The Center for Holistic Defense at The Bronx Defenders The 2014 Holistic Defense for Public Defender Offices Technical Assistance Project Request For Proposals The Center for Holistic Defense, a project of The Bronx Defenders, is pleased to announce the release of its fifth annual Technical Assistance Project Request For Proposals seeking applications from public defender…
The difference between being saddled with a criminal record and keeping one’s profile clean often comes down to a person’s ability to come up with bail money, a new report from The Bronx Freedom Fund shows. The fund, launched in 2007 and reopened in October 2013, four years after a judge ordered it to cease…
Bronx News 12 featured The Bronx Defenders 2014 Community Block Party. To see the article click here.
The Bronx Defenders 2014 Community Block Party was listed among TimeOut Magazine’s “26 awesome things happening in New York” in the week of July 7, 2014. TimeOut wrote: The Bronx Defenders Community Block Party; E 160th St The Bronx Defenders are a group of real-life superheroes. They don’t need a mask and a cape, though,…
“We need to intervene more deeply, involve ourselves more broadly, and understand the lives of our clients more fully. We need to fight on behalf of individuals but we need to also mobilize communities to be warriors in the broader struggle of social and racial justice.” Bronx Defenders Executive Director Robin Steinberg gave an inspiring keynote speech…
June 26, 2014 The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224 RE: Sign S7883/A10139 to Add 25 More Family Court Judges Dear Governor Cuomo: The Bronx Defenders is a proud member of the New York State Coalition for More Family Court Judges. We urge you to…
For June’s National Reunification Month, organizations around the country celebrated the perseverance and resilience of parents reunifying with children from foster care and of the professionals who support them. On June 13, the family defense organization The Bronx Defenders hosted a reunification celebration, with food, face painting, performances, and families coming together to celebrate the…
Building upon the pilot project implemented by The Bronx Defenders, together with Brooklyn Defender Services, over the past year, The New York City Council announces approval for renewed funding to provide legal representation to undocumented immigrants in New York City at Varick Street in Manhattan as well as in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. A long-sought…
Request for Proposals Civil Forfeiture Video Project Submission Date: July 2, 2014 Organization Overview The Bronx Defenders is a community-based, multi-service legal organization dedicated to addressing the underlying problems of poverty in the Bronx by providing innovative, holistic, and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, civil legal services, and social services to indigent Bronx residents. Our…
SAVE THE DATE The Bronx Defenders invites you to the 2014 SUMMER BENEFIT The South Cabana at The Maritime Hotel Tuesday, July 15th | 7:00 pm | 88 Ninth Avenue, New York City (entrance is at the corner of 16th Street & Ninth Avenue) Please join us on this summer evening to enjoy cocktails and…
Last week we hosted our annual Celebration of Families night to honor our clients who have been reunited with their children after arduous battles in Bronx Family Court. The evening provided our clients and their families an opportunity to share their stories, connect with one another, and take a moment to celebrate their perseverance after a difficult and…
On Thursday, June 12th, 2014, The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson delivered testimony at the Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Mental Health, Development Disability, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Disability Services Solitary Confinement Hearing. Since January, Albertson and Social Work Intern Leah Baez have conducted 23 interviews with…
The Bronx Defenders joined Council Member Mark Levine and the Coalition for Justice in Housing Court on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, June 11th, to rally for the “Right to Counsel” in Housing Court. A total of 246,864 New Yorkers were served with eviction papers in 2013. Nearly 99% of these tenants were…
Yesterday afternoon The Bronx Defenders welcomed a group of 20 middle schoolers from the LAUNCH Expeditionary Learning Charter School in Brooklyn to our Justice Campus to read aloud closing arguments they had prepared and to receive feedback from a panel of Bronx Defenders attorneys and summer interns. The students’ field trip was inspired by their reading of Walter…
Numbers don’t lie: More than 70% of immigrants, documented or not, who face deportation proceedings in New York City do not have legal representation, an unfair situation which practically guarantees their removal. “Without a lawyer, immigrants’ opportunity to win their deportation cases is about 3%,” said Angela Fernández, the executive director of the Northern Manhattan…
On June 13, 2014, The Bronx Defenders will host our Fourth Annual Celebration of Families, honoring our clients who have reunited with their children after being separated by foster care. In the spirit of National Reunification Month, a time designated by the American Bar Association to reflect upon the innumerable value of reunifying fragmented families, the Celebration of Families is…
Join us Monday, June 9th at 5pm at The Bronx Defenders Justice Campus for a community event to discuss the introduction a new marijuana decriminalization bill. The Bronx Defenders, together with VOCAL New York and the Drug Policy Alliance, are hosting this event to mobilize Bronx residents and brainstorm how community members can help support this important legislation. Click here to…
On Friday, May 30, 2014, 100 Bronx Defenders clients who are fathers visited Yankee Stadium together with their children to see the New York Yankees host the Minnesota Twins. The tickets were donated to The Bronx Defenders’ Focus on Fathers program by the New York Yankees organization. The evening offered a chance for these Bronx…
Robin Steinberg: On Changing the Criminal Justice System Robin Steinberg is founder and executive director of the Bronx Defenders, a public defender organization in the Bronx, New York City. Started in 1997 with a team of 8, The Bronx Defenders pioneered a new model for public defense, dubbed “holistic defense,” and today handles approximately 30,000…
NEW YORK — At first glance, the classroom in the Betances Community Center in the South Bronx last night appeared like a typical children’s classroom. A stuffed lion with a smile sewn into his mouth sat atop an emergency aid kit. A paper cut-out of a grinning fish held a sign with a self-esteem boosting…
We are very excited to welcome our summer 2014 interns today! Over the course of the next 10 weeks, 52 law school students and 15 college students from over 25 different schools will work together with attorneys and advocates in our Family Defense Practice, Criminal Defense Practice, Civil Action Practice, Immigration Practice, Policy & Community…
Robin Steinberg, Founder and Executive Director of The Bronx Directors, will speak on a panel at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance conference “A Collaborative Approach to Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance in Tribal Justice Systems” in Washington State next Tuesday, May 27th. The panel will explore the holistic defense model and…
Today wrapped up the sixth and final day The Bronx Defenders 2014 Defenders’ Academy Spring Training! Over the course of the past week, 78 participants from over 20 different organizations – ranging from public defender offices to private firms to the U.S. military – have participated in an intensive trial skills program designed to strengthen…
Join The Bronx Defenders, together with a host of other partners, on May 29 & 31 for Theater of the Oppressed NYC‘s 2nd Annual Festival of Forum and Legislative Theater Can’t Get Right: Investigating Racism and Profiling in the Criminal Justice System. (more…)
Former Bronx Defenders Trial Chief, David Feige, writes about bail challenges and the successes of The Bronx Freedom Fund in Huffington Post’s The Blog: $500 makes all the difference. For thousands of indigent criminal defendants in New York City, $500 is all that stands between weeks on Riker’s Island and being branded with a criminal conviction,…