Thank God for MFY legal aid. It is absolutely necessary to have a decent society. When you have no
money or power, you really need a place to go for justice.
—MFY Client

Overview of Programs & Projects

MFY's programs reach individuals and families facing crises on basic issues, such as housing, government benefits, employment, health care, domestic violence, and other family issues.

Neighborhood Preservation Project helps preserve affordable housing in MFY's traditional Manhattan neighborhoods of the Lower East Side, Chinatown, East Harlem and Hell's Kitchen and protects housing stock on which low-income and marginalized populations depend. Our East Side SRO Law Project defends the rights of Single Room Occupancy tenants facing eviction and confronting illegal conversions.

Mental Health Law Project assists over 1,000 mentally disabled individuals living in apartments in their communities and in adult care facilities, providing advocacy services, consultation, advice, direct representation, and trainings.

Adult Home Advocacy Project provides advocacy and trainings to adult home residents throughout New York City and pursues individual and affirmative litigation on issues that impact adult home residents.

Workplace Justice Project provides free legal assistance for low-wage workers on wage and hour violations, unpaid wages, unemployment, and other employment-related issues

Pro Bono Family Law Project links low-income kinship caregivers seeking legal custody, guardianship or adoption assistance with private pro bono attorneys and trains these attorneys to represent families. The Project also recruits pro bono attorneys to provide advice and counsel to families who come to Family Court without representations on child support, visitation and custody matters. In addition, the Pro Bono Adoption project links low-income families seeking to adopt children from foster care with private pro bono attorneys.

Manhattan Legal Aid for Seniors Project provides holistic civil legal services to seniors living in Manhattan to help them live independent, healthy and productive lives. The project is operated in partnership with the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation.

Consumer Rights Project helps low-income New Yorkers with issue that present a barrier to wealth-building, employment, economic sufficiency and personal wellbeing, such as debt, improper judgments, financial scams, identity theft, or other forms of financial exploitation.