HOW WE DO OUR WORK
We partner with the following non-profit organizations:
All Angels' Episcopal Church
Bowery Mission Men's Center
Bowery Mission Tribeca Campus
Bowery Mission Women's Center
City Relief
Exodus Transitional Community Center
Father's Heart Ministries
Partnership for the Homeless
Prison Fellowship
Restore
The Open Door of NJNY
The Salvation Army, East Harlem
Viva Uptown
We conduct two programs.
Legal Aid Desks
We set up mobile legal aid desks at soup kitchens and shelters across the city, bringing volunteer attorneys directly to low-income and homeless New Yorkers. We provide on-site legal assistance and advocacy in civil legal matters such as family, housing, and employment law.
Know Your Rights Seminars
We inform and equip low-income and homeless New Yorkers with information about their rights and responsibilities, such as the rights of the homeless in public places and police rights. We develop seminars in response to requests from our partner non-profit organizations after they discover what legal challenges their clients typically face.
MEET OUR TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Crystal G. Persaud, Shareholder, Polsinelli PC
Elizabeth Leonard, Executive Director, Creative, J.P. Morgan
Eric S. Yoon, Partner, K&L Gates LLP
Jonathan Lee, Director, Internal Audit, BNP Paribas
Kenia Andujar, Palabras de Vida
Richard L. Chen, Brightstar Law Group
Tony Telesco, Sergeant, New York Police Department
Vanessa Holliday, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Restore
Wallace E. Larson, Member, Carson Messinger, PLLC
ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. Alexander Chou, Montefiore Medical Center
Emily Schofield, Silver Regulatory Associates
Melody Smith, Stanford University School of Medicine
Karen Wu, Perlman & Perlman LLP
FOUNDING STORY
"'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'" - Deuteronomy 15:11
We were founded in 2009 by a group of Christian attorneys who felt God calling them to use their legal skills to serve the city. Recognizing that many problems faced by the poor and the oppressed could be solved by an attorney, the group began going to an East Village soup kitchen to volunteer and provide legal services.
Since then, we have grown dramatically in response to high demand from other soup kitchens and shelters across the city. We have trained hundreds of practicing attorneys in basic poverty law so they can also volunteer and serve the city with their legal skills. Currently, we serve approximately 900 low-income New Yorkers annually at ten partner locations throughout the city.
STAFF
Matt Mahoney, Executive Director
Matt Mahoney is the Executive Director of Open Hands Legal Services. Mr. Mahoney has over 27 years’ experience serving the poor and marginalized in New York City, first as a teacher in NYC schools, then as an educator and leader in the nonprofit sector.
Mr. Mahoney began his lifetime mission of service at Princeton University, receiving his B.A. in English, and completing the Teacher Preparation Program. His faith led him to NYC to seek opportunities to teach disadvantaged youth. During his five-year stint teaching in the Bronx, Matt also sought out opportunities to put his faith into action, volunteering at two non-profits. After 5 years volunteering at Operation Exodus Inner City, Inc, Matt began running Exodus' educational programs in June 1999, building excellence in the After School, Saturday, and Summer programs, then running the organization as Executive Director in 2003.
Mr. Mahoney is a graduate of the Columbia Business School of Non-Profit Leadership, the Leadership Fellows Program of LEADNYC, and has completed other certificate programs, such as the NY Presbyterian Community Fellows and HFNY's Learning Labs. In 2009, Matt was part of a planning committee for Inwood Academy for Leadership Charter School, then joined the Board of Directors and more recently the Friends of Inwood Academy Board. In 2012, Matt was part of a grassroots collaboration that developed the Pathways Mentoring program, now part of Viva Uptown, a nonprofit where he serves on the Board of Directors. A native of New England, Matt lives in Washington Heights with his wife Tatiana and their three children.
Christine DeModna, Legal Director
Christine DeModna started as a staff attorney and is now the Legal Director at Open Hands Legal Services Christine’s primary focus is on family law and immigration law matters. She also has a great deal of experience in the area of criminal law, having been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney, and provides assistance to our clients with civil matters intertwined with, or tangential to criminal law issues.
Christine is a native of Brooklyn, New York. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Boston University and her law degree from Regent University School of Law in Virginia, where she worked as a prosecutor right out of law school, and subsequently opened a private law practice focused on juvenile delinquency defense and family law matters. When her youngest child graduated from high school, she and her husband returned to New York, where she worked as an Assistant District Attorney for Queens County in the Domestic Violence Bureau, and then as an Agency Attorney for the New York Police Department Legal Bureau.
Christine was drawn to Open Hands through her desire to reach and help those people in greatest need, and to witness her faith through her work. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, and has three adult children
Avril Roberts, Staff Attorney
Avril Roberts is a Staff Attorney at Open Hands Legal Services. Avril has extensive experience in the area of immigration law. She began her career at a firm specializing in immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions for professionals in the biomedical field. Subsequently, Avril worked as a solo practitioner and of counsel specializing in employment and family-based immigration. In her recent role at My Sisters’ Place, she filed humanitarian visa and asylum applications on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. In addition to her work in immigration, Avril represented claimants in hearings appealing the denial of social security disability benefits.
Avril has an undergraduate degree in English/History from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and her law degree from Pace University.
Throughout her career, Avril has been committed to pro bono work through a variety of organizations including Grace Baptist Church and Access to Justice. An avid runner, Avril is a board member of We Run Mt. Vernon, a non-profit organization that hosts weekly walks in the local community as well as an annual Thanksgiving 5K. Avril’s position at Open Hands is aligned with her desire to aid those who are most vulnerable.
Christopher Mount, Staff Attorney
Christopher Mount is a staff attorney at Open Hands Legal Services. At Open Hands, Chris’s primary focus is on housing and landlord-tenant litigation matters.
In the ten years prior to Open Hands, Chris’s experience has been primarily in civil litigation areas; commercial and corporate litigation, real estate and foreclosure litigation, consumer and civil rights litigation, and personal injury litigation. He received his undergraduate degree in criminal justice from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2009 and his law degree from the University of Kentucky in 2012.
Chris was born in NYC and raised just outside of it in New Jersey. Chris was drawn to Open Hands by his desire to find meaning in work; serving those in need and being open about his faith. Chris currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and daughter.
Sandy Stefanski, Program Coordinator
Sandy Stefanski joined Open Hands Legal Services as Program Coordinator in June 2010. She brings over 45 years of experience serving a variety of populations, including seniors, physically disabled persons, and incarcerated women.
Sandy has previously served as a program coordinator for a transportation service for seniors and handicapped persons; a volunteer coordinator, grading center supervisor, and ladies' ministry director at Luzerne County Prison in Pennsylvania; and a preschool teacher at Center for Early Learning in New York. As the wife of a pastor, Sandy also serves churches in various ways, including leading women's Bible study, counseling, developing and leading children ministries, leading workshops, speaking at women’s events, and writing and directing dramas. She has also participated in three short-term missions to Moscow, Russia, where she taught at New Life Bible College and has taught at The Korean Seminary in Flushing, New York.
Sandy attended Philadelphia Biblical University with a major in education. She lives in York, PA with her husband and has 2 grown children and 5 grandchildren.