Legal Action Center of the City of New York Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Lac - legalsince 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 2024-2025 fiscal year alone, lac helped 869 new yorkers resolve 1,770 civil legal cases. These cases concerned three primary issues: 808 clients had legal problems related to a conviction record, 37 had legal problems related to substance use disorder (that usually led to a conviction record), and 24 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 2024-2025, our legal and policy staff provided 91 trainings/presentations 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 2024-2025, lac attorneys gave technical assistance to 116 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.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 74.2%; rating input score 74
• Fundraising efficiency: $9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -38.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.55; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 19.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings