VOLS Newsletter: July 2021

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July Newsletter: Progress, Promise, and Protection

Dear Friend,

As New York City manages our way toward a post-pandemic future, Volunteers of Legal Service stands firmly by our clients and served communities.

The VOLS team celebrates the progress and promise afforded by the COVID-19 vaccine, and we also remain vigilant to ensure that our at-risk neighbors can access available legal protections. This summer, seniors and their loved ones are increasingly vaccinated and able to reconnect with their communities as senior centers reopen across the city. Over the next month, many immigrant New Yorkers finally will have an opportunity to access pandemic recovery relief with the introduction of the Excluded Workers Fund. Reopening and capacity restrictions on small businesses have been lifted, allowing small businesses to resume operations at a level necessary for their success. Yet, at the same time, many small businesses are still vulnerable as devastating rent arrears persist and the remaining eviction protections expire within one month. And while the federal administration has extended Temporary Protected Status to Haitians and Venezuelans, many young immigrant New Yorkers are once again in limbo as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has been suspended by a recent federal court decision.

Today, with the worst risks facing frontline workers in our rearview mirror, we thank our partners from the VOLS COVID-19 Frontline and Healthcare Workers Initiative. We are supporting New Yorkers who are eligible for newer forms of pandemic recovery relief, such as the NYS Excluded Workers Fund. And we continue to work with our pro bono and community partners to ensure that VOLS free civil legal services reach those who need us most.

Thank you for being part of the VOLS community.

Sincerely,
Abja

Abja Midha
Executive Director
Volunteers of Legal Service

Information on this page:

VIDEO: VOLS New York, Together Awards, June 17

VOLS was so thrilled to join with our community to recognize outstanding pro bono leadership during the crisis and beyond. Thank you to everyone who made the June 17 event a great success in highlighting our work together and in raising much-needed funds to support VOLS. The public can now access the event videos on our YouTube New York, Together playlist, including individual clips of our honorees Erin J. Law (Morgan Stanley), Aisha L. Greene & Annie Mohan (Cadwalader), and Harlene Katzman (Simpson Thacher), of our announcement of the 2021 Dean’s List/ VOLS Pro Bono Stars, our tribute to late VOLS leaders William J. Dean and Michael A. Cooper, and of each of our community partners and other special guests. If you are interested to learn more about the ongoing VOLS New York, Together campaign, please contact Jon Grabelle Herrmann, VOLS Director of Philanthropy & Development, at jgherrmann@volsprobono.org.

VOLS Thanks our COVID-19 Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative Partners 

The VOLS COVID-19 Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative was a project created to support those working on the frontlines during the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted to ensure that they would have access to free legal counsel, in order to put the right plan in place in the event they themselves succumbed to COVID-19 while caring for others. As New Yorkers get vaccinated and the city reopens, VOLS is officially sunsetting the Covid-19 Frontline and Healthcare Workers Initiative. We thank Lawyers for Good Government, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, DC37 Municipal Employees Legal Services, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, our pro bono volunteers, and especially the frontline and healthcare workers who sacrificed so much for our city and your fellow New Yorkers throughout the pandemic. Click here to read more about the initiative and VOLS’ thanks to our partners. 

Updates from the VOLS Team

As New York City recovers from the pandemic and economic crisis, the VOLS team reports with updates from across our legal programs:  

  • The VOLS Elderly Project & Veterans Initiative assists as many clients as possible to put the right plan in place, should they become incapacitated or pass away. Sadly, we are often contacted by a senior’s friend or family member who needs help picking up the pieces after the death of a loved one. For example, they might need access to the deceased’s apartment or funds to cover final expenses. To support them, VOLS recently created our Guide to Voluntary Administration (PDF). The guide describes the process to file a proceeding in Surrogate’s Court, allowing survivors of deceased New Yorkers with estates worth less than $50,000 to assume control of the deceased’s estate for a fraction of the time and expense of a regular probate proceeding. In June, VOLS published a guide to the newly overhauled New York State Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney, the first such State update in a decade. Governor Cuomo’s declared State of Emergency also ended in June, ending temporary measures allowing for remote witnessing and document notarization. While the change takes an important pandemic era tool from our toolbox, VOLS is committed to ensure that our clients can put the right plans in place. Lastly, VOLS was pleased to recently host NYC Department of Veterans’ Services Commissioner James Hendon, who discussed how legal services provide critical support for our veterans (VIDEO). 

  • Over the past few months, the VOLS Immigration Project has partnered with Simpson Thacher, Akin Gump, Arnold & Porter, Kirkland & Ellis, and Fragomen Del Rey to conduct Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legal trainings and place DACA pro bono matters. And in June, along with WilmerHale, we also hosted a virtual form-filling clinic on Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, as the federal program provided new benefits to new TPS communities. However, on July 16, a Federal District Court Judge issued a decision once again calling into question the legality of the DACA program. The Court ordered USCIS to stop adjudicating new DACA applications while permitting DACA renewals to continue processing for now. Prior to this decision, USCIS had sat on 50,000 pending applications after the program reinstated in December 2020 and only processed 1.5% initials filed during this span of time. VOLS soon provided updates on the court decision for our clients, also hosting a virtual forum for our clients and community members to answers questions concerning next steps for the program. We will continue to file DACA initial applications, so long as USCIS continues to accept them while the court resolves its legal issues. And we join with advocates in demanding immigrant justice, including by attending last week’s “Immigrants are Essential” rally alongside community members organized by Mixteca, Inc.

  • In July, the VOLS Unemployed Workers Project published a guide to significant changes by the Department of Labor for unemployment applicants. First, starting June 2021, work search requirements are back in effect. Claimants must do three “work search” activities per week and report them/keep track of them. Second, the waiting week has been reinstated. Therefore, claimants will not receive benefits for the first full week of a claim, but they must still certify their continued eligibility. Third, forfeiture penalties are reinstated for claimants who willfully make or have made a false statement/ misrepresentation to NYS DOL to receive benefits. Forfeiture penalties apply to eligible days claimants can collect benefits. Separate from these changes, the DOL started allowing claimants with overpayments to file waivers, and the agency is slowly adjudicating these waivers. Lastly, VOLS is preparing to serve eligible New Yorkers seeking relief through the State’s Excluded Workers Fund, due to open in August 2021, by developing information for claimants, as well as trainings and clinics for our community and pro bono partners. 

  • As the economy continues to re-open, the VOLS Microenterprise Project has been advocating for and creating legal educational tools for the small business community. We partnered with volunteer attorneys to hold community presentations on topics including introductions to contracts, sales taxes, and intellectual property for microentrepreneurs. We provided critical legal assistance to clients in need of help with the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Account Registration. And we continue to partner with the NYC Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) program. Watch this video featuring NYC Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris announcing the CLA program expansion and noting the importance of pro bono support for the city’s small businesses. VOLS thanks Mai Toyohara for her service in the Americorps VISTA program this past year to address economic inequity through pro bono volunteer and community partner engagement, and we welcome Sofia Rinvil as our 2021-22 Fellow to increase small business capacity and access to transactional legal services. VOLS is proud to announce the hiring of Kristen Belolan as Supervising Attorney for the Microenterprise Project. We are currently hiring a Staff Attorney to welcome to our Microenterprise Project team. 

Click here to read our 2020 Impact Page

Click here to read the April 2021 VOLS Update Newsletter

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