On the Town: DACA clinic ‘a model’ for upstate cities

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Twenty-seven volunteer attorneys and 3 volunteer interpreters turned out Saturday, Oct. 20, to assist approximately 20 young people applying for the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The clinic and the continuing legal education seminar that preceded it Oct. 18 were co-sponsored by the Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County, the Legal Aid Society of Rochester, the Monroe County Bar Association, the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys and the Rochester Black Bar Association.

According to Melanie Grossman, of the New York State Department of State, Rochester’s well-attended and well-staffed DACA Clinic was one of the first to be held outside New York City. It will serve as a model for other upstate cities.

“Rochester’s legal community is well-known across the nation for stepping up to provide pro bono assistance to those in need,” said Sheila Gaddis, VLSP executive director. “Our volunteer attorneys embraced the opportunity to assist undocumented young people who entered the country as children and now seek to establish themselves by obtaining employment or furthering their education.

“Rochester is unique because we are the only city in the country fortunate enough to have all of our civil legal services providers and the county bar association co-located in the same building, the Telesca Center for Justice,” Gaddis added. “Our collaboration on this timely and important initiative to assist the young ‘Dreamers’ demonstrates how the Telesca Center for Justice contributes to the vitality of the Greater Rochester community.”

— Photos by Linda Kostin