Home News Center

Contact: Rosanne M. Van Heertum
Director of Development, The New YorkBar Foundation
rvanh@tnybf.org
518/487-5650

July 16, 2009

THE NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES GRANT AWARDS

Funds Will Support 26 Law-related Programs in Communities Throughout New York

The Board of Directors of The New York Bar Foundation recently awarded grants that will fund 26 law-related projects providing a variety of legal service needs, including several educational programs for young people. The programs will be conducted by legal services organizations, bar associations and other nonprofits throughout New York. The Foundation has awarded 67 grants to date during the year 2009.

President M. Catherine Richardson said, “It is more important than ever that during these difficult economic times, The New York Bar Foundation reinforces its objective to aid charitable and educational projects to meet the law-related needs of the public and the legal profession. Through these grants, important programs will continue to meet these needs. Funding for all projects comes from generous charitable contributions to The Foundation from lawyers, law firms, corporations and others.”

The June grant award recipients include:

• Albany – The Legal Project of the Capital District Women's Bar Association; Center for Law and Justice, Inc.; and Prisoners' Legal Services of New York

• Batavia - Genesee County Youth Bureau

• Binghamton - ACCORD, A Center for Dispute Resolution, Inc.

• Brooklyn - Make the Road New York; Red Hook Community Justice Center

• Buffalo - Western New York Law Center, Inc.

• Canandaigua - The Partnership for Ontario County, Inc.

• Corning - CASA of the Southern Tier, Inc.

• Flushing - Young Korean American Service & Education Center, Inc. (YKASEC)
 
• Huntington - Huntington Youth Bureau Youth Development Research Institute, Inc.

• Islip Terrace - Mercy Haven, Inc.

• Mount Morris - Hillside Children's Foundation

• New York - Court Appointed Special Advocates, Inc. (CASA) New York; LatinoJustice PRLDEF; Lawyers for Children; Legal Action Center; New York Legal Assistance Group; Partnership for Children's Rights; Partnership for the Homeless; Volunteers of Legal Service

• Plattsburgh - Rural Law Center of New York, Inc.

• Rochester - Al Sigl Center; PathStone Corporation

• Yorktown Heights - Alliance for Safe Kids, Inc.

Funding for grant awards to the Center for Law and Justice, Legal Action Center, Prisoner’s Legal Services of New York and CASA New York has been directed from The Foundation’s John R. Dunne Fund. The Fund was established in 2003 to honor the legal scholar, activist, and former state senator who has a storied career as a lawyer, statesman and politician. From 1990 to 1993, Dunne was the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice and was a member of the New York State Senate for twenty-four years, serving from 1966 to 1989. As a state senator, he served at various times as Deputy Majority Leader and chair of the judiciary, environmental protection, insurance, and prisons committees.  He is currently senior counsel at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP in Albany. The John R. Dunne Fund provides funding for legal services to families and children of indigent prisoners, continuing Dunne’s dedication to this important cause.

The New York Legal Assistance Group and the Domestic Violence Legal Connection/Domestic Violence and Military Families Project at the Capital District Women’s Bar Association’s Legal Project will use their awards to conduct a fellowship for a law student to assist with domestic violence cases involving matrimonial law.  The fellowships have been named in memory of Joan L. Ellenbogen, who practiced matrimonial and family law at the law firm Ellenbogen & Goldstein, P.C. of New York from 1979 until her death in 2001. In 1980, she was the founding president of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, an organization dedicated to the advancement of women in society and in the legal profession.

The next grant application deadline is October 15, 2009. The Foundation’s Board of Directors will review submitted applications in January 2010. Please go to www.tnybf.org to access a grant application or to make an online donation.

For more information, please contact Rosanne M. Van Heertum, director of development, The New York Bar Foundation, One Elk Street, Albany NY 12207, 518/487-5650 or email her at rvanh@tnybf.org. 

####