Project Dandelion, a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, brings together community and legal support for families and individuals receiving public assistance, helping them to attain economic self-sufficiency through legal advocacy, training, peer group support, publications, volunteer opportunities, and legal information

Moriarty, Timothy

English

Project Dandelion, a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, brings together community and legal support for families and individuals receiving public assistance, helping them to attain economic self-sufficiency through legal advocacy, training, peer group support, publications, volunteer opportunities, and legal information.PovertyLowWageWorkIncomeInequality__Project_Dandelion.pdf: 17 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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Project Dandelion

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4-2012 
Project Dandelion 
Timothy Moriarty 
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Project Dandelion 
Abstract 
Project Dandelion, a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, brings together community and legal 
support for families and individuals receiving public assistance, helping them to attain economic self-
sufficiency through legal advocacy, training, peer group support, publications, volunteer opportunities, and 
legal information. 
Keywords 
Buffalo, Poverty/Low Wage Work/Income Inequality, Public Assistance, Fact Sheet, PPG, PDF 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/buffalocommons/176 
 
 
 
 
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FACT SHEET                                                                       April 2012 
 
Project Dandelion 
Timothy Moriarty 
SUNY Buffalo Law School 
 
 
 
What is Project Dandelion? 
Project Dandelion, a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, brings 
together community and legal support for families and individuals 
receiving public assistance, helping them to attain economic self 
sufficiency through  
 
• legal advocacy,  
• training,  
• peer group support,  
• publications,  
• volunteer opportunities, and  
• legal information.”i 
 
There is no charge for any Project Dandelion service.ii   
What is the significance of the name “Project Dandelion?” 
Dandelions are strong willed plants that live and thrive under the most 
adverse circumstances. Dandelions are difficult to destroy, spread without 
effort and now grow worldwide. Project Dandelion grows and spreads in 
similar fashion as its members educate themselves on their rights. Project 
  
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FACT SHEET                                                                       April 2012 
Dandelions motto has always been. “The only difference between a flower 
and a weed is a judgment.”iii 
 
Why was Project Dandelion begun? 
The program was created in 1992 by Skadden Fellow Michele Lang 
Palter.  Ms. Lang Palter saw an opportunity to assist individuals who were 
being abused by the system or by their own surroundings. For most 
people, public benefits and the rules and laws that come with them are not 
easy to understand. The inspiration behind Project 
Dandelion was to educate the people seeking or 
receiving benefits as to what their rights really were 
and how to use the system to become more successful 
and self-sufficient.  Originally set up through the 
Skadden Fellowship, Project Dandelion now runs 
solely on the small grants that Neighborhood Legal 
Services can procure for it.  
What makes Project Dandelion distinctive? 
Project Dandelion seeks to empower individuals with 
the ability to help them improve their own lives. 
Instead of giving in to the adversarial system that seeking benefits from 
the Department of Social Services (DSS) can produce, Project Dandelion 
seeks to work in a collaborative effort with its clients so the information 
can spread in a reciprocal method that reaches from one individual to the 
next. The Project’s advisors believe that if you can educate even one 
person of her rights and empower her to embrace this learning, she can 
improve not only her own life but also another’s, by teaching the next 
person the same things she learned through the project. iv 
What is the Consumer Advisory Group (CAG)? 
As an outgrowth of Project Dandelion, Neighborhood Legal Services 
developed a Consumer Advisory Group of people from all walks of life 
who have dealt with the issues that affect public assistance recipients. The 
purpose of the group is to incorporate and emphasize consumer 
participation and empowerment for low-income women by teaching 
participants the laws that directly affect their financial well-being. 
The CAG began by meeting each month to teach members the state 
regulations that directly affected their lives. It quickly became clear that 
the regulations were too dense, and there was too much “legalese” for the 
common person to understand. The CAG then began to focus on the idea 
of teaching advocacy as a whole, so that members could advocate for 
themselves and others. NLS and the CAG organized mock Fair Hearings, 
with the notion that no matter what regulations, sanctions, or denials came 
their way, once the CAG members knew how to advocate for themselves 
at a hearing, they could seek justice for themselves and others. 
  
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FACT SHEET                                                                       April 2012 
Although, due to lack of funding, the CAG no longer does mock hearings, 
CAG members continue to use what they have learned to empower others 
in their community and assist others in their efforts to overcome legal 
barriers that face low-income women. CAG members have served as peer 
navigators at Erie County Department of Social Services (ECDSS) and 
have helped other community members to navigate the complex systems 
at DSS in their attempt to get the benefits they are legally entitled to.v  
What successes has Project Dandelion seen?  
The Dandelion model has proven successful in many ways. Some 
Dandelions have learned the skills to become their own best advocates, 
while others have made dramatic changes in their lives.  
Over the years Dandelion participants have won higher paying jobs, gone 
back to school, and become college graduates.  Alumna of the program 
include biologists, teachers, mental health professionals, child 
psychologists, tutoring coordinators, home mortgage specialists, 
employees at the Department of Justice, and Neighborhood Legal Services 
staff and Board of Directors members.  
Many Project Dandelion members are still living in poverty, but, many of 
these members, too, have made positive life changes with their own will 
and hard work.  Other successes include women who have filed for 
divorces and child support orders, secured transitional benefits, or found 
affordable housing.vi The ability to get off drugs, end domestic violence in 
their home, or without the need for public benefits are all significant 
positive changes that may not have happened without the empowerment 
they received.vii 
What is the end goal of Project Dandelion? 
To spread knowledge of individuals’ rights as they advance through the 
system. The Project seeks to have “Dandelions” pop up anywhere at any 
time. Current members teach future “Dandelions” how to fight and 
advocate for their rights and reach success in their lives. The more people 
that have the knowledge, the more people will obtain and use their 
rights.viii 
 
 
 
 
 
  
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FACT SHEET                                                                       April 2012 
 
End Notes 
                                                        
i In person interview with Penny Selmonsky, Asst. Supervising 
Attorney, Public Benefits Unit, Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc. 
ii Id. 
iii Id. 
iv Id. 
v Id. 
vi http://www.nls.org/pdf/dandman.pdf, Project Dandelion Advocacy 
Skills Manual A Self Help Guide For People In Transition 
vii Id. 
viii Id. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
____________________________________________________________ 
 
Partnership for the Public Good 
www.ppgbuffalo.org 
237 Main St., Suite 1200, Buffalo NY 14203 
____________________________________________________________ 
 


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