VOLS Newsletter: September 2021

September 2021 News
Esperanza: Hope for our Community

Dear Friend,

National Hispanic Heritage Month kicked off last week. Over the course of the month, we will celebrate the culture, achievements, and contributions of Latinx communities across the nation. Even as we partake in those celebrations, we acknowledge how systemic racism and xenophobia have created deep inequities that have negatively impacted Latinx communities, including here in NYC. In the last nineteen months, for example, Latinx communities have experienced some of the highest rates of COVID-related fatalities, food insecurity, and unemployment in NYC.

At VOLS, we are committed to addressing the inequitable access to justice facing many Latinx New Yorkers. Each of our practice areas work closely with community-based organizations serving Latinx New Yorkers to ensure that the services we and our pro bono partners provide are made available to Latinx workers, immigrants, microentrepreneurs, seniors, families, and children in a culturally and linguistically responsive manner, across all five boroughs.

This year’s theme for National Hispanic Heritage Month is Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope. At VOLS, it is our hope that through our pro bono and community partnerships, we will close the access to justice gap faced by so many Latinx New Yorkers. We are proud to stand with and serve the diverse, resilient, and inspirational Latinx communities of New York City.

In solidarity,
Abja

Abja Midha
Executive Director
Volunteers of Legal Service

Re-Introducing the VOLS Senior Law Project

VOLS Senior Law Project

Volunteers of Legal Service is proud to announce that the VOLS Elderly Project is now the VOLS Senior Law Project. Language evolves and gives us the chance to offer new meaning. For some time, it has been a common question at VOLS whether the name “Elderly Project” has become antiquated and anachronistic. We chose Senior Law Project as our new name because “senior” felt right to us. Seniors have lived and learned for decades, and they should hold a place of revered status in the community. The VOLS Senior Law Project remains committed to providing high quality legal services that help New Yorkers with limited resources plan for the future, from age 60 and older. Our free services empower our clients to make their wishes clear and to authorize the caregivers they choose. Alongside this change, VOLS’ La Extensión Comunitaria para Adultos has officially launched our webpage! This Spanish language site provides New York City seniors with access to important legal resources. Launched earlier this year, La Extensión Comunitaria para Adultos Mayores focuses on providing life planning legal services to Spanish-speaking and Latinx seniors across New York City.

Updates from the VOLS Legal Team

Updates

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

  • We are proud to share that, since the pandemic began, the VOLS Unemployed Workers Project (UWP) has assisted our clients to secure $1.24M in eligible unemployment-related benefits as a result of our legal service. On August 2, New York State’s Excluded Workers Fund (EWF) went live. Since then, the VOLS UWP has conducted several EWF application clinics, trained over 50 pro bono volunteers, provided multilingual resource flyers, and served eligible New Yorkers seeking application assistance. In addition, we have worked with many NYC community-based organizations to help their staff and members understand EWF eligibility and its application process. The VOLS Unemployed Workers Project and Immigration Project also hosted a virtual presentation on the EWF for our existing immigrant clients to provide them with information on how to collect documents and details about the application process. Federal unemployment benefits ended on September 5, and VOLS has since provided assistance to community members calling our hotline to understand the benefits changes.
  • As the economy continues to re-open, the VOLS Microenterprise Project continues to advocate for the small business community alongside our pro bono partners. We are recruiting and partnering with volunteer attorneys to give community legal education presentations on topics including introductions to contracts, sales taxes, and intellectual property for microentrepreneurs. And we continue to partner with the NYC Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) program. Thanks to sponsorship by Greenberg Traurig, LLP, VOLS welcomes Equal Justice Works fellow Kevin Perry, who will provide transactional legal support to underserved small business owners in central Brooklyn. VOLS is also proud to share two pro bono spotlights, including an Open Dialogue with BOCnet’s Delia A. Awusi and a conversation with O’melveny’s Marina Richter on the Professional Benefits of Volunteering.
  • Update from the VOLS Immigration Project: On July 16, 2021, The New York Times quoted VOLS client William Cabeza Castillo in an article about the DACA Texas Federal District Court decision and USCIS’ Employment Authorization Document delays impacting DACA recipients. Mr. Cabeza Castillo is an essential worker at NYU Langone Medical Center, and he filed his DACA renewal with the support of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett early this year. Because USCIS failed to process 44,000 DACA renewal cases, he and other DACA recipients were facing a sudden loss of employment. VOLS engaged in advocacy that included outreach to Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s office for assistance, and Mr. Cabeza Castillo’s DACA renewal and EAD was finally approved in early September 2021. In connection with the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, The Guardian quoted VOLS Immigration Project Director, Sin Yen Ling, in The Forgotten Neighborhood: How New York’s Chinatown Survived 9/11 to Face A New Crisis.

Join the VOLS Community

Click Here to read the July 2021 VOLS Update Newsletter
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