Legal Momentum

Law and Justice, Violence Against Women, Economic Opportunity
Legal Momentum

Geography: United States

Founded: 1970

Address:

395 Hudson Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10014

About Legal Momentum

Legal Momentum is the nation's oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of all women and girls. For more than 40 years, Legal Momentum has made historic contributions through litigation and public policy advocacy to advance economic and personal security for women. Our current programmatic work is focused on five strategic goals:

  1. INCREASING PATHWAYS INTO QUALITY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
    Legal Momentum works with career and technical education (CTE) high schools in New York City—schools that are highly segregated by gender—to improve recruitment and retention of girls, enhance participation of girls in tracks that lead to higher paying jobs, and increase administrator awareness of the importance of compliance with federal legal requirements under Title IX, the Carl Perkins Act, and other federal statutes.
  2. PROTECTING WORKPLACE RIGHTS OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
    Legal Momentum works to expand and enforce laws and policies enacted to protect women and ensure that they are able to obtain and succeed in non-traditional, high-paying jobs. They use our expertise in employment and pregnancy discrimination law to prevent and redress employment discrimination and harassment against women on a national scale. They work at every level of government to strengthen and promote systemic and policy-based responses to the challenges faced by women in this industry.
  3. STRENGTHENING THE SAFETY NET
    Legal Momentum leads a national effort to secure reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). They engage local community-based organizations throughout the country in crafting strategic reforms to ensure that the TANF program is reauthorized and is more responsive to the needs of women, who make up 90 percent of the TANF rolls.
  4. EXPANDING RIGHTS, JUSTICE, AND SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
    On the heels of their legacy achievement—leading the fight to pass the Violence Against Women Act—Legal Momentum trains legal professionals and advocates nationwide on the rights, protections, and services available to victims and survivors of violence. They have also litigated several cases helping to establish and enforce workplace rights for victims of violence. Their Immigrant Women Program has a national training and technical assistance program for local groups working with immigrant women and addresses as well the many connections between violence and immigration status, public benefits, family law, and employment.
  5. PROMOTING GENDER EQUITY, CHALLENGING GENDER BIAS