The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY), along with long term community partners Albany Law School and the Albany Damien Center have received nearly $1 million from the to provide legal services for individuals and families grappling with HIV/AIDS and the treatments needed to combat the disease.
The grant, “Legal Services for Individuals and Families to Support Continuity in HIV Care” – is a renewal of previous funding that has supported the collaboration between the organizations for decades providing $196,113 annually awarded for five years starting in January 2022.
“We are very pleased that the Department of Health has recognized our expertise in and dedication to meeting the civil legal needs of those living with HIV and AIDS,” said Victoria Esposito, Advocacy Director for the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and supervisor of the HIV/AIDS Law Consortium (HALC) program. “We look forward to our continued work with our partners, Albany Law School and the Albany Damien Center. Although medical care for people living with HIV or AIDS has improved exponentially over the last decades, they still have unique legal needs which must be addressed quickly and sensitively; over the last five years the HALC grant has allowed LASNNY and our partners to assist over 600 individuals with these needs, ranging from advance planning to housing to discrimination to disability and public benefits.”
“The Albany Damien Center has long recognized the critical impact psycho-social support has on the health of families impacted by HIV and AIDS. We are thrilled to partner with Legal Aid and Albany Law School in providing assistance through our Behavioral Health team for each family who needs us.” said Perry James Junjulas, Executive Director of the Albany Damien Center
Joseph M. Connors, Director of the Health Law Clinic within The Justice Center at Albany Law School added, “This funding helps ensure the mission of the Center will continue in earnest. Our advocacy to secure federal disability benefits, facilitate kinship care arrangements, and maintain adequate housing for individuals and parents living with HIV helps meet an important community need while helping state and local counties save money.”
The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York advises and assists low-income residents of Northeastern New York with civil legal issues at no charge. If you need help, please contact LASNNY by calling (833) 628-0087.
Landlords filed evictions cases against more than 4,000 tenants in the Capital Region during the pandemic, data released by the New York court system reveals for the first time.
An eviction moratorium has been in place since the start of the pandemic and in New York, tenants will be shielded until Jan. 15. But housing advocates worry that after the moratorium lifts, a cascade of evictions could push thousands of New Yorkers, who have suffered job losses, illness or other crises, out of their homes.
The data published by the New York Unified Court System gives the first glimpse at the potential problems.
Across the state, landlords filed 113,807 eviction cases from March 1, 2020 to October 4, 2021, data from the courts shows. That’s down from 262,403 eviction cases filed in 2019 statewide. The data includes commercial and residential evictions.
Thirty five percent of all eviction cases brought by landlords during the pandemic were filed in New York City, specifically in Bronx, Kings, Queens or New York counties.
The IRS has been sending “math error” notices to taxpayers. The notices list changes the IRS has made to the amount the taxpayers owe in tax or how much they will receive as a refund. If you receive this type of notice, it does not necessarily mean there was a math or computational error on your return. There are time limits to act if you think the notice is incorrect.
So far this year, the IRS has sent about 11 million math error notices. This is many times more than in past years.
The IRS sent most of these notices to taxpayers who filed a return seeking the Recovery Rebate Credit.
Taxpayers claimed this Credit on their tax return if they did not receive the full amount of the Covid-19 economic stimulus payments they believed they were entitled to.
If you have questions about this or other income tax issues, the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York’s Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) may be able to help.
The Clinic’s services are free of charge. You can call the LASNNY Legal Line at 833-628-0087 and ask for our LITC. The Clinic does not generally provide tax preparation services.
The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York welcomes Damara Fredette to the team!
Damara is working in our Albany Office in our Re-Entry Project providing civil legal services in Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer Counties to overcome housing and economic barriers resulting from criminal justice system involvement. She is a 2019 graduate of Albany Law School and a Pro Bono Scholar. In addition to her position with Legal Aid, Damara is active with the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York where she is a Co-Chair of the Sex Trafficking Committee as well as a Legislative Delegate. She is excited to join the LASNNY staff and looking forward to helping clients in the Capital Region.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program for landlords and tenants isn’t rolling out very smoothly for St. Lawrence County.
The applications are being filed, but the payments are slow in coming in, according to Courtnie Toms, deputy director of Maximizing Independent Living Choices in Massena.
Ms. Toms was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting of the St. Lawrence County Fair Housing Task Force. But, in a written report, she said her office, as well as the St. Lawrence County Department of Social Services, has filed 414 applications completed by both the landlord and the tenant. They have, however, only received three payments from the Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, which is in charge of sending out payments.
She said Maximizing Independent Living Choices has assisted approximately 215 tenant and 20 landlord applications. Of the total applications, Ms. Toms said the majority are from the Ogdensburg and Massena areas.
For the 5th consecutive year, Michael J. Telfer, Esq. has been selected for inclusion in Upstate New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement and recognizes no more than 2.5% of attorneys in Upstate New York.
Mike has worked for LASNNY since March 2013 and is currently a Senior Attorney with the Disability Advocacy Project. He represents clients who have been denied Social Security Disability (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in administrative hearings, administrative appeals, and federal district court.
Ajele Randolph came to the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York in 2015 and has helped thousands of clients connect with the civil legal services they need by matching them with attorneys, advocates, and appropriate community organizations. Her work as a Legal Secretary and as the face of the front desk for the Center for Civil Legal Services has helped to keep our work moving forward.
We are happy to congratulate her on a promotion to Paralegal! Ajele is currently assisting individuals and families access funding through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to help with rental arrears that have accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic and to avoid eviction. And she is looking forward to being able to work with our Re-Entry program assisting individuals with previous justice system involvement with record sealing and overcoming barriers to employment and professional licensing.
Ajele is a graduate of Binghamton High School and received her paralegal degree from Bryant & Stratton College in May 2014. She has always had a passion for helping low-income families and people with criminal records who cannot afford private attorneys, and started interning with family court in middle school. She also worked with NYS assisting child support recipients with their cases, and interned with the City of Albany conflict defenders in criminal court before joining the team at LASNNY.
Ajele loves being a mom, singing and dancing, and trying out food from all over the world. She currently resides in Albany with her daughter and their two hermit crabs, Sponge and Bob.
As a federally designated community action agency, ACAP conducts a community needs assessment every three years, asking different sectors questions about Albany County’s services, resources, and needs. This assessment collects qualitative and quantitative data through anonymous surveys as well as a focus group open to community members. The assessment is not only important to ACAP and our mission, but also to all organizations serving Albany County. A community needs assessment report is completed in the fall and then made public online and through a public forum.
We are looking for community members to respond to the survey and share your opinions. The survey will take no more than 15 minutes and responses will be completely anonymous.
If you have any questions or need help with the survey, please call (518) 463-3175 x 136.
The City of Albany and LASNNY are collaborating to assist senior citizen homeowners in the City of Albany.
It is never too early to start planning for what will happen to your property after you pass away. There are many things to consider and decisions to make from who will inherit your home to where you should store your will. You are invited to contact us to see if you are eligible for advice and possible assistance with your will.
If you:
Are at least 60 years of age
Reside in the City of Albany and own no more than one property
And meet financial guidelines and other program criteria
We may be able to help. Please call to see if you are eligible. Call 833-628-0087 and ask for the Albany Simple Wills Project.
Congratulations to Tara Glynn, Esq. on your promotion to Managing Attorney for our Canton and Plattsburgh offices!
Tara Glynn works as the Managing Attorney for the regional offices in Plattsburgh and Canton. There she oversees the provision of high quality civil legal services to clients, forms and manages partnerships with community stakeholders, and provides community legal education.
Prior to being a Managing Attorney, Tara was a Senior Attorney in the Plattsburgh office mainly representing tenants facing eviction and working on systemic legal issues throughout the North Country. She lives in Plattsburgh with her husband, newborn daughter, and three cats. Tara graduated with her JD from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in 2012 relocating from Tallahassee, FL where she served in the AmeriCorps*VISTA program working on poverty and educational issues.
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