STATEN ISLAND LEGAL SERVICES provides free civil legal assistance to low-income Staten Island residents. We specialize in the following areas: Community Economic Development Disaster Recovery/FEMA/Insurance Education Advocacy Family Law / Domestic Violence Foreclosure Prevention Housing Immigration LGBTQ/HIV Advocacy Project |
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SILS' Director of Immigration and LGBTQ/HIV Advocacy Presents at New York State Bar Association CLE
Lorilei Williams, Immigration and LGBTQ/HIV Advocacy Director, presented along with Bronx Legal Services' Terry Lawson at a CLE hosted by the New York State Bar Association, entitled Immigrants and State Courts: State Law, the New York Family Court Act & Federal Immigration Law, Policy and Enforcement. Ms. Williams contributed significantly to a statewide project spearheaded by the Fund for Modern Courts that aims to educate family court judges, attorneys, and court personnel on the intersections of New York family law and federal immigration law. The project has resulted in a comprehensive online toolkit that is now being rolled out across the state, available at: http://immigrants.moderncourts.org
Bronx Legal Services' Tracy Lawson and SILS' Lorilei Williams at the CLE on June 6, 2017.
NYT: Police Must Tackle Language Barrier in Domestic Abuse Cases
Police Must Tackle Language Barrier in Domestic Abuse Cases (NYT, May 25, 2017)
This article discusses the successful settlement of a suit we filed in 2013 against the NYPD for failing to provide interpreters for immigrant domestic violence survivors who don’t speak English well. This was a citywide case that started in Staten Island as a result of enormous problems we were having getting the 120 precinct to provide interpreters for immigrant survivors when they called 911. We coordinated with LSNYC offices citywide and a wide range of community based organizations to find plaintiffs and ultimately filed a group case. This story from the NY Times features one of our Staten Island clients who agreed to share her (sad) story. After she was pushed down the stairs by her husband, the police came to the scene and, because she couldn’t communicate with the police, and they refused to provide an interpreter, her husband succeeded in having her arrested. The case settlement involves not only new policies about providing interpreters, but damages for the plaintiffs and attorney fees.
This article discusses the successful settlement of a suit we filed in 2013 against the NYPD for failing to provide interpreters for immigrant domestic violence survivors who don’t speak English well. This was a citywide case that started in Staten Island as a result of enormous problems we were having getting the 120 precinct to provide interpreters for immigrant survivors when they called 911. We coordinated with LSNYC offices citywide and a wide range of community based organizations to find plaintiffs and ultimately filed a group case. This story from the NY Times features one of our Staten Island clients who agreed to share her (sad) story. After she was pushed down the stairs by her husband, the police came to the scene and, because she couldn’t communicate with the police, and they refused to provide an interpreter, her husband succeeded in having her arrested. The case settlement involves not only new policies about providing interpreters, but damages for the plaintiffs and attorney fees.
SILS' Fifth Annual Luncheon
At its fifth annual luncheon on April 28, 2017, Staten Island Legal Services recognized: Serena Stonick, Esq. with the 2017 Vito J. Titone Award for Legal Excellence, and 30,000 Degrees: College Readiness for a Stronger Staten Island (a program of the College of Staten Island, Wagner College and St. Johns University) with the 2017 Community Champion Award.
Dr. William J. Fritz, President, College of Staten Island; Jennifer Borrero, Esq., Vice President for Student and Enrollment Services, CSI; Nancy Goldhill, SILS Project Director; Dr. James O’Keefe, Vice Provost, St. John’s University-SI Campus; Dr. Kevin Bott, Dean for Civic Engagement, Wagner College.
Serena M. Stonick, Associate at Cullen and Dykman LLP, received the Vito J. Titone Award for Legal Excellence from Nancy Goldhill, SILS Project Director.
Staten Island Legal Services Holds Immigration Know Your Rights on February 28, 2017
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On Tuesday February 28, 2017, Staten Island Legal Services staff attended a meeting and dinner hosted by the Staten Island Immigrants Council at the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center. Kathryn Kimball and Lizeth Cardenas presented a very helpful Know Your Rights session about the current immigration situation. |
Staten Island Legal Services social worker honored by the Staten Island Not For Profit Association
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Samantha Marder, a social worker at Staten Island Legal Services, was honored by the Staten Island Not For Profit Association (SINFPA) at its sixth annual Community Service Awards on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016.
Read the story at SILive.com. |
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Senators Andrew J. Lanza and Diane J. Savino Honored
April 15, 2016 Staten Island Legal Services recognized Senators Andrew J. Lanza and Diane J. Savino with the Vito J. Titone Award for Legal Excellence at its fourth annual luncheon to honor legal excellence. Click here to view more event photos. |
Staten Island Legal Services staff attorney honored for going above and beyond
By Annalise Knudson silive.com
October 21, 2015
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- St. George resident Rachel Granfield, staff attorney in the Housing Unit of Staten Island Legal Services (SILS), is being honored by the Staten Island NFP Association.
The Staten Island NFP Association will be hosting the fifth annual Community Service Awards on Nov. 15 to honor those who tirelessly serve their communities.
Before joining SILS, Granfield worked at Northeast Legal Aid in Massachusetts and represented primarily homeless and at-risk families and veterans in a wide variety of legal matters.
Whether executing an outreach plan for Staten Island Legal Services' new housing unit, logging countless hours in housing court, or being lauded for providing compassionate support to domestic violence victims, Granfield never seeks or expects recognition.
Continued here
October 21, 2015
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- St. George resident Rachel Granfield, staff attorney in the Housing Unit of Staten Island Legal Services (SILS), is being honored by the Staten Island NFP Association.
The Staten Island NFP Association will be hosting the fifth annual Community Service Awards on Nov. 15 to honor those who tirelessly serve their communities.
Before joining SILS, Granfield worked at Northeast Legal Aid in Massachusetts and represented primarily homeless and at-risk families and veterans in a wide variety of legal matters.
Whether executing an outreach plan for Staten Island Legal Services' new housing unit, logging countless hours in housing court, or being lauded for providing compassionate support to domestic violence victims, Granfield never seeks or expects recognition.
Continued here
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Staten Island Goes Purple!
October 15, 2015 Yesterday, the NYC Council Committee on Women’s Issues held a press conference applauding an 11% increase in funding for the Domestic Violence Empowerment program (DoVE), which provides critical resources for our work on behalf of DV survivors. Many Council Members came out to support the program and express their gratitude to the advocates who work tirelessly to help survivors of violence. In addition to numerous CMs and Safe Horizon, the organization that administers the DoVE program, SILS Director Nancy Goldhill was invited to speak on behalf of LSNYC. Nancy thanked the Council stating that, “We are humbled every day by our clients who, in addition to enduring violence, are doubly burdened by their poverty, which makes it so difficult to leave, and often triply burdened by virtue of being undocumented or unable to speak English well.” #NYCGoPurple #UpStander |
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Michael E. McMahon Honored
April 17, 2015 Staten Island Legal Services recognized Honorable Michael E. McMahon with the Vito J. Titone Award for Legal Excellence at its third annual luncheon to honor legal excellence. McMahon represented Staten Island in the US House of Representatives from 2009 to 2011 and in the New York City Council from 2003 to 2008. McMahon is credited with putting a lock on the Fresh Kills landfill and saving the City's recycling program, expanding ferry service, putting nurses and computers in every school, successfully fighting over-development on Staten Island and securing the resources to rebuild and expand the Staten Island Expressway and Ferry Terminal. He also championed the establishment of Legal Services NYC's office on Staten Island working together with his counsel, LSNYC Board Member Carmen J. Cognetta, and others to make it happen. Click here to view more event photos. |
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LEGAL AID PROGRAM COMING FOR PARENTS OF SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN!
Joanne Gerenser, Executive Director of Eden II, Laura Kennedy, Director of Early Childhood Direction Center, Nancy Goldhill, Project Director of Staten Island Legal Services, Assemblyman Matthew Titone, Miguel Rodriguez, SI Federation of PTAs, and Joanne Vitale, Parent to Parent gather to announce the creation of a legal service program for parents of special needs students, the first of its kind on Staten Island. Wednesday April 8, 2015. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) Read the full story at SILive.com. More coverage: NY1 News (video) |
STATEN ISLAND LEGAL SERVICES CELEBRATES TENTH ANNIVERSARY!
Read the New York Law Journal article from December 18, 2014 here.
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Our services are available in all languages through in-person interpreters or an immediate telephonic interpretation services.
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