EIN 13-2756320

Legal Action Center of the City of New York

IRS 501(c) type
501(c)(3)
Num. employees
55
Year formed
1973
Most recent tax filings
2023-03-01
NTEE code, primary
Description
Legal services - the Legal Action Center ("lac") is a not-for-profit law and policy organization with offices in New York City and Washington, d.c. lac is the only organization in the country whose sole mission is to fight discrimination against and p...
Total revenues
$9,004,962
2023
Total expenses
$8,187,349
2023
Total assets
$16,885,110
2023
Num. employees
55
2023

Program areas at Legal Action Center of the City of New York

Lac's policy work currently focuses on 1) shifting the focus of criminal Legal policies from incarceration and punishment to harm reduction, treatment, and rehabilitation; 2) eliminating employment, education, housing, insurance, and health care discrimination against our constituencies; and 3) dramatically expanding substance use, hiv/aids and mental health prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation, including in the criminal Legal system. Integral to these priorities is a focus on dismantling the historic and persistent impact of systemic racism that has fueled mass incarceration and disparate community health systems. We pursue these goals at local, state, and federal levels. Lac's policy achievements over the last quarter century include: helping secure strong coverage of addiction and mental health care in the affordable care act. Orchestrating advocacy campaigns that helped over two dozen states opt out of or modify the federal lifetime ban on food stamps and cash assistance for people convicted of drug felonies. Participating in advocacy that restored pell grant eligibility to incarcerated individuals. Successfully advocating with the centers for medicare and medicaid services (cms) to establish demonstration programs that allow states to use federal medicaid funding to improve health care for individuals leaving incarceration. Helping lead campaigns in New York that: 1) won rockefeller drug law reform, 2) created an ombudsman program to help New yorkers navigate coverage and find treatment for substance use and mental health needs, 3) fully decriminalized syringe possession, 4) created an automatic civil sealing (clean slate) process for all misdemeanor and many felony convictions after a waiting period, and 5) created permanent, scalable funding streams for alternative to incarceration and re-entry programs. Creating groundbreaking Legal theories to combat discrimination and accelerate reforms to: i) provide medications for opioid use disorder in the criminal Legal system and ii) deliver evidence-based treatment to people who use(d) drugs in hospitals, emergency departments, skilled nursing facilities, recovery, housing and other settings. Helping New York state establish groundbreaking medicaid enrollment policies for incarcerated individuals and pilot innovative care coordination strategies for people with chronic conditions returning to their communities from prisons and jails.
All other programs that allow (lac) to fight discrimination, build health equity, and restore opportunity for people with arrest and conviction records, substance use disorders, and hiv or aids.
Since our founding in 1973, we have helped tens of thousands of New yorkers overcome Legal barriers to accessing jobs, housing, healthcare, government benefits, and other services critical to their becoming productive members of society, maintaining their dignity, and getting and staying healthy. In 2022-2023 fiscal year alone, lac helped 857 New yorkers resolve 1,616 civil Legal cases. These cases concerned three primary issues: 759 clients had Legal problems related to a conviction record, 77 had Legal problems related to substance use disorder (that usually led to a conviction record), and 26 had Legal problems related to hiv/aids. Among other valuable services, we help individuals obtain employment, housing and benefits despite past criminal convictions or substance use disorders through a comprehensive range of civil Legal services, including assisting our clients to obtain and clean up their New York state rap sheets, seek and obtain certificates of good conduct or relief from disabilities that are often essential to finding jobs or acquiring professional licenses, prepare and file employment discrimination complaints with the New York state human rights division, and gather letters of reference and other evidence of rehabilitation. To broaden out impact and empower our clients, we also author and disseminate a wide variety of free publications that help pro se individuals (including incarcerated people) and other advocates understand and enforce their civil and privacy rights.in addition to our high volume Legal services project, lac conducts impact litigation throughout New York state. We litigate employment discrimination, privacy and civil rights matters in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies such as the New York state division and New York City commission on human rights, and federal agencies charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination and health privacy laws. Our litigation generally involves novel issues of law and is designed to impact groups of people. We leverage our resources to pro bono partnerships with law firms whose attorney's either co-counsel matters with lac staff or handle them under our supervision. Lac provided training and technical assistance on Legal issues to Legal services providers and social services and healthcare agencies servicing people living with criminal records, substance use disorders and/or hiv/aids. In fy 2022-2023, our Legal and policy staff provided 51 trainings to staff and/or clients of agencies throughout New York state, including substance use disorder treatment programs, groups that assist formerly incarcerated people, agencies providing hiv prevention and care, and hospitals. Topics we have a trained on include employment discrimination (faced by people with criminal records, substance use disorders, and hiv/aids) confidentiality of substance use disorder treatment and hiv records, and minors' rights to access confidential treatment for hiv/aids, substance use disorder and other sensitive health issues. Our training complements our Legal services work: we keep trainees abreast of Legal developments, some of which we have achieved through litigation and policy advocacy, and we learn about issues people in the community (and their advocates) face and try to devise litigation and policies solutions. Through our hotline in fy 2022-2023, lac attorneys gave technical assistance to 122 agencies throughout New York on an array of Legal issues concerning individuals with criminal records, substance use disorders, and hiv. Many of these agencies avail themselves of our publications on relevant topics that we both distribute at training and provide for free download from our website.

Who funds Legal Action Center of the City of New York

Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
GrantmakerDescriptionAmount
Wal-Mart FoundationCriminal Justice Reform$650,000
Open Society Policy CenterSupport Policy Advocacy$650,000
Community Service Society of New York (CSS)Direct Service$300,000
...and 30 more grants received totalling $3,926,583

Personnel at Legal Action Center of the City of New York

NameTitleCompensation
Adela PrignalChief Financial Officer / Director of Finance$148,551
Gabrielle de la GuerronierreVice President of Health and Justice Policy / Director of National Policy / Director of Policy$139,098
Tracie GardnerSenior Vice President of Policy Advocacy / Vice President of Policy Advocacy / Associate Director$189,233
Ellen M WeberSenior Vice President of Health Initiatives / Vice President of Health Initiatives / Vice President for Health Initiatives$197,358
Sally FriedmanSenior Vice President of Legal Advocacy / Vice President Legal Advocacy / Vice President of Legal Advocacy / Vice President Fo Legal Advocacy / Director$184,067
...and 11 more key personnel

Financials for Legal Action Center of the City of New York

RevenuesFYE 03/2023
Total grants, contributions, etc.$8,626,497
Program services$65,866
Investment income and dividends$217,996
Tax-exempt bond proceeds$0
Royalty revenue$0
Net rental income$64,709
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets$0
Net income from fundraising events$-44,029
Net income from gaming activities$0
Net income from sales of inventory$0
Miscellaneous revenues$73,923
Total revenues$9,004,962

Form 990s for Legal Action Center of the City of New York

Fiscal year endingDate received by IRSFormPDF link
2023-032024-02-05990View PDF
2022-032023-02-15990View PDF
2021-032022-03-02990View PDF
2021-032022-02-15990View PDF
2020-032021-04-12990View PDF
...and 10 more Form 990s
Data update history
August 26, 2024
Received grants
Identified 4 new grant, including a grant for $300,000 from Community Service Society of New York (CSS)
June 4, 2024
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2023
May 22, 2024
Updated personnel
Identified 2 new personnel
May 19, 2024
Used new vendors
Identified 1 new vendor, including
May 19, 2024
Received grants
Identified 11 new grant, including a grant for $650,000 from Open Society Policy Center
Nonprofit Types
Crime and legal aid organizationsLegal service nonprofitsCharities
Issues
Human servicesCrime and lawLegal servicesCriminal justice
Characteristics
MembershipsPolitical advocacyLobbyingFundraising eventsState / local levelReceives government fundingTax deductible donationsAccepts online donations
General information
Address
225 Varick St No 402
New York, NY 10014
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
County
New York County, NY
Website URL
lac.org/ 
Phone
(212) 243-1313
Facebook page
legalactioncenter 
Twitter profile
@lac_news 
IRS details
EIN
13-2756320
Fiscal year end
March
Taxreturn type
Form 990
Year formed
1973
Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
Yes
Categorization
NTEE code, primary
I80: Legal Services
NAICS code, primary
5411: Legal Services
Parent/child status
Independent
California AB-488 details
AB 488 status
May Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes
Charity Registration status
Current - Awaiting Reporting
FTB status revoked
Not revoked
AG Registration Number
CT0282517
FTB Entity ID
None yet
AB 488 data last updated ("as-of") date
2024-10-16
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