Pro Bono Immigration Attorney RFA

The purpose of this RFA is to establish an agreement with community-based organizations to support Supervising Attorneys funded under this grant to create and maintain a network of Pro Bono Volunteer Attorneys (PBVAs).
The Pro Bono Supervising Attorneys will oversee the supervision, coordination, and training of PBVAs to expand capacity for free immigration law representation in New York State. Pro Bono Supervising Attorneys will also recruit and train non-attorney volunteers to provide administrative and other support for clients being represented by PBVAs.
Since its creation in 2012, the New York State Office for New Americans (ONA) has provided an array of supportive immigration related services to hundreds of thousands of new Americans across the State. ONA’s service delivery, including its immigration legal services, have evolved as the needs of the community have changed. In 2022, ONA released the Pro Bono Immigration Attorney RFA, building upon previous ONA funded Pro Bono programming. This current RFA is a continuation of the program that was established with the 2022 Pro Bono Immigration Attorney RFA, which is being expanded to allow more community-based organizations to directly contract for regions across New York State.
This RFA will fund up to six not-for-profit organizations to create and maintain a network of PBVAs and non-attorney volunteers, with oversight from one or more Supervising Attorneys, to provide free legal services and support to immigrants in need, using a universal representation model, which services any immigrant in need of immigration legal representation.