New York City’s leading public defender and civil legal services organizations are calling on Mayor Eric Adams to support increased funding in the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget to address insufficient funding levels, wage inequality, and rising costs which jeopardize low-income New Yorkers’ access to critical legal services.

In addition to funding, widespread contracting issues, including late contract registration, delayed payments, and lack of cost-of-living adjustments, have led to organizational instability.

Public defenders and civil legal services organizations represent hundreds of thousands of people facing criminal charges and incarceration in inhumane conditions, eviction, job loss, food insecurity, lack of access to healthcare and mental health services, family separation, and deportation. These organizations are the safety net for so many, but because they lack critical funding, they are faltering and are in crisis.

The organizations support the City Council’s proposed $195 million in increased funding this upcoming fiscal year as an initial step in the right direction to address the aforementioned long-standing issues.

Last week, 26 Council Members issued an open letter to Mayor Adams calling for this increase, which was also included in the City Council’s budget response issued this past April.

“Public defenders and civil legal services providers play an integral role in our legal system, and when they are chronically underfunded, as they have been for decades, low-income New Yorkers ultimately bear the consequences,” said Twyla Carter, Attorney-in-Chief and CEO of The Legal Aid Society. “It is paramount that Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council prioritize additional funding for our organizations in the FY2024 budget to ensure that all New Yorkers in need of comprehensive legal services receive the zealous representation that they need and rightfully deserve.”