an ngo in consultative status with ecosoc 

american indian law alliance 
to hear the voices of our people, even unto the SEVENTH generation 

Legal Services Project

Staff and Board

Why International Work 

Border Crossing Rights

Urban Indian

Our Own Voices

Pagans in the Promised Land

Documents & Reports 

Links to Other Web Sites

Founded in 1991, The Legal Services Project of the American Indian Law Alliance is a community-based program that provides free, culturally sensitive legal services to meet the unique circumstances of members of the New York metropolitan Native American community.  The Native American and Indigenous community in New York City includes more than 40,000 individuals representing over 60 Indian Nations and communities from across the North and South American continent.  This makes our Native American community one of the largest urban populations in the United States or Canada.   This project was mandated by our community and has been approved by our elders.   

The Legal Services Project responds to the issues that stem directly from over 500 years of colonization, war, genocide, relocation and cultural abrogation that has resulted in poverty, poor health, unemployment and homelessness.  Some of the issues that we must deal with in New York on a daily basis include:                                     

- Landlord/tenant issues,
- Family Law issues including divorce, child custody and support payments,
- Social Security entitlements,
- Discrimination and equal access advocacy,
- For clients living with HIV/AIDS we provide wills, living wills, and health care proxies (we work with the American Indian Community House's HIV/AIDS Project),
- We help clients draft contracts, file incorporation papers, and complete basic forms, in order to alleviate unemployment and the affects of discriminatory and culturally insensitive non-Native institutions.

There is also an entire body of law that only applies to Native People and Nations.  As an organization founded and run by Native American people we are in a unique position to respond to these specialized needs of our community in a manner that is culturally appropriate.  No one else in the tri-State area is specifically equipped to respond to these issues which include: 

- The Jay Treaty of 1794 establishes a separate legal process concerning crossing and re-crossing the U.S./Canadian border for Canadian-born Aboriginal Peoples, many of whom are part of our New York City community.
- In Family Court, the Indian Child Welfare Act imposes a set of Federal standards to which state and local courts must comply.  Often judges, attorneys and social service personnel are unaware of the Act and even less aware of its implications and applications.

U.S. Government policies of the last 200 years have disintegrated the traditional ties of Native American peoples with their communities and nations.  To sort through the often traumatic experience of identity, we provide enrollment information that ensures that Native American peoples (and sometimes their children) are able to qualify for certain health and educational benefits.  Equally important is the positive effects on individuals who have been able to reconnect with their ancestors, families and communities.  We have witnessed how this process can benefit not only the individuals involved but the whole community through the strengthening of identity and cultural awareness.

 Our Legal Services Director works year-round with office staff as well as extensive pro bono support from the legal community (including two volunteer attorneys who are of counsel), and legal interns from local law schools.  Some of our cases are also referred to collaborating organizations.  In such cases, our role is to monitor the services provided and ensure that our community members receive culturally appropriate services.  In these ways, we are able to leverage our modest resources by attracting generous in-kind services and still make sure our community is served in a way that it finds most comfortable. 

11 Broadway 

Second Floor
New York, NY
10004

1.212.477.9100 phone

1.212.982.5346 fax

aila@ailanyc.org