August marks my one-year anniversary as Attorney-in-Chief and CEO of The Legal Aid Society, the nation's oldest and largest public defender and civil legal services organization. I can't express my gratitude for leading an office with such a storied history and driver of change here in our city and state. 

Over the last 12 months, Legal Aid has secured monumental victories improving the lives of the New Yorkers we serve, the majority of whom are from Black and Latinx communities. 

This past May, our Civil Law Reform Unit achieved landmark statewide changes to existing law mandating expanded dental coverage to roughly five million New Yorkers who use Medicaid, including both new dental coverage benefits and a significant broadening of existing benefits. 

On housing, when we were still in the throes of the pandemic, our advocacy led to the creation of housing protections for tenants receiving assistance from the New York Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and our litigation reopened the application portal and protected over 136,000 households from eviction while tens of thousands of tenants were able to obtain the means to satisfy back rent to remain in their homes and communities. 

Today, in response to an influx of new arrivals from the border in search of safety and security, Mayor Eric Adams' administration is seeking to undo the Right to Shelter, a safeguard that has defined New York City for more than 40 years. 

I am proud that Legal Aid is leading the effort to defend this fundamental right, which has served as a bedrock protection for so many people and prevented widespread street homelessness that many west coast jurisdictions currently experience.  

In conjunction with family defense providers and other organizations, Legal Aid's Juvenile Rights Practice (JRP) helped pass the Preserving Family Bonds Act, which will help to protect the ties between a child in foster care and their family of origin. The bill awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature. 

JRP also helped secure a stay of New York's Host Homes regulations, a program that was intended to assist parents with childcare during a family crisis, but that deprives children of important legal protections. 

Our Criminal Defense Practice (CDP) continues to shine a light on the deplorable conditions that incarcerated New Yorkers face at Rikers Island, including issues with access to medical care; the New York City Department of Correction's pattern of brutality and excessive force, as well as the dangerous structural conditions that plague jail facilities.  

And we're hopeful that we can soon begin the process to secure the appointment of a receiver over city jails to deliver on the wholesale change our clients so desperately need and deserve. 

CDP also secured a settlement in Terron Belle et. al. v. the City of New York et al., a class action lawsuit brought in 2019 which reformed the New York City Police Department's unconstitutional, unwarranted search and seizure practices. 

This is all in addition to the invaluable work that our attorneys, paralegals, social workers, investigations and support staff carry out each and every day on individual cases across a range of courts including criminal, family, immigration and housing, to name a few.  

I know of no greater expression of our staff's commitment to justice than the world-class representation that they deliver 365 days a year.   

When I first started, I pledged that organizational funding fairness would remain my top priority to address the decades of divestment from both the state and the city in our services. This has led to an unprecedented staffing crisis facing Legal Aid and other public defenders and civil legal service providers throughout New York City which jeopardizes our ability to provide the New Yorkers we serve with the world class representation for which they are entitled. 

We still have a long way to go. However, I'm glad that Albany allocated at least $40 million for institutional public defenders statewide to assist with discovery obligations, a needed reform passed in 2019 which failed to come with the financial resources for the new law to live up to its full promise.   

In year two, funding will remain my top priority, and we need the resources from our government funders to issue significant baseline salary increases so our employees are properly compensated for this invaluable work. 

The year ahead is filled with challenges, but we will face them with the same determination and spirit that has brought us this far. Our greatest triumphs are measured in the lives of the New Yorkers we've impacted and the profound difference we've made in their communities. There's no place I would rather be, and there's no group of people I would rather be in this fight with.

Twyla Carter is Attorney in Chief and CEO of the Legal Aid Society