NEED HELP? For assistance, please contact our Legal Assistance Hotline at (917) 661-4500 to speak to an intake officer in any language, Monday through Friday, from 9:30am to 4pm. Check out our COVID-19 Resources for Clients page for the latest updates on benefits and resources during the COVID-19 crisis.
Project Director: Nadia K. Hernandez
No other borough has changed as much as Staten Island over the past twenty years. Significantly, poverty has increased by 90%. In response to this dramatic change, Staten Island Legal Services (SILS) opened its doors in 2004 to serve Staten Island residents and to fight poverty and seek racial, social, and economic justice.
With over 30 dedicated and highly-trained staff, SILS assists approximately 7,500 low-income individuals and families a year in preventing evictions and foreclosure, preserving affordable housing and homeownership, obtaining access to education, supporting survivors of domestic violence, assisting applicants for immigration status, and engaging in LGBTQ/HIV+ advocacy. In working closely with the communities we serve, our staff regularly conducts outreach and community education and builds relationships with community leaders and organizers, to achieve holistic solutions for our clients.
SILS advocates practice in many areas, including:
- Access to Education
- Civil Rights & Language Access
- Family Law & Domestic Violence
- Foreclosure Prevention & Homeowner Rights
- Housing & Tenants' Rights
- Immigration & Immigrants' Rights
- LGBT Advocacy
As part of Legal Services NYC, our other borough offices can help Staten Islanders with other legal issues, including:
- Government Benefits
- Unemployment Insurance Project
- Consumer Rights
- Employment Law and Worker’s Rights
- Disability Advocacy Project
- Pension Project
- Veteran’s Justice Project
Staten Island Legal Services is a NYC Financial Empowerment Center!
Staten Island Legal Services has partnered with Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners and the NYC Office of Financial Empowerment to provide FREE one-on-one confidential financial counseling and coaching to support you in reaching your goals, regardless of income or immigration status. A professional Financial Counselor is available to provide personalized guidance and can help you address a wide range of personal financial topics:
- Take control of your debt, including student loans
- Strengthen your credit score
- Make savings a part of your routine
- Balance a budget
- Open a bank account
- And much more
To schedule a session with the Financial Counselor, please contact 917-822-5709 or e-mail David Shusman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Our Location
36 Richmond Terrace Ste. 205 map
(Across the street from the ferry)
Staten Island, NY 10301
718-233-6480
