Tell Mayor de Blasio: Restore and expand funding for commercial lease legal assistance to NYC small businesses
Dear Small Business Owners and Advocates:
The City of New York faces a budget crisis, and this will be a very difficult budget process for the upcoming fiscal year. Let’s make sure that Mayor de Blasio knows how important the Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) program is to our small businesses and local communities, and that he puts CLA into the budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (July 1, 2021 – June 30 2022).
At a time when small businesses urgently need free legal support, we need to make our voices heard. Our city not only needs CLA restored but expanded, especially as we recover from the devastating pandemic.
1. Contact the Mayor’s Office by calling and emailing:
Vicki Been
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development
vbeen@cityhall.nyc.gov
212-788-0120
Dean Fuleihan
First Deputy Mayor
dfuleihan@cityhall.nyc.gov
212-341-9425
In your message, please:
1. Introduce yourself, your business or organization, and your neighborhood
2. Share your message or “ask”
- Restore and expand funding for the Commercial Lease Assistance program in next year’s budget, so that small businesses can receive free legal support.
3. Briefly describe how you were helped by the CLA program or why free legal assistance is important to your business or community. Examples:
- “My lawyer helped me to renew my lease or work out rent arrears with my landlord when my revenues disappeared.”
- “My organization referred 4 businesses to the CLA program, and we expect many more will need assistance.”
2. Contact NY State Assembly Member Charles Fall
Please also consider reaching out to Assembly Member Charles Fall (Assembly District 61, Staten Island), especially if you are a small business or organization serving Staten Island, to thank his office for supporting small business and for his continued advocacy to fund the Commercial Lease Assistance program in next year’s budget.
Contact Assembly Member Fall by calling 518-455-4677 and/or emailing fallc@nyassembly.gov. Remember to share your name, your business, and your neighborhood and to describe how you were helped by the CLA program or why free legal assistance is important to your business or community.
After your calls, we would love to hear what you said! Please email microenterprise@volsprobono.org to let us know your story (or to forward the emails you sent), or to ask any questions.
THANK YOU from Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, TakeRoot Justice, United for Small Business NYC, and Volunteers of Legal Service!
See below what some CLA Program clients have had to say about the Program.
