislative, administrative and judicial arenas to level
the playing field, to ensure that rights are protected, to literally change the
systems that affect our clients and all New Yorkers.
We Practice the Law - Securing Stability
It has been proven that access to legal assistance translates into long-term stability and benefits for low-income individuals; legal services advocates get to the root of societal problems, which leads to systemic change, which can help stabilize not just individual families, but the communities in which they live. Legal assistance can also provide a powerful impact on individuals. By providing direct legal representation our advocates are able to save a family’s home when they’re faced with foreclosure, secure critical educational supports for a child struggling from learning disabilities, and ensure quality child care so that parents can go to work knowing that their children are safe.
