Q&A
Inquiry into future plans for OASO and legal representation
2:27:20
ยท
73 sec
Council Member Shekar Krishan seeks clarification on the future plans of the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations (OASO) regarding legal work and incorporation of legal service providers. Director Molly Schaeffer provides preliminary information on their efforts and strategies.
- OASO is exploring ways to quickly funnel funding to nonprofit legal service providers
- They are considering ramping down the pro se model as fewer people are coming in
- Efforts are being made to secure more funding from the state to support these initiatives
- The importance of full representation for asylum seekers is emphasized
Shekar Krishan
2:27:20
And we appreciate your leadership there, and I've seen it too.
2:27:23
So my final question, just to clarify with Awasu, I think there is some lack of clarity about the the future plans of Awasu when it comes to the work.
2:27:33
I think you talked before about prioritizing TBS, SIDGE, asylum cases.
2:27:38
You mentioned working talking to nonprofit legal services organizations about ways to make sure their full representation, can happen too.
2:27:45
Can you provide a bit more detail what are those conversations and, how are legal service providers gonna be incorporated into this work more and how quickly too?
Molly Schaeffer
2:27:54
So, I mean, this is it's all preliminary.
2:27:57
So we've started talking to groups about the fastest way we can actually get funding to groups.
2:28:02
We've been working with Moyya on ways to get more money through the Action NYC contracts, through other contracts.
2:28:07
I don't have anything definitive to tell you today, but we have been working with groups to figure out what's that best funding match.
2:28:13
So if we get more money from the state, which we're really pushing for, we can then funnel that as quickly as possible to nonprofits, and sort of, again, ramp down our pro se model a little bit to more match the lower amount of people who are coming in, and more ramp up the money that we put through nonprofits.
Kulsoom Tapal
2:28:30
I think
Shekar Krishan
2:28:30
that full representation is gonna be so important.
2:28:32
Thank you.
2:28:33
Thank you, chair.
Alexa Aviles
2:28:33
Jose.