LSHV recognizes NYS Senator Peter Harckham at Open House

WHITE PLAINS – Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV), the only provider of free, comprehensive, civil legal services in the Hudson Valley, recognized New York State Senator Peter Harckham for his outstanding support of LSHV's services at an Open House for their newly-expanded Peekskill Office on Thursday, June 27.

Senator Harckham was instrumental as a part of the Westchester Senate Delegation in securing a $400,000 grant in the state budget that will allow LSHV to expand services to Westchester residents facing eviction or homelessness. Thanks to this funding, LSHV will hire attorneys in each of its four offices across the county – including the Peekskill office – who will provide free legal representation in housing and eviction cases.

“The Westchester Senate delegation fought for and obtained ample funding for Legal Services of the Hudson Valley,” said Senator Pete Harckham, 40th Senate District. “Every Hudson Valley resident deserves access to quality legal services regardless of income.”

“Every day at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, we help people who are facing eviction or foreclosure and aren’t able to afford an attorney when their housing is at stake. While we try to help as many clients as possible, we are simply not able to meet the growing need for housing civil legal services in our service area. But, thanks to the new funding that Senator Harckham helped to secure, we will be able to hire desperately-needed attorneys who will prevent evictions and keep more Westchester residents in their homes. This grant will go a long way toward addressing the growing housing and homelessness crisis in Westchester. We are grateful to our State Senate delegation for enabling us to meet this need,” said Barbara Finkelstein, CEO of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.

This new funding is part of an ongoing expansion of LSHV’s Peekskill office, which serves clients in Northern Westchester and Putnam County. Over the past year, the staff based in LSHV’s Peekskill office has doubled in number. To accommodate the growing staff, the office moved into a larger suite on the second floor of the building in March of 2019. The agency held an Open House on Thursday, June 27th to introduce constituents and partners to the new office space.

Other dignitaries in attendance included Westchester Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins, Putnam County Legislator Nancy Montgomery, Peekskill Councilman Colin Smith, and Westchester County Legislator John Testa.

Photo (L-R): Westchester Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins; Shary Sanchez, Attorney in Charge of LSHV’s Peekskill office; Westchester County Legislator John Testa; Barbara Finkelstein, LSHV's CEO; NYS Senator Peter Harckham; Putnam County Legislator Nancy Montgomery; and Rachel Halperin, LSHV's CPO