Economic Opportunity-LawNY's Access to Justice AmeriCorps Project

LawNY is a non-profit legal services organization that provides free legal aid to disadvantaged people in 14 counties of western New York. Like many non-profit legal aid providers, the demand for our services far exceeds our capacity to meet this vulnerable population’s wide range of needs. Since 2004, AmeriCorps paralegals, through the Access to Justice Project, have been instrumental in helping LawNY meet these needs.

Currently, there are 24 AmeriCorps paralegals volunteering with LawNY. Our AmeriCorps paralegals have a significant and direct impact on our community. In 2011, our AmeriCorps members worked over 40,000 hours and assisted over 5,000 individuals and families in crisis. AmeriCorps paralegals are direct client advocates and are responsible for managing their own client caseloads and representing clients at administrative hearings to obtain resources such as Food Stamps or unemployment benefits. In addition to advocacy and case management, our AmeriCorps volunteers also conduct outreach events to educate service providers and recruit private attorneys to assist with our pro bono clinics.

While the AmeriCorps paralegals work with clients on a variety of civil legal issues, they have specifically taken the lead on helping those at risk of homelessness preserve or transition into stable housing. On a daily basis, the AmeriCorps paralegals negotiate with landlords and work closely with attorneys to ensure clients are well represented in court. The workload our paralegals handle would be daunting for many veteran attorneys, but that does not stop our volunteers from going above and beyond their duties to help our clients.

Last year, when a disabled mother and her children faced losing their home because it was in disrepair, one AmeriCorps paralegal did not give up when there was nothing LawNY could do. This paralegal contacted charity after charity to try to help this family keep their home, but no one had the funding or resources to help. As a last resort, our paralegal contacted the local Home Depot store to see if they could donate the necessary supplies. To everyone’s surprise the Team Depot Foundation offered $5,000 to help fix up this family’s home. Our paralegal then organized over 30 volunteers from the community who could not donate money, but could provide their hands and time. In one day, the volunteers managed to make all the repairs needed to save this family’s home. Nearly a year later, this family is still in their home thanks to the dedication and perseverance of our AmeriCorps volunteer.

This case illustrates the incredible impact that our AmeriCorps paralegals are making on the day to day lives of disadvantaged people within our community. Without the dedication and hard work that we receive from these volunteers, we would not be able to help those who most need assistance, and our communities would suffer greatly as a result. LawNY believes that our AmeriCorps paralegals exemplify the best in national and community service and are deserving of the Service Impact Award.