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"Lawyers providing pro bono assistance to ensure equal access to justice can release the bonds that imprison people in poverty..." - E. Clinton Bamberger | Poverty is never okay. A long time VLP Board member recently reminded me of this simple and profound truth. Today, over 25% of Brooklyn residents live below the poverty line, including 34% of our children. They are the VLP's clients.
Although it has been a difficult year, with your help the VLP has been able to maintain both the level and the quality of its essential pro bono legal services to those living in and on the edge of poverty.
There are so many more individuals and families in need of our help these days, while at the same time our funding has been drastically reduced and will continue to shrink in the coming year. In just one recent session of the weekly Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office ("CLARO") in Kings County Civil Court, VLP volunteer attorneys and students from Brooklyn Law School assisted 45 individuals struggling with consumer debt problems. The economic crisis has also created a crush of bankruptcy cases, family law cases and urgent matters that involve domestic violence. The VLP Foreclosure Intervention Program is currently involved in close to 100 court settlement conferences and loan modifications, assisting low income homeowners and protecting the stability of our neighborhoods.
Your support will ensure that the critical work of the VLP continues to address emergent needs and fight poverty in 2010. Please donate today online, or by mailing a check to the address below.
Thank you and best wishes for a better New Year.
Jeannie Costello
Executive Director | | |
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