Queens Legal Services Celebrates Grand Opening of the QLS Community Law Center in Downtown Jamaica

Sept. 16, 2016, QUEENS, N.Y.– Elected officials, community leaders and community members joined Queens Legal Services (QLS, a program of Legal Services NYC), the borough’s largest non-profit civil legal aid organization, in celebrating the opening of the QLS Community Law Center in downtown Jamaica. The grand opening included a ribbon-cutting and community breakfast with attendees from over 40 government agencies, social service agencies, faith groups and grassroots advocates. The Center is Queens County’s first comprehensive civil legal aid center with a contemporary, renovated facility to host community meetings. (Pictured: LSNYC Board Member Diego Parra, State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., Queens Legal Services Project Director Jennifer Ching, State Assemblymember David Weprin, Legal Services NYC Executive Director Raun Rasmussen, QLS Board Chair Malvina Nathanson, City Council Members Barry Grodenchik, Peter Koo, Rory Lancman, and Elizabeth Crowley, and State Senator Leroy Comrie)

After decades of operating out of increasingly dilapidated offices—complete with leaking roofs, moldy walls and electrical outages—QLS consolidated program staff into a modern office space on the 4th and 5th floors of 89-00 Sutphin Boulevard. QLS is now one of downtown Jamaica’s largest non-profit employers, with a staff of over 70 attorneys, paralegals, social workers and advocates.

“Every year, we serve thousands of New Yorkers in crisis—families facing eviction, victims of domestic violence and trafficking, disabled veterans cut off from life-saving income—all of whom deserve a dignified and welcoming space,” said Jennifer Ching, Director of Queens Legal Services. “We are so grateful to our local representatives for providing the capital support which has enabled us to serve our neighbors in a professional setting and with cutting-edge technology that increases our efficiency and efficacy.”

“I’m excited that Queens Legal Services can now provide a walk-in law center in Downtown Jamaica and that they are finally able to consolidate their program to one location,” said State Senator Leroy Comrie. “In the City Council, I was able to allocate significant funding for this project with the understanding that the hardworking men and women at QLS needed a modern and efficient space in order to better serve the people of Queens.”

“The opening of the new QLS Community Law Center is a milestone not only for the organization, but for downtown Jamaica as the neighborhood continues its revitalization on a path to becoming one of the most flourishing areas in our borough,” said State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. “Moving into a new state-of-the-art office space will allow the dozens of staff members at the law center to more effectively provide Queens residents with the vital services that the organization offers and continue to make a positive impact on thousands of New Yorkers each year. I thank all those involved with making this new community space a reality and look forward to working closely with the QLS Community Law Center in the near future.”

“Queens Legal Services provides exceptional legal assistance to all of Queens, and they have been an outstanding partner in my district of Flushing through their monthly tenant legal services at my office,” said Council Member Peter Koo. “By extending critical lifelines of support to struggling individuals and families during their time of greatest need, QLS helps create a level playing field for those who find themselves facing the often unfamiliar and daunting territory of the courts. Their efforts are essential to a fair and robust democracy, and with the opening of the Community Law Center, QLS will finally be able to operate from a fully modernized facility worthy of the essential services they provide.”

“Navigating the legal process without any help is a recipe for disaster for too many New Yorkers, so I’m pleased to support Queens Legal Services’ new Community Law Center,” said Council Member Rory I. Lancman. “QLS offers so many crucial services—from tenants’ rights to family law—and with the opening of the Community Law Center, more people than ever are going to receive the assistance they deserve.”

“Without access to quality legal representation, justice often comes at too high a price for many low-income New Yorkers. By offering legal services, social work, support, and advocacy to low-income communities in New York; Queens Legal Services offers an indispensable service to our borough” said Assemblyman David Weprin. “I am grateful that my constituents will continue to have access to QLS’s valuable resources in downtown Jamaica and congratulate them on the opening of the new Community Law Center.”

With a combined $813,000 capital award from the Queens Borough President and New York City Council, QLS created the QLS Community Law Center to provide a bright, modern, and welcoming space to preserve, promote and protect client and community dignity. QLS operates fifteen practices at the Center, including Immigration Advocacy, Domestic Violence & Family Law, HIV/LGBTQ Advocacy, Housing Rights, Homeowner & Consumer Rights, Fair Housing, Disability Advocacy, Public Benefits, Nutrition Education & Outreach (SNAP), Veterans Justice, Employment and Taxpayers’ Clinic. Reflecting the deep diversity of Queens, the QLS staff speak nine languages on-site and the program provide instant phone or video interpretation services for all clients. 

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Contact: Kate Whalen, 646-442-3654, kwhalen (at) legalservicesnyc.org