Foundation grants support advocacy and protection of the rights to political freedom, blind justice, humane treatment, free speech and international legal standards. The Foundation has a particular interest in protections from abuse of power, the use of economics to promote social justice, and women’s rights.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, non-profit organization founded to promote press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. The Foundation provides operating support for core activities.
The Foundation provides continuing support for the Safe and Free Program at the ACLU. This program is intended to curb abuses of power, particularly those resulting from provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act.
The Foundation provides support to the UJA, especially to its Legal Assistance Program in New York, which provides free legal services to immigrants, seniors, the homebound, families facing foreclosure or eviction, low-income consumers, children in need of special education, domestic violence victims and others in need of access to justice.
© Photo Credits
The Leon Levy Foundation supports a variety of initiatives to help address the lack of adequate legal counsel for immigrants in New York and to encourage increased pro bono representation by legal firms for those who cannot afford legal assistance.
At Human Rights First, the Foundation created the Leon Levy Fellowship for a prototype pilot project to train lawyers in immigration law. Gina Del Chiaro, of Sidley Austin LLP, was appointed the first Leon Levy Fellow. She will work with the Study Group on Immigrant Representation launched by Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Through reports, pilot projects, and meetings, the Study Group actively seeks to increase pro bono activity and improve legal counsel to immigrants. Through Human Rights First, Mayor Bloomberg announced a significant expansion of legal services for immigrants who cannot afford legal counsel.
At the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, the Cardozo Law Review published a report by the Immigrant Representation Study Group, Accessing Justice: The Availability and Adequacy of Counsel in Immigration Proceedings, which acknowledges the support of the Leon Levy Foundation.
At the Governance Institute, Russell Wheeler working with the Vera Institute of Justice continues to analyze the US Court System on immigration and make recommendations to the Study Group.
The National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of fifty-two participating organizations is dedicated to protecting free expression and access to information. The Jerome Levy Foundation supports their Youth Free Expression Project (YFEP). Through advocacy, educational programs, a film contest, and an informational clearinghouse, YFEP proposes to address the First Amendment rights of young people and their access to information, books, entertainment and electronic communications.
Founded in 1941 by Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Wilkie as a nonpartisan organization, Freedom House has long been a leader in identifying threats to freedom of expression both in the U.S. and abroad. The Foundation provides support for its annual global press freedom index, Freedom of the Press: A Global Survey of Media Independence, an assessment of the level of media freedom in each country, and its dissemination worldwide as a tool to help defend and advance freedom of expression.
