July Update — VOLS COVID-19 Community Response

New Yorkers are counting on Volunteers of Legal Service for support during COVID-19. Since the pandemic has devastated our communities, VOLS has quickly relaunched our Unemployed Workers Project, created a COVID-19 Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative, expanded our small business legal relief efforts and re-tooled all our legal projects and initiatives to meet the urgent and critical needs of seniors, older veterans, mothers in prison or jail, and children & families. We are requesting donations to support our emergency response:

DONATE TO THE VOLS COVID-19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Information on this page:

Resources During the COVID-19 Crisis

VOLS is keeping track of public and private resources so that New Yorkers whose health, social, or economic well-being is affected by the COVID-19 crisis can access legal support. We have published and will continue to update a special resource guide on our website:

GET THE VOLS COVID-19 RESOURCE GUIDE: CLICK HERE

New Yorkers in legal need can contact VOLS for support through our Microenterprise Project, Elderly Project and Veterans Initiative, Immigration Project, Incarcerated Mothers Law Project, Children’s Project, Unemployed Workers Project and our new Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative:

VOLS Small Business Response

VOLS Microenterprise Project COVID-19 Response: Ivia Cardozo, Ramona Ferreyra (Ojala Threads), Aysha Saeed (AYSHA NY)

Since the pandemic caused widespread business closures, the VOLS Microenterprise Project team has received a significant increase in urgent requests for legal assistance from small business owners. And we are proud to have served every eligible business owner who has contacted us. Our approach has had three pillars: providing information and resources, increasing free advice and representation, and advocating for smart policies for small businesses to survive the crisis. To do this, VOLS has worked closely with public and private partners through the City’s Commercial Lease Assistance program and our newly launched Small Business Legal Relief Alliance.

VOLS Immigration and DACA Report

29,000 DACA recipients are health care workers on the front lines serving as physicians, nurses, health aides and technicians — all while grappling with the possibility that their status could have been taken away. On June 18, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate the DACA program violated administrative law. In addition to actively submitting DACA renewals for our clients, the VOLS Immigration Project team has responded to several pandemic- and immigration-related legal issues. We provide advice and representation on unemployment insurance, federal stimulus measures and immigrant eligibility, tourist visa issues for family members stranded in the United States, and changes to Immigration Courts and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Read this article (PDF) from Penn State Law about the U.S. Supreme Court and recent DACA Decision.

Updates from the VOLS Team

VOLS clients are at the forefront of those impacted by COVID-19. In addition to the above updates from our Microenterprise and Immigration Projects, read about updates and resources across our legal programs:

  • Unemployed Workers Project: Since re-launching the VOLS Unemployed Workers Project in mid-March, we have already provided advice to over 475 people who turned to us for assistance with their unemployment benefits. We have received an overwhelming amount of inquiries from independent contractors and others working in the gig-economy who face new challenges in receiving and maintaining unemployment benefits. We now offer free client representation in unemployment insurance hearings to address benefit claim denials and employer objections to claimants’ receipt of benefits. If you or someone you know needs an attorney to represent them in an unemployment hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, call VOLS at (347) 521-5720. 
  • Veterans Initiative: The VOLS Veterans Initiative continues to watch with concern as veterans in nursing homes, and those who care for them, fall victim to COVID19. The need for nursing home stays can be obviated when a veteran can get proper care in the community. VOLS recently submitted a public comment to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that examines some of the problems and shortcomings of the proposed regulations, which expand the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) to veterans who served prior to 2001. You can click here to read the full public comment, which was drafted in partnership with Proskauer Rose LLP. 
  • Elderly Project: The VOLS Elderly Project wins an 8-year battle to prevent the eviction of a disable senior from public housing. Read the full story here. Our Elderly Project & Veterans Initiative are continuing to provide services to seniors. We encourage anyone in need of life planning documents time to reach out for assistance. Please visit our website to find intake and educational information for seniors. Groups interested in scheduling a virtual presentation for clients or staff should contact our Legal Director at pkempner@volsprobono.org.  
  • Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative: While the New York City area is slowly reopening, COVID-19 continues to be a prominent public health threat. Elderly and immunocompromised individuals remain vulnerable, and our community’s healthcare workers continue to put their lives at risk. With such uncertainty, the new VOLS Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative provides healthcare workers with free, critical life planning documents to secure their financial, legal and healthcare wishes. Application and answers to common questions can be found on our website. 
  • Incarcerated Mothers Law Project: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating and disparate impact on people in jail and prison. Incarcerated women and men remain at high risk of infection, as they are unable to practice social distancing, they live in close, confined quarters, and they often lack ready access to personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies. Already separated from their families and communities, their isolation is exacerbated as in-person visits and on-site-programming have been suspended for three months in all NYC and NYS correctional facilities. The need for legal assistance remains high. VOLS continues to meet this challenge through outreach and provision of family law assistance to women at Rikers Island and at the Taconic Correctional Facility via mail and confidential attorney-client phone calls. In spite of the many obstacles they face, our intervention ensures that mothers in jail or prison are better equipped to maintain family bonds, protect their parental rights and plan for the future.

Click here to read the April VOLS Update Newsletter

Join the VOLS COVID-19 Emergency Response

VOLS “On the Ground” COVID-19 Response Briefing May 1, 2020
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