New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, a coalition of organizations representing consumers that includes legal service providers and housing counselors, recently submitted comments in response to an Office of Court Administration proposal intended to help clear the "shadow docket" of foreclosure actions filed by lenders that languish without court action. LSNYC Director of Foreclosure Prevention Litigation submitted the comments on behalf of the coalition.

An article in today's Daily News draws attention to a troubling but common practice in charter schools. Children, some as young as 5 years old, are being removed from schools—and thus denied their right to education— under so called "psychiatric suspensions." LSNYC-Bronx's Nelson Mar represents the families of the two kindergarteners featured in the piece.

The staff of Legal Services NYC is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, yet another African-American man lost to violence. As advocates for low-income New Yorkers, we are all too familiar with the devastating effects that policies such as racial profiling and stop and frisk have on our clients and their children. These unfair practices cast a long shadow on low-income communities of color, resulting in the senseless loss of lives, costly and unnecessary incarceration, destabilization of families, and shockingly high levels of unemployment. We add our voices to the millions across this nation calling for a thorough prosecution of this case, as is required by the principle of equal justice for all under the law.

A New York Times article focuses on the Department of Education's continuing failure to provide adequate school-based mental health services. Instead of providing such services, schools are dealing with disruptive or troubled students by sending them to emergency rooms. LSNYC-Bronx's Nelson Mar represents the family of the 10-year old profiled in the article.

New York, NY, March 28, 2012—Legal Services NYC today applauded Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and the New York State Legislature for their successful efforts to restore funding for the statewide Foreclosure Prevention Services Program in the FY 2012-13 budget. Up to $9 million of the funds used to support the extension of services will come from the $132 million secured by the Attorney General in the recent mortgage servicing settlement. Funding for the program was to have expired on April 1st, leaving programs across the state at risk of having to shut their doors to the thousands of New York homeowners currently facing or at serious risk of foreclosure.