This month VOLS enjoyed a wonderful afternoon in Central Park at our annual VOLS Pro Bono Advocates Council (PBAC) Summer Picnic. VOLS staff, PBAC members, law firm Associates, and Summer Associates caught up to chat about pro bono, our work, and play competitive lawn games on a beautiful summer’s day. We are grateful to the VOLS PBAC and firm sponsors Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, and Latham & Watkins LLP for supporting this event. The VOLS PBAC is instrumental in helping to strengthen pro bono participation and our bonds to the community so that we can continue to serve New Yorkers with limited access to resources. Please visit our website for more information about Pro Bono at VOLS, and how you can get involved.
Best,
Abja Midha | She/Her
Executive Director, Volunteers of Legal Service
Our Clients
VOLS Immigration Project provides free immigration legal services to help immigrant youth access safety, education, and opportunity. We work with clients who qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and other forms of immigration relief. SIJS is granted to protect immigrant youth who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent — creating a pathway to lawful permanent residency. This month, VOLS supported KT in obtaining perquisite orders from Family Court that will allow her to file an application for SIJS. Once SIJS is granted, KT will be eligible for a work permit and social security number. As a high school student who is looking forward to starting 11th grade, KT is also thinking about her plans after graduation. With a social security number, KT can apply for college financial aid, an option previously unavailable to her.
July Project Updates
VOLS Benefits Law Project (BLP) worked with New Yorkers throughout July to help meet their housing needs through our Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) and Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) legal services programming. VOLS BLP conducted a NYC Rent Freeze Programs presentation to older adults at St Nick’s Alliance’s Swinging Sixties Senior Center. Tomorrow, our staff will team up with pro bono attorneys from Wells Fargo and King & Spalding LLP at a legal clinic to help older adults assess their edibility and apply for these important – and underutilized – programs.
VOLS Immigration Project (IP) submitted a public comment on Interim Final Rule, “Securing the Border,” in response to the administration’s recent executive action impacting asylum seekers at the southern border. Our team looks forward to continuing our partnership with Trinity Commons and resuming screening clinics for newly arrived migrant families in the fall. VOLS IP will provide 3-4 screening clinics per month from September to December to clients residing at a local shelter. Most of these families are seeking asylum and related protection due to persecution in their home countries or other forms of humanitarian relief, like Temporary Protected Status.
VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project (IMLP), through our partnership with the pro bono team at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen LLP, has begun supporting incarcerated mothers with their uncontested divorces at both Bedford Hills and now Taconic Correctional Facilities. Throughout the month, we continued our in-person clinics, including working with volunteer teams from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen LLP and Willkie, Farr & Gallagher LLP to provide education, advocacy and counsel at Taconic Correctional Facility.
VOLS Senior Law Project (SLP) continues to support older adults where they live, work and gather. This month we held legal clinics and educational presentations with community partners Greenwich House’s Center on the Square, Life Force in Later Years, Rain Middletown Senior Center, SAGE, and Westbeth Older Adult Center. VOLS SLP teamed up with pro bono attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP to hold a legal clinic for older adults served through Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement. VOLS strives to meet the needs of the diverse communities we serve. We recently updated our available resources to include Russian translated guides for older adults and their loved ones.
Thank You To Our Summer Interns
VOLS is grateful to our interns for their valuable contributions and hard work. Thank you to Alexandra Bernal, Hofstra Law; Jingjing Fang, Columbia Law; Allie Haggerty, Fordham Law; Aya Harel, Berkeley Law; Elizabeth Parente, Rutgers Law; Kaitlyn Sangese, Half Hollow Hills High School; Brianna Seaborn, Brown University; and Amy Ye, Berkeley Law, for sharing their experience volunteering at VOLS.
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Join the VOLS Community
- If you are affiliated with a VOLS partner law firm or company and would like to volunteer, please contact your company’s pro bono counsel.
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