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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Raquel Namuche, Tenant Advocate/Community Outreach Specialist at Mobilization for Justice
4:32:15
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3 min
Raquel Namuche from Mobilization for Justice testified about the need for fully funding and enhancing legal services for low-income individuals in New York City. She highlighted the importance of various initiatives including legal services for the working poor, immigrant opportunities, and support for kinship caregivers.
- Emphasized the challenges faced by nonprofits, including payment delays and hiring obstacles
- Shared a personal experience of assisting a family in an illegal basement apartment
- Stressed the critical nature of council funding for programs like the Immigrant Practice and Kinship Caregiver Law Project
Raquel Namuche
4:32:15
Good afternoon Chairs Ayala and Brennan and members of the committees which I don't know where they are but thanks to them as well.
4:32:25
My name is Raquel Namuchin, I'm a tenant advocate and community outreach specialist at Mobilization for Justice.
4:32:32
I'm also a proud member of MFG's staff union, AILA UAW Local two thousand three hundred twenty five.
4:32:38
Mobilization for Justice has been providing free legal services for over sixty years to low income individuals and we pair that work with community advocacy, education, impact litigation that brings relief to many people that need it the most.
4:32:52
And so I'm here today to talk to you about the need to fully fund and enhance legal services for the working poor, the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative, and all the other vital legal service programs so many New Yorkers depend on.
4:33:05
So every year, MFJ's dedicated staff of paralegals, organizers, social workers, and attorneys handles approximately 14,000 cases from across New York City in the broad areas of housing, disability and aging rights, economic justice and children's rights.
4:33:22
And we're providing these legal services to working class communities in the context, as you all know, of a federal administration that is openly hostile to the ideals of public service and the public good.
4:33:34
The other difficulty comes in the severe delays, as others have already mentioned, that the nonprofit community faces in contract payments and hiring obstacles amidst the challenges of pay parity for public service work.
4:33:47
And though it's been a tough year, we know it's even it has been even a tougher year for our clients, and so our goal is to be the strongest advocates and allies we can possibly be, but doing so, of course, requires resources.
4:34:02
So last month, I assisted a family living in an illegal basement apartment to obtain emergency housing relocation services.
4:34:10
This was really tough.
4:34:12
The family had a one year old baby for two weeks.
4:34:15
The baby couldn't have access to her bottles, her baby seed, her food, and other necessary items And so it's for these clients that I strongly urge the council to fully fund and enhance these following initiatives, legal services for the working poor, family advocacy and guardianship support, the immigrant opportunity initiative, legal services for low income immigrants, low wage worker support, and the new Protect NYC Families Initiative.
4:34:43
For MFJ, some of our most critical programs such as our Immigrant Practice and our Kinship Caregiver Law Project, council actually fully funds these programs, or this is where we get the main support from, financial support from.
4:35:00
And so without this support, we can't continue the robust services that we offer.
4:35:05
So for kinship care in particular, this is actually the most crucial as we are the only New York City provider of free legal services for grandparents, aunts, uncles, other kin caring for their children who reside outside of the foster care system.
4:35:21
And so as New Yorkers, we know that immigrants are who make our neighborhoods the vibrant communities that we all love, and so now is the time to demonstrate that we will stand with our neighbors.
4:35:31
And so I again respectfully ask that you favorably consider our funding request, and I thank you for your time.
4:35:39
Thank you.