
Empowers community residents to support their neighbors with the legal information they need.
Empowers community residents to support their neighbors with the legal information they need.
Community Justice Connect (formerly Legal Hand) is a network of neighborhood storefront sites that trains community volunteers to provide free legal information, resources, and referrals to their neighbors. People facing civil legal challenges in areas like housing, public benefits, employment, family law, immigration, can get help before the issues escalate into crises requiring court intervention.
When civil legal problems, like housing, family instability, and government benefits, go unresolved, people may face serious harm: forcing people out of their homes, separating families, and imposing devastating financial burdens. Though New York City offers many public resources, it can be difficult to find available services, and to navigate processes to access them. At Community Justice Connect, visitors are offered varied forms of assistance to answer questions and address issues. Services include navigation of the social services system, completion of online legal forms, facilitated workshops with local community organizations, and connections to public benefits and other services.