Veterans Assistance Project Releases Veteran’s Legal Resource Guide

The Veterans Assistance Project, an initiative of the City Bar Justice Center, has released The New York City Veteran’s Legal Resource Guide (pdf). The 46-page guide, which is designed to be a reference for both veterans and veterans’ service providers, lists organizations that provide free legal assistance to low-income veterans. The guide is organized into categories and presented in the order of the most frequently requested areas of assistance, including Housing, Homelessness, Public Benefits and Debt/Consumer matters. The guide lists social service organizations as well as legal service providers.

“As we observe Veterans Day and remember all who have served our country, we are glad to be able to express our gratitude by helping veterans get the disability and other benefits they so deserve,” said New York City Bar Association President Samuel W. Seymour.

The Veterans Assistance Project provides free legal assistance by volunteer attorneys to veterans seeking service-connected disability benefits before the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since the project’s inception in 2007, it has also provided referrals to over 450 veterans who have called seeking assistance that is outside of the scope of the Project.

“While listening carefully to their concerns, we realized that low income New York City veterans do not have an inclusive source of information to aid them in their search for assistance, so we created one,” said Carol Bockner, Veterans Assistance Project Director. “We hope that this will be a valuable tool for both veterans in need and veterans’ service providers.”

The Veterans Assistance Project will be distributing free copies of the guide through its legal clinics and to partner organizations and veterans’ service providers throughout the city.

The Project acknowledges the generous financial support of The New York Community Trust in the creation of the guide.