Robin Hood is pleased to announce the launch of the Immigrant Justice Corps, the largest expansion of immigration legal services in New York City’s history, and the first fellowship program in the country dedicated to providing immigrants with the high-quality legal services they deserve and too often don’t receive. Legal assistance provided by trained counsel is the most direct intervention available to improve the economic, health, and higher educational prospects of immigrants and their families.
First proposed by Judge Robert Katzmann, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the IJC will recruit, train, and place approximately 40 Fellows in the field every year. Consisting of recent college graduates and talented young attorneys, the Fellows will work at non-profit law firms and community-based organizations across New York City. The IJC Fellows will enable these organizations to double the number of immigration cases they handle annually, directly representing nearly 15,000 immigrants and their children as they build foundations for better lives in the United States.
The Immigrant Justice Corps launches at a time of unprecedented opportunity. The need for legal services –and the pathway out of poverty they offer immigrant families – is staggering. Immigrants and their children make up nearly half of those living in poverty in New York City.
We hope that this program will offer individuals, who too often exist in the shadows, the support they need to become full-fledged members of society.
For more information, please visit www.justicecorps.org