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Celebrate Juneteenth by Getting Voter-Ready in New York!

LiveHelp NY Volunteer Spotlight This month we would like to highlight Christina Barta, a LiveHelp Volunteer for LawHelpNY.

This month we would like to highlight Lauren Spiezia, a LiveHelp Volunteer for LawHelpNY. LawHelpNY.org is a website designed to help low-income New Yorkers solve their legal problems. Our volunteers staff LiveHelp, an online, real-time chat service that directs users towards relevant self-help materials, legal services organizations, and court information. Spiezia shares with us a little bit about her journey and what drove her to become a LiveHelp volunteer.

Today we would like to highlight Manny Bamrah, a LiveHelp Volunteer for LawHelpNY, and his experience working with the live chat support program. Volunteers staff LiveHelp, an online, real-time chat service that directs users toward relevant self-help materials, legal services organizations, and court information. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career journey.

Thank you to LawHelpNY LiveHelp Operator, Trevor Stankiewicz. Trevor is a third-year law student at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and has been volunteering as a LiveHelp Operator since Fall 2021. He has already served over 300 hours – above and beyond the minimum 50-hour commitment we ask of volunteer LiveHelp Operators! In an interview with New York Justice Initiatives Community Support Associate, Dennis Brink, Trevor shared his thoughts about what drew him to volunteer as a LiveHelpOperator and why he has continued throughout law school.

As students head back to school this fall, we know that education will look very different this year. Many schools are prioritizing the curriculum to determine which subjects are crucial in this pandemic era, and which can be postponed or eliminated. For many law students, classes are online. Given the collective trauma that our society has faced this year, one subject is proving vital for law school education: cultural competency. What is cultural competency and why is it necessary?

Because of the pandemic, people are turning online more than ever to look for information and resources to resolve their legal problems. The newly created COVID-19 resource page has quickly become one of the top accessed pages on LawHelpNY. Chats on LiveHelp have increased by 50% following the state of emergency declared in mid-March.

How can we work better together, leverage institutional knowledge and expertise, and foster meaningful relationships to more effectively pursue our mission of serving communities in need and addressing the access to justice gap? One way is increasing our productivity and community engagement by using communication tools to share and collaborate. This is especially important when working with a distributed team as more organizations provide the opportunity for staff to work remotely.

In June of 2019, the New York State Legislature passed a series of rent laws that offer new protections for New York City renters. While these new rent laws offer much needed support for renters across the city, tenant harassment and bad conditions continue to affect thousands of New Yorkers every year.

LawHelpNY is proud to announce a new series of resources designed to help public housing tenants in New York City successfully get repairs from NYCHA, the city's public housing authority.The resources, developed in partnership with Housing Court Answers, offer practical advice on how to effectively exercise one's right to a home in good condition, including the best way to ask for repairs and, if necessary, how to open a case in housing court.