Workforce Development

The Legal Services for Participants in Job Training Project helps workers not only stay in job training programs, but obtain work. Our lawyers address the legal challenges that workers often face when they are recently unemployed and/or transitioning into work, including:

• Assistance with obtaining income support (unemployment insurance or transitional benefits)
• Fighting evictions
• Challenging employment discrimination
• Consumer debt-related legal problems
  

Legal Service NYC advocates also empower program participants through “Know Your Rights” trainings they conduct at job training sites. By partnering with job training and workforce development programs, Legal Services NYC enhances the support services that are available to low income workers, and provides legal services at a critical juncture for low-income clients transitioning into the workforce.

Beyond the Numbers:

Mr. X is a 19-year-old student at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow. He enrolled in the job training program in order to find a good job so that he can support his mother, who is mentally ill and unable to work. While preparing to enter the workforce, his family’s benefits were cutoff and his family was sued for eviction based on non-payment of rent. Our advocates immediately intervened. On behalf of the family, we prevented the eviction by settling his family’s case in Housing Court. We also helped Mr. X re-apply for benefits under the Family Eviction Prevention Supplement (FEPS), and his application has been approved. Through our intervention, Mr. X and his mother have avoided eviction, secured a temporary rent supplement, and also compelled their landlord to make many necessary repairs in the apartment. By resolving these pressing housing issues, Mr. X was able to stay in the job training program and continue working toward his goal of entering the workforce.

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