Please pardon our appearance as we update our website! Tenant Rights Counseling: Tenants in rent regulated apartments, Public Housing, and Section 8 have rights! GOLES provides information and counseling regarding how tenants can protect their rights and get the services to which they are entitled. Eviction Prevention: GOLES works with tenants who are at risk of eviction to assure that they are aware of their rights and, as needed, are referred to the legal and social services available to them. Project-Based Section 8 Organizing: GOLES works with tenants and Tenant Associations in project-based Section 8 buildings to fight for long-term contract renewals in buildings at risk of "opting out" of the program and to assure that tenants receive the services and repairs to which they are entitled. Tenant Association Development: GOLES works with tenants in organizing and strengthening tenant associations (TA's). By working together TA's are able to fight for quality repairs, stop landlord harassment, and protect low-income tenants from being displaced. Together tenants can make a difference! Landlord/Tenant Mediation: GOLES meditates between landlords and tenants in an attempt to reach equitable resolutions addressing both parties concerns in lieu of court proceedings. The Lower East Side Tenant Union represents the Tenant Associations of LES buildings, as well as individual tenants. Tenants living in privately owned buildings, Public Housing, and project-based Section 8 buildings are all working together in the Tenant Union to protect affordable housing, and the diversity of the Lower East Side. Public Housing Organizing: GOLES works with its sister organization PHROLES (Public Housing Residents of the Lower East Side) to educate and empower public housing residents to protect their rights, improve policies and services and create opportunities for residents. Community Organizing: GOLES and community members work towards increasing community participation in quality of life issues, such as noise, on the Lower East Side. In addition, GOLES participates in citywide campaigns to preserve affordable housing. Workforce Development: provides access to job readiness, training, and employment and supportive services for the unemployed and the underemployed. Trainings and Education: GOLES provides training in tenants rights, community organizing and community development. Loisaida Voice: GOLES publishes as a free quarterly newsletter written by and for residents in English and Spanish. Call GOLES for a copy to find out more about your neighborhood or to share information for an article. Retail Action Project: GOLES organizes in our community to support retail workers in Lower Manhattan fighting to challenge injustices in their workplaces and gain the wages, working conditions, and respect they deserve. Finding Our CommUnity Strength (FOCUS): GOLES is conducting a comprehensive assessment of the critical issues facing residents and small businesses in our neighborhood, and is educating community residents on land use and development issues. Through F.O.C.U.S., we aim to demystify public processes surrounding land-use and large-scale development planing and to engage residents in helping to shape the future of the Lower East Side