From all of us at the City Bar Justice Center, happy autumn! The new season brings a number of exciting developments we are happy to share with you.  

With so much going on in the world, our dozen civil justice projects remain highly active doing all the good work featured in this newsletter – strengthening ties with community and pro bono partners, creating online educational resources, and launching programs and initiatives that respond to emerging legal issues. As we help New Yorkers in need navigate the complexities of housing, immigration, financial hardship, and other challenges, we hope the updates in this newsletter help you understand our team’s impact. We also ask you to recommit to partnering with us to find dynamic solutions for today’s problems. Looking forward, we will be happy to share with you in our next newsletter, even more programming updates made possible by new staff, technology upgrades, renovated offices, and forthcoming organization-wide strategic planning.   

For now, stay connected! Tune in to watch our 2022 pro bono awards ceremony, follow us on social media to help share client stories or resources for those in need – or, volunteer with us or donate. Your support helps amplify the Justice Center’s impact as we work together to build up the communities we share and love!  

Best regards,

Kurt M. Denk
Executive Director

Our Immigrant Justice Project recently launched its NYC Migrant Youth Initiative in partnership with Covenant House. Supported by a growing cohort of Justice Center pro bono partners, the initiative aims to address the urgent legal needs of the increasing number of migrant youth arriving in New York City from the U.S.-Mexico border. Read the full press release.

Our Homeowner Stability Project (HSP) signs onto Amicus Brief  for Homeowners' Fair Treatment. HSP recently signed onto Legal Services NYC's New York Court of Appeals Amicus Brief in a dispute concerning the reset of statute of limitations periods when a borrower enters a trial modification of their mortgage loan. The amicus brief argues that the decision underlying the appeal correctly found that such a reset would undermine state laws and policy meant to preserve legal defenses and encourage parties to settle so as to preserve homeownership and keep families in place by entering into these nonbinding agreements. Learn more. 

2022 Summer Intern Reflections. This summer, ten talented undergraduate and law school students gained hands-on experience supporting administrative and programmatic functions of the Justice Center. For reflections from our summer interns highlighting their most rewarding experiences at the Justice Center, click here! 

The Justice Center’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) kicked off a Small Business Cannabis Presentation Series on October 11. Through this free programming, NELP aims to provide equitable access to information about starting a cannabis-related business in New York City. In collaboration with the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Drugs and the Law, the presentations are held in person at the Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Heights Branch and will run through November. Click here to register.  

Our Veterans Assistance Project (VAP) is hosting its Annual Breakfast & Ethics CLE on November 11, 2022. Join us as we mark fifteen years since VAP’s founding in 2007 and recognize the outstanding pro bono work our volunteers have contributed to support New York veterans facing systemic legal barriers. If you are interested in sponsoring and attending the program, please email our Development Associate, Cesar Ruiz, at cruiz@nycbar.org. 

New grants help the Justice Center expand advocacy and tech infrastructure. We are pleased to have secured a $100,000 grant (annualized) from the Community Service Society of New York’s Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program to expand our Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP). The new funding will help CBP take on additional clients and develop new programming advising on student debt relief options. The Justice Center also is grateful to BNY Mellon – which has long supported our Legal Clinic for the Homeless through pro bono work and an annual grant – for approving additional funding to improve and expand the Justice Center’s online intake platform organization-wide. Recent statistics show a marked increase in the percentage of people who first access Justice Center services via online intake, and these tech infrastructure improvements will expand our capacity to meet new needs.  

Welcome to the team! We are excited to introduce seven new staff members to the Justice Center team – Elena Pastreich, Kayla Freeman, Lily Gottlieb, Mariana Monahan Negron, Michelle Noonan, Samantha Darris, and Steve Yarosh. We welcome the unique skills and talents of our new staff to drive creativity and innovation in legal services delivery.