UJC

The Urban Justice Center serves New York City's most vulnerable residents through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing. Our 12 Projects assist clients on numerous levels, from one-on-one legal advice in soup kitchens, to filing class action lawsuits to bring about systemic change, to pushing social justice legislation forward.
CAP

The Corrections Accountability Project is an innovative initiative dedicated to tearing down the commercial wall that blocks criminal justice reform and clearing the road for lasting transformational change. We work to eliminate the perverse influence of financial interests on our criminal justice system and end the exploitation of those it touches.
CDP

CDP provides legal, participatory research and policy support to strengthen the work of grassroots and community-based groups in New York City to dismantle racial, economic and social oppression.
DVP

Our mission at the Domestic Violence Project (DVP) is to help victims of domestic violence and their children live free of violence and abuse. We consider domestic violence in any type of relationship, regardless of gender or sexual identity, to be a human rights violation.

Be heard. Be free.
HRP

The Human Rights Project (“HRP”), a project of the Urban Justice Center, works at both the local and national levels to equip advocates with information and tools to promote domestic compliance with universally accepted human rights standards.
IRAP

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. Mobilizing direct legal aid and systemic policy advocacy, IRAP serves the world's most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders.
MHP

The Mental Health Project of the Urban Justice Center is a team of attorneys, social workers and advocates dedicated to enforcing the rights of low-income New Yorkers with mental illness. We represent individual clients, bring class action lawsuits, and engage in community education and outreach with the belief that low-income people with mental illness are entitled to live stable and full lives, free from discrimination.
PCYP

Founded in 1994, PCYP is an innovative legal services project focusing on the civil legal needs of the thousands of homeless and street-involved lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) young people in New York City. PCYP works to interrupt the cycles of poverty and criminalization that prevent LGBTQQ young people from living fulfilling lives free from discrimination, abuse, and oppression. We have built unique expertise in the complex legal issues facing marginalized young people at the crossroads of youth and adult systems.
SNP

Casting a wider social safety net for all New Yorkers.
SVP

The Street Vendor Project is a membership-based project with more than 1,500 active vendor members who are working together to create a vendors’ movement for permanent change. We want more power and more respect. We are part of the Urban Justice Center, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation and advocates for marginalized New Yorkers.
SWP

Created in December 2001, the Sex Workers Project is the first program in New York City and in the country to focus on the provision of legal services, legal training, documentation, and policy advocacy for sex workers.
VAP

The Veteran Advocacy Project at the Urban Justice Center provides free legal services to low-income veterans, with a focus on those living with Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, and substance abuse problems.

Press

All Articles

Turkey blocks Syrian refugees from resettlement in the US – for having degrees

The Guardian9/19/2016

The Guardian highlighted the outrageous situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey, who had been approved for resettlement to the United States, but were...

TOPICS: Human Rights, Refugees

US Lawmakers Vow to Continue Immigrant Program for Afghan Interpreters

Voice of America6/28/2016

IRAP director and co-founder, Becca Heller, was quoted in an article by Voice of America on the future of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV)...

TOPICS: Human Rights, Legislation, Refugees

Don’t Abandon America’s Afghan Helpers

The New York Times4/29/2016

The New York Times today published a powerful editorial condemning the House Armed Services Committee’s current version of the 2017 defense spending...

Afghan Interpreters Could Be Left To Die If Current Defense Bill Passes

The Daily Caller4/26/2016

The Daily Caller cited IRAP in an article drawing attention to the current mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which risks...

Canada is just better at welcoming Syrian refugees, but the US is trying to do more

PRI4/5/2016

An article published today on PRI quotes Betsy Fisher, IRAP’s Policy Director, on the United States’ efforts to meet its goal of resettling 10,000...

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