Urban Justice Center

True pioneers often set out with limited resources, no clear path and no instructions. Nonetheless, they move boldly forward. In 1984, Douglas Lasdon launched the Urban Justice Center (UJC) in much the same way, from a burned out building in East Harlem, with almost no funding. He took his legal expertise to soup kitchens, jails, and shelters (places others would not go) and set up free legal clinics. Forty years later, in spite of social opposition and division, UJC remains a champion of change. Today, UJC is composed of many longstanding Anchor Projects, who serve tens of thousands of people a year, on critical issues ranging from homelessness, to discrimination, to seeking asylum, to escaping intimate partner violence. Each Project is led by experts in the field, who devise their own strategy for making change, often combining free direct legal services to those in need with impact litigation, social services, community organizing, legislative advocacy, know your rights traini...