Tanya E. M. Wong Named New Project Director of Brooklyn Legal Services

January 6, 2020, NEW YORK, NY – Today, Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) announces that Tanya E. M. Wong will begin as the new Project Director of Brooklyn Legal Services, the largest program of Legal Services NYC.

Brooklyn Legal Services provides high-quality free civil legal services to thousands of low-income Brooklyn residents each year, helping families to fight evictions and maintain affordable housing, fight predatory deed thefts, avoid deportation, maintain income and access to fair wages, secure benefits and food security, and protect the rights of vulnerable people across the borough, including LGBTQ communities, immigrants, and communities of color.
 
“Tanya has dedicated her entire legal career to serving vulnerable New Yorkers and we couldn’t be more excited to have her head up Brooklyn Legal Services,” said Raun Rasmussen, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC, which includes Brooklyn Legal Services. “Throughout her career, Tanya has shown an unyielding dedication to providing and supporting the highest quality legal help to our clients. She has also helped advance and implement principles of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization. We are extremely fortunate to have someone with such a wide range of skills and expertise to lead Brooklyn Legal Services.”

“The Board of Directors of Brooklyn Legal Services is very pleased to have Tanya Wong lead our management team as the new Project Director,” said Brooklyn Legal Services board chair Deborah Howard. “Her vast experience with and dedication to LSNYC, her management style, knowledge of crucial issues facing our clients, and her vision for the Brooklyn office should make for a smooth transition and a positive future.”

Ms. Wong began her career at Legal Services NYC over 20 years ago when she joined Harlem Legal Services and then the Brooklyn Branch of Legal Services NYC from 1996 to 2009 before becoming LSNYC’s Director of Government Benefits. She is a statewide leader and expert in the area of Government Benefits, specializing in welfare rights and other anti-poverty/anti-hunger programs. Ms. Wong was the lead attorney in Huerta v. Zucker which established due process rights and procedures for women and children who receive nutrition and healthcare supplements from the WIC program. Most recently, Ms. Wong was the Acting Project Director in Staten Island from October 2018 through December 2019. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Northeastern University School of Law.

“I am deeply committed to the people in the borough of Brooklyn and am excited to join the team at Brooklyn Legal Services,” said Tanya E. M. Wong, Project Director at Brooklyn Legal Services, a program of Legal Services NYC. “Brooklyn Legal Services has a long history of legal excellence and fighting for social justice and I am looking forward to building on that legacy in partnership with the communities we serve and our very talented and experienced staff. Not only will we continue to provide access to justice to those who cannot afford it but we will leverage our resources to address structural inequities and biases impacting our clients.”

For more information on Brooklyn Legal Services, visit www.legalservicesnyc.org/brooklyn.

 
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