About Brooklyn A

History and Mission | Board of Directors | Staff Directory | Advisory Committee

Brooklyn A's Mission

Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A's purpose and goal is to provide high-quality legal assistance to low-income individuals and community groups in North and East Brooklyn. We view legal assistance in terms of community development, education, and mobilization, as well as traditional representation. To that end we partner with and provide legal services to effective local grassroots organizations that have a demonstrated commitment to our common goal of social and economic justice.

BROOKLYN A'S HISTORY

Brooklyn Legal Service Corporation A was established in 1967 in accordance with the original vision of the legal service program:

  • Providing services in the low-income neighborhoods where our clients live;
  • Developing programs and staff that are part of those communities
  • Working to advance social and economic justice in the communities we serve.

We defend the rights and dignity of our clients against unlawful, demeaning conditions, while working shoulder to shoulder with grassroots organizations groups to build and sustain the community and its infrastructure. The promise of community-based legal services has been undermined by congressional restrictions imposed in the mid-1990s that limited federal funding and narrowed the scope of services we could provide. In response to these cutbacks, many federally funded legal services programs centralized their services in downtown areas near the courthouses, requiring clients to travel to them. Brooklyn A has bucked this trend, not only by remaining in our communities by but expanding our local presence.

We currently maintain offices in Williamsburg, our home since 1968; East New York; and Bushwick, where we've operated since 2001. In 2002, after a highly successful Capital Campaign, we purchased our Williamsburg building. The independent funding base that contributed to our Capital Campaign and supports our Annual Partnership Awards Benefit and other development initiatives is the guarantor of Brooklyn A's ongoing ability to provide community-based services.

In the communities we serve, the need for our services is the deepest and most urgent Brooklyn A has seen since we opened our doors in 1968. The gigantic pressure to displace low-income residents in these gentrifying areas and the long-term impact of "welfare reform" has intensified both hardship and intimidation. Only our constant legal intervention is preventing wide-scale eviction of the most vulnerable tenants.

Today, Brooklyn A attorneys have an overwhelming workload in addressing the horrendous collateral consequences of these deteriorating economic and social conditions. But thanks to our decades-long partnerships with the communities' highly effective grassroots organizations, the strong commitment of our leadership and staff, and the generosity of our funders, Brooklyn A is making a lasting difference for many thousands of struggling Brooklyn families.