Justice Matters. It's Your Right.
Special Projects
Queens Defenders is committed to providing holistic support to our clients and community members. Our community outreach team is constantly expanding the scope of support with a variety of special projects.
For legal help,
call 1-844-QUEENSD
(1-844-783-3673)
Justice 456
Understanding the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights is critical for black and brown people, especially adolescents and young adults. Queens Defenders launched Justice 456, an educational tour of schools, community centers, churches, and other community venues to teach those most at risk of a wrongful conviction how to protect themselves.
Workshops & Services
Queens Defenders has various workshops and services to support our clients and their families.
Legal Services
- Processing return on bench warrants
- Sealing criminal convictions
- Accompanying clients to HPD/NYCHA/Social Security Administrative Hearings
- Mediating landlord/tenant disputes
- Consulting with Tenant Associations and Section 8 tenants
- Managing parking tickets
- Small Claims Court assistance
- Legal consultation and referrals
Supportive Services
- Business-professional clothing giveaway for court appearances and job interviews
- Weekly food giveaways out of our Outreach Center since the start of COVID-19 pandemic
- Weekly food deliveries to families dealing with domestic violence
- Annual Thanksgiving food drive
- Holiday toy drive for families dealing with domestic violence
- Tutoring and Homework Help for school-aged youth
- Annual community events and fun days
Community Workshops and Presentations
- “Know Your Rights”
- Healthy Relationships and Dating Violence
- Career Readiness
- College Readiness
- Financial Literacy
- Boys and Girls Youth Empowerment Groups
If you or someone you know can benefit from any of these services, contact us.
Technology & Re-Entry Program (2020–2022)
Formed during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic to assist individuals returning to their communities after incarceration, Queens Defenders and Queens Public Library partnered to offer tech-focused programs to help parolees access benefits, obtain employment, and navigate the world during periods of social isolation and virus mitigation policies.
With the assistance of Queens Defenders’ dedicated “Tech Navigators,” the Immediate Access: Technology Re-entry Program provided smartphones to assist with reentry and provided access to QPL’s virtual programing, financial and transportation apps, and online certification programs. Participants also received a cellular data plan, technology assistance, and job training to equip them with the information, skills, and resources needed to help them move forward on the outside.
All participants were provided access to QPL-created resources, including its Re-entry Resource Guide, and assistance from the Library’s Job and Business Academy and its Queensbridge Tech Lab at the Queensbridge housing complex in Long Island City. In addition, QPL staff facilitated a skills training and job certification curriculum for each individual.
The program assisted 75 formerly incarcerated individuals over a two-year period and was funded with more than $330,000 from the CARES Act Grants for Museums and Libraries, awarded to QPL and Queens Defenders by the US Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS).