VOLS Newsletter: April 2021

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A Message From Abja Midha, VOLS Executive Director

Dear Colleagues,

Last week, we finally saw accountability for George Floyd’s murder with the announcement of a guilty verdict for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. However, as we all know, accountability for one officer’s actions does not equal justice. Only an hour before the verdict was announced, a Columbus, Ohio police officer killed a young Black teenager, Ma’Khia Bryant. And in the days leading up to the verdict, 20-year old Daunte Wright was killed by an officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. A few weeks before, 13-year old Adam Toledo was shot and killed by Chicago police officers. Only if George Floyd, Ma’Khia Bryant, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, and the countless others before them were alive today would justice be served.

We have much work to do to achieve a society where Black and Brown lives are equally valued. We must take sustained action together to address systemic racism. And we must demand that we will no longer wake up week-after-week to read news of yet another Black American being killed by police officers across the country. Only then can we begin to say that justice has been served.

At VOLS we recognize that systemic racism and white supremacy have deep roots in the legal profession, as well as in the housing, education, health, and financial systems that confront the communities we serve. Racism prevents all of us from building the society that we deserve, and VOLS is looking within to not only examine this history but also to make changes. Last June, we hosted a summit where we examined the intersections of pro bono and diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are ramping up our legal training efforts, including this month’s VOLS CLE program on Cultural Humility and Competence in Pro Bono. These are first steps, but important for us as an organization. VOLS stands in solidarity and allyship with Black and Brown communities, and we are committed to doing our part to dismantle white supremacy and systemic racism.

Black Lives do and will continue to matter.

In solidarity, Abja

Abja Midha

Executive Director

Volunteers of Legal Service

Information on this page:

VOLS Welcomes New Unemployed Workers Project Director

VOLS is proud to welcome Stephanie Taylor as our new Unemployed Workers Project Director. Stephanie brings to VOLS nearly 15 years of experience in legal service to New Yorkers, including survivors of gender-based violence, immigrant communities, and seniors, often involving pro bono attorneys in that work. Learn more about Stephanie’s background here.

VOLS Welcomes New Board Members

VOLS welcomes three new members to our Board of Directors:

All three board members are not only leaders within their respective firms, but they are dedicated to pro bono service. Read a brief bio on each new board member on our website.

Save The Date: VOLS Awards

Please Save the Date for June 17, 2021, at 1pm EST for the VOLS New York, Together Virtual Awards, honoring pro bono leaders during the crisis & beyond, including:

  • Aisha L. Greene & Annie Mohan | Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
  • Harlene Katzman | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
  • Erin J. Law | Morgan Stanley

To ask about sponsorship or ticket information, please contact Jon Grabelle Herrmann, VOLS Director of Philanthropy & Development, at jgherrmann@volsprobono.org.

Updates from the VOLS Team

As VOLS-served communities face the threefold crises of pandemic, economic recession, and racial injustice, our team reports with updates from across our legal programs: 

  • Since the start of the pandemic​, the VOLS Elderly Project and Veterans Initiative have fielded calls from scores of New Yorkers who have lost family members to COVID-19. The financial strain on these families has been enormous. The average cost of a funeral and burial in New York City can exceed $10,000. This is beyond reach for so many of our clients. Earlier in the pandemic, the New York City Human Resources Administration significantly increased its burial assistance grant to $1,700 temporarily​, but many were excluded from this program because of strict income and resource caps. The American Rescue Plan, passed last month, has offered a significant new benefit to these families with the implementation of the FEMA COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program which provides grants of up to $9,000 per funeral. To help our clients navigate these and other program​s, we have put out a new “2021 Guide to Obtaining Financial Assistance for Burials and Funerals in New York City.” We have also created a new guide for our veteran clients that focuses on VA death benefits, burial allowances, burial in a VA cemetery, ​and the New York State Supplemental Burial Allowance for Veterans. We hope that these guides help our clients navigate how to get assistance during some of their darkest days. 
  • Every week, the VOLS Unemployed Workers Project team hears from clients who are receiving overpayment notices from the New York State Department of Labor. Claimants are being asked to pay back thousands of dollars in Unemployment Insurancebenefits that they received. The VOLS Unemployed Workers Project is excited to announce that the Department of Labor is now offering overpayment waivers. Claimants who received a notice from the Department of Labor stating they were overpaid may request this waiver online through their portal or by mail. The waiver is designed for those who collected benefits in good faith and would suffer significant financial hardship if forced to repay these benefits. Claimants must provide detailed financial information and will receive an approval or denial of their waiver from the Department of Labor. If you or a constituent has questions about benefits eligibility or needs assistance with an unemployment matter, pleasecomplete our online intake form or contact our UWP hotline: (347) 521-5720.
  • VOLS Immigration Project clients were among the first impacted by social distancing guidelines and economic closures in March 2020. Many are young adults who are frontline service or healthcare workers, who suddenly faced widespread unemployment or newly unsafe working conditions. For those with work permits (such as through the DACA program), we advised them on eligibility and how to access benefits. But undocumented New Yorkers without work permits could not access relief. VOLS thanks New York State leaders for establishing the first-of-its-kind, $2.1B Excluded Workers Fund in the FY 2022 Enacted Budget, and we look forward to advising and representing claimants through our Immigration and Unemployed Workers Projects. Meanwhile, we thank our pro bono volunteers who support immigrant youth. Volunteers at Skadden and Kramer Levin successfully represented immigrants recently in their naturalization interviews before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. We celebrate President Biden’s decision to not defend the prior Administration’s public charge rule before the Supreme Court. As the public charge rule went into effect last February, we filed several adjustment of status applications for our DACA clients. Recently, the first of these cases were scheduled for a green card interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. With the help of Societe Generale volunteers, our client’s adjustment application was approved. 
  • In addition to providing direct service, the VOLS Microenterprise Project has been hard at work this month advocating for and creating educational materials and programming for the small business community. We recruited volunteer attorneys for community presentations on topics including introductions to contracts, sales taxes, and intellectual property for microentrepreneurs. In addition, VOLS partnered with pro bono attorneys to submit an additional “friend of the court” brief (also known as an amicus brief) in support of two important laws for small business owners who are struggling to survive the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 crisis. We also partnered with a law firm to create a guide to a new state law providing commercial tenants experiencing hardship due to the pandemic with certain eviction relief.
  • Update from the VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project: Over one year after in-person visits at New York State prisons were first suspended, plans were announced to begin in-person visits in late April at maximum-security facilities and early May at all other facilities. Under strict safety protocols, incarcerated women and men once again will be able to enjoy visits with their daughters and sons, family and friends. As of this writing, there have been no announcements about reinstatement of visits at Rikers Island and other New York City jails. News of a recent outbreak of COVID-19 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a maximum-security women’s facility, was recently reported with approximately 20% of the population affected, including one mother and two babies residing in the prison nursery. Last month a judge in the Bronx Supreme Court ordered that vaccinations be made available immediately to people in NYS jails and prisons and wrote in her decision that failure to provide protection caused “great risk to incarcerated people’s lives during this pandemic.” At this time, the VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Law Project and other on-site program services remain suspended at city and state correctional facilities.
  • As a very challenging academic year comes to a close, the VOLS Children’s Project is working with our partners to strengthen our referral system and to adapt our services to continue to meet community needs during the public health emergency. Jess Penkoff, Staff Attorney for Housing Rights and Special Populations and the coordinator of this project, has presented several Continuing Legal Education sessions to our partner firms on urgent issues related to housing that affect our project’s clients, including the eviction moratorium. Jess will also be meeting with our school, hospital, and community-based health advocacy organization partners to provide internal trainings on urgent legal issues and to triage the best path forward for the delivery of services in light of the ongoing nature of the pandemic.

Join the VOLS New York, Together Campaign

  • Read VOLS’ New York, Together Impact Report as our city responds to the health, economic, and racial justice crises facing our city.
  • 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.
  • Make a donation to support VOLS’ response to the pandemic: volsprobono.org/donate.
  • Forward this page and ask your friends to sign up for the VOLS e-newsletter at www.volsprobono.org/join.
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