Toni’s Kitchen Offers Legal Navigation Services to Guests

Guests of Choice Pantry at Toni's Kitchen have a variety of community-based services available to them. One of the newer services makes legal assistance available to guests through a partnership with Newark Community Solutions (NCS) and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ). Two legal navigators are at Toni's on the third Thursday of every month and are able to help guests with any number of legal issues. NCS and VLJ have different areas of expertise and are able to handle a wide variety of issues.

Nancy Xenakis, a staff member at Toni's Kitchen who manages the program, says that some guests deal with serious and complex issues, like custody rights, divorce proceedings, domestic violence and housing. "A lot of our guests have challenges with their landlords, issues with apartments in disrepair or rents ging us an astronomical amount, often without ample notice notice," says Nancy. "It's helpful that we now have a committed partnership with consistent legal navigators to help our guests address their situations."

One of the legal navigators is bilingual, so Spanish-speaking guests are able to receive assistance. Toni's Kitchen has been making legal referrals to NCS for some time and since their partnership with VLJ covers a broader range of legal services (child support, divorce, eviction diversion, expungements, non-violent misdemeanors, veteran services, case management) an onsite presence was established in August.

Since then, numerous guests have received general education on available services and 13 have received legal navigation services post-onsite in the areas of eviction diversion, expungements, and general case management.

This legal assistance service is another of our programs at Toni's Kitchen designed to help our guests improve their health and wellness and lead more independent lives.