Civil Legal Services Fact Sheet

January 1, 2009

• Syracuse’s poverty rate tops 30%, and of that 10% of Syracuse is in what is considered extreme poverty.
• More than 40,000 people in Syracuse live in poverty, and only 20% are able to receive vital civil legal services.
• In 2007, CLS funding was $16 million, in 2008 that funding was reduced to $8 million.
• Governor Paterson is proposing to reduce CLS funding to $1 million for 2009 – an 88% budget cut following last year’s 55% cut in funding.
• In 2007, the average amount of funding a person received from CLS nationwide was almost $8, while in New York citizens received less than $6 per poor person. With the Governor’s budget amendment, New York stands at $.37 per poor person.
• In 2007-2008, 45 states and the District of Columbia increased CLS funding, while New York cut funding in half.
• Studies show that as a state, New York already is meeting less than 20% of the civil legal needs of low income New Yorkers at a time when they desperately need these services.
• The extreme reduction of civil legal services from the state budget also means job losses at just the wrong time.
• Civil legal services are cost-effective and save the state money by creating efficiency, bringing federal dollars into the state to offset state costs for public benefits and avoiding the need for costly crisis services.
• Low income families rely on Civil Legal Service programs to help stabilize their lives: CLS attorneys help families and individuals secure special education access, disability benefits, housing, food, and countless other services.
• CLS funding helps victims of domestic violence receive representation, eliminating funding would deny victims the representation and protection that they need.
• CLS obtains food assistance funding for low income citizens; this money is in turn spent locally, helping to support local economies.
• The Governor and NYS Legislature should restore CLS funding -- to at least last year’s level which was already 45% of the previous year funding – to return justice, fairness and financial stability to our state, especially to low-income, disabled and disenfranchised New Yorkers.