Mirna Adjami 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center, Chicago IL Sponsor(s): Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Immigration Law Reform Harvard Law School, 2000

Mirna Adjami spearheads a project with the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center (MIHRC), focusing on the impact of post-9/11 laws and policies on immigrants’ rights. MIHRC offers comprehensive services and legal representation to low-income immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Chicago’s diverse immigrant communities. Mirna counsels and represents asylum applicants and immigrants seeking protection from removal under available legal remedies. Through her contact with clients, Mirna is identifying how changes in immigration laws and policies since 9/11 have limited the rights of asylum seekers. Mirna uses this information to raise public awareness and to advocate for the removal of any barriers to protection for current and future asylum seekers through policy change and federal litigation. Mirna pursued a law degree to prepare for a career as a human rights advocate at home and abroad. After clerking for Judge Ronald Lee Gilman of the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Mirna worked for the International Human Rights Law Group in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2002. Mirna provided training and technical assistance to Congolese legal services and human rights organizations in Kinshasa and the rebel-occupied territories. Most recently, Mirna was a human rights research fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The CUNY Graduate Center in New York. Mirna became interested in immigration law through the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic in law school. "Immigration and asylum law are the fields of domestic law in which I can best combine my passion for international human rights and my dedication to work for justice in the United States," says Mirna. "The war on terrorism is challenging the balance between national security and respect for immigrants’ rights. This is a particularly exciting time for me to join MIHRC and defend the rights of immigrants."

Rachel Andron 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc., New York NY Sponsor(s): Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; Proskauer Rose LLP Primary Issue Area: Family Law Northeastern University School of Law, 2003

Rachel Andron works on the Family Justice Through Unbundling Project at the City Bar Fund, a non-profit affiliate of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Her project seeks to address the legal needs of low-income New Yorkers in the areas of family law, matrimonial law and consumer law. Due to the complexity of and the lack of resources in the legal services community, the Family Justice Through Unbundling Project examines the use of unbundled legal services, such as hotlines and clinics. With these types of services, a client and her attorney “unbundle” the traditional full service representation into specific parts, based in part on the client’s ability and her financial situation. By “unbundling” the services she needs, the client can receive assistance on the most critical aspects of representation, instead of wading unguided through complex legal systems or not proceeding at all. Rachel has been committed to assisting families and individuals in crisis for many years, specializing in working with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Her prior legal services experience includes working at a Rape Crisis Center in Boston, a Family Law/Domestic Violence Unit in Cambridge and a human rights legal clinic in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Rachel has also practiced family and matrimonial law with domestic violence survivors in New York City and completed policy and legislative work at the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Jaimee Arnone 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow East Bay Community Law Center, Berkeley CA Sponsor(s): Bingham McCutchen LLP Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness University of California at Davis King Hall School of Law, 2003

Jaimee Arnone's project focuses on substandard housing in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. She reports that tenants are often afraid to complain about their housing for fear of being evicted, which could lead to homelessness for themselves and their families. While the East Bay Community Law Center's (EBCLC) Housing Unit defends tenants who are being evicted, it does not have the resources to tackle the substandard housing problem in a comprehensive manner. Through a combination of workshops, direct representation, code enforcement and tenant collaboration, Jaimee’s project is filling this gap by forcing landlords to rehabilitate and maintain their properties in safe and sanitary conditions. Jaimee’s project and the current work of EBCLC’s Housing Unit are mutually reinforcing; for example, code enforcement without eviction defense makes tenants vulnerable to retaliation, and eviction defense without code enforcement keeps people housed in unhealthy conditions. The EBCLC was founded in 1988 by students from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. EBCLC is now in its 15th year of service to the community, carrying out its mission of ensuring equal access to justice in the following two ways: (1) by providing hands-on educational training to law students to make these future legal practitioners aware of and skilled in addressing the needs of indigent communities and (2) by providing desperately needed legal services to the low-income community. During law school, Jaimee was fortunate to learn lawyering skills from some of the most progressive organizations in the Bay Area, including La Raza Centro Legal, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, Local 2 and EBCLC. During her internship at EBCLC, Jaimee regularly served clients living with rats, roaches, holes and mold on their walls, flooding, broken windows and stoves and no heat or hot water. Jaimee is wholly committed to improving the poor housing conditions of low-income tenants in Alameda County.

Kevin Bankston 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco CA Sponsor(s): Bruce J. Ennis Foundation Primary Issue Area: Free Speech/Freedom of Expression/First Amendment Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties University of Southern California Law School, 2001

Kevin Bankston is hosted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in San Francisco. EFF is among the leading civil liberties organizations working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF engages in advocacy and litigation to support free expression and privacy online. Kevin reports that since the attacks of 9/11, and as a result of legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act, law enforcement has been granted unprecedented powers to secretly monitor online speech and demand production of computer data, threatening the free speech and privacy rights of Americans who use the Internet. Kevin's project includes three main strategies: (1) directly represent people whose online rights have been violated due to post-9/11 legislation or regulation, and serve as a resource for other attorneys who are representing such individuals; (2) research and prepare an affirmative court challenge to re-establish the people’s right to freedom of speech online in light of the chilling effects of anti-terrorism laws; and (3) examine the First and Fourth Amendment implications of the government’s easy access to records collected by third parties, such as Internet service providers, Web publishers, libraries, and universities, about citizens’ online activities. Kevin served as the 2001-2002 Justice William J. Brennan First Amendment Fellow at the ACLU’s national office in New York City, a mere five blocks away from the World Trade Center. In New York he witnessed terror firsthand, yet recognized the equally serious threat to liberty posed by the war against it. With the ACLU, Kevin litigated several Internet-related free speech cases, including First Amendment challenges to both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a federal statute regulating Internet speech in public libraries. Kevin’s experience defending online speech at the ACLU assists him in accomplishing the goals of his project, which is dedicated to the memory of legendary First Amendment litigator Bruce J. Ennis.

Benjamin Beach 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Community Economic Development New York University School of Law, 2002

Ben Beach works with the Community Economic Development Unit of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). His project helps low-income residents of Los Angeles and Long Beach hold economic development accountable to the needs of the community by engaging developers and government in a process that builds community power and achieves community goals. Ben’s work includes (1) developing a Los Angeles residents’ guide to accountable economic development; (2) educating residents’ groups about their ability to shape economic development in a way that benefits their communities; and (3) providing legal counsel to residents’ groups taking action in this arena. In addition to working with LAFLA, Ben collaborates with Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and the National Economic Development and Law Center. Ben believes that this work responds to a fundamental, unaddressed problem. During the 1990s, even as the city of Los Angeles spent hundreds of millions of dollars each year on economic development, the number of working poor in the city substantially increased and only a fraction of the businesses receiving public subsidies were located in low-income neighborhoods. He believes that when developers, government and low-income residents come together to discuss how best to serve the community, it enables good use of everyone’s resources. Ben previously worked with legal organizations in central and northern California representing low-income workers of color and in Washington, DC, with federal workforce development, welfare-to-work and community development programs. While at NYU School of Law, he spent a year in the Community Outreach, Education and Organizing clinic and co-directed an after-school mentoring program in Manhattan’s lower east side. In the fall of 2001, he joined with LAFLA on work with low-income tenants in Long Beach that recently culminated in the first Community Benefits Agreement in the city’s history.

Christina Brandt-Young 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Momentum, New York City NY Sponsor(s): FJC; Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Primary Issue Area: Womens Rights Secondary Issue Area: Public Benefits/Welfare Reform University of Michigan Law School, 2002

Christina Brandt-Young spearheads a project that aims to broaden the employment opportunities available to low-income women by increasing their access to training opportunities in the construction trades. She works with community-based organizations to advocate for and design a model program which provides training using funds from the New York implementation of the welfare block grant and the lower Manhattan redevelopment. Using referrals from the Operation Punch List coalition, Christina also provides direct legal representation to women in the trades facing gender-based barriers to employment, including sex discrimination, sex harassment and violence. NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund has long worked for economic justice for women and equal treatment of women under the law, and it has both a strong tradition of impact litigation and a national advocacy network. Christina's project grew out of a 2001 joint report with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which found persistent occupational gender segregation in job training referrals and placements of women leaving welfare. Christina has worked for the economic and civil rights of low-income women on several continents with numerous organizations. She conducted a study of the Cambodian judiciary’s evidentiary requirements in sexual assault prosecutions for the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center in Phnom Penh; worked on legislation enshrining Muslim and traditional family law with the Parliamentary Office of the South African governmental Commission on Gender Equality; researched refugee rights and “honour” killings with Interights in London; and reported on HIV and human rights for Human Rights Watch in New York. Christina also litigated on behalf of low-income domestic violence survivors with the Family Law Project of Legal Services of South-Central Michigan.

Rocky Cabagnot 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc., Gainesville FL Sponsor(s): Florida Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Pro se and other legal representation systems Secondary Issue Area: Education University of Florida Levin College of Law, 2001

Rocky Cabagnot works on a unique rural initiative with Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc. Three Rivers Legal Services has been providing free civil legal services to twelve counties in north-central Florida for over twenty-five years. Rocky’s project focuses on four of the poorest and least serviced counties within the Three Rivers coverage area. Because of great geographic distances to Three Rivers’ main offices and lack of transportation, citizens in these distant rural counties have not been able to fully reap the benefits of free civil legal services his agency provides. Rocky strives to equalize this disparity. Rocky is establishing a physical presence in the four rural counties by partnering with various social service agencies, community groups, local bar and religious organizations to promote legal awareness and advocacy. He is also conducting outreach to media and other resources to expand this awareness. Rocky's project includes setting up brief service units in the four rural counties and recruiting and superving volunteers. Rocky further promotes the agenda of preventive legal education by teaching a “new facts of life” curriculum to high school students and community groups about their rights as citizens, renters, and consumers. Rocky has been working in public interest law since he graduated from law school. Beginning in June 2002, Rocky served as an AmeriCorps housing attorney at Three Rivers Legal Services in Gainesville, Florida, where he helped low-income clients defend against evictions from private and public housing and mortgage foreclosures and deal with other issues related to housing preservation. He earned a Masters in Mass Communication from the University of Florida in May 2002. With a background in both law and communications, Rocky resolves to make his unique project a resounding success.

Naoka Carey 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow The Children's Law Center, Inc., Washington DC Sponsor(s): Hattie Ruttenberg; Julia Tolkan Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Education New York University School of Law, 2002

Naoka Carey works at the Children’s Law Center (CLC), representing and advocating on behalf of teen foster children in the District of Columbia. She seeks to ensure that teens who are aging out of foster care develop the skills and receive the support necessary to lead successful and independent lives. In addition to providing direct legal advocacy to foster youth, Naoka trains youth, foster parents and social workers to negotiate legal barriers to educational, health, housing and other services. She also conducts trainings of guardians ad litem to identify and discuss advocacy strategies for older teens in foster care and assists in developing programs for DC Family Court judges in conjunction with the District’s newly-implemented unified Family Court system. Her project utilizes the resources of all of these parties, as well as other community members, to identify gaps and needs in the system of services currently available for teens in the District. Naoka further develops community and legislative advocacy strategies to improve awareness of the needs, concerns and potential of foster care youth. Founded in 1996, CLC provides legal services for at-risk children and their families and caretakers. Naoka's project arose directly out of her work with CLC during the summer of 2001. Her project allows CLC to expand its representation of teenagers, developing specific advocacy strategies for this unique group of young people. Naoka’s commitment to working with youth began when she worked as a youth organizer and trainer in Seattle and Boston. Prior to attending law school, Naoka received a Master’s degree in Education, focusing on adolescent development and risk-prevention. Naoka continued her work with youth during law school, interning with several agencies that serve youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems and advocating on behalf of delinquent youth in Brooklyn Family Court.

Diego Cartagena 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, Los Angeles CA Sponsor(s): Latham & Watkins LLP Primary Issue Area: Family Law Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2003

Diego Cartagena’s project addresses two of the most pressing issues faced by young adults and teens in the East Los Angeles area: family and immigration law matters. While various legal agencies and community service providers offer assistance to adults with issues in these two areas of the law, few existing organizations address the particular needs and requirements faced by teenagers as a result of the intersection of these two issues in their young lives. Diego's project addresses these concerns by providing information sessions to teenagers in family and immigration law at area high schools and community service provider centers. The sessions explore teens' rights and responsibilities in the realm of family and immigration law, as well as issues such as child support, custody and visitation, move away orders, teen parenting and legal permanent residency. In addition, Diego undertakes full representation of those teen clients whose best interests require such services. This process begins by providing individual advice and counsel to interested students in matters discussed in the information sessions. Diego supplements this discussion with full document preparation and in-court representation for those clients whose particular needs fit such proactive measures. Diego's host organization, the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, is a non-profit legal services agency first founded in 1971. The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice provides low-income members of East Los Angeles communities with comprehensive assistance in the areas of family law, immigration, housing, consumer law and government benefits.

Kristen Cooley 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Florida Institutional Legal Services, Gainesville FL Sponsor(s): Florida Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Prisoners Rights Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties University of Florida Levin College of Law, 2003

Kristen Cooley's host organization, Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS), provides legal services to institutionalized persons with compelling civil rights claims. Kristen began volunteering for FILS in her first year of law school and eventually was given the opportunity to investigate conditions at one of Florida's civil commitment facilities. Kristen pursued this investigation over a period of a year and a half as an extern, summer fellow and clerk. This investigation led to the development of her fellowship project. Kristen's project addresses the legal needs of men who are involuntarily civilly detained and committed under Florida's sex offender civil commitment statute. "These men are held in horrific conditions at the Florida Civil Commitment Center," Kristen states. She works to achieve several improvements at the commitment facility, including appropriate mental health treatment, standard medical care and decent living conditions. Kristen is building awareness of the problems at the commitment facility, developing alliances with other attorneys and organizations and filing litigation to correct the systemic deficiencies at the facility. Kristen hopes to "give a voice to those individuals society has given up on." Kristen’s commitment to helping vulnerable populations, such as mental health patients and juvenile offenders, developed through her past experiences. Kristen worked on the national MacArthur Juvenile Competency Study, which investigated whether juveniles in the criminal justice system have the cognitive capability to make adult decisions or to be tried as adults. Additionally, Kristen completed a thesis that critically examined whether sex offenders are amenable to mental health treatment and, if so, what treatment is most effective for reducing recidivism.

Nina Dastur 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Center for Community Change, Washington DC Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Harvard Law School, 1997

After two decades of flight from the city to the suburbs, the population of the District of Columbia has started to rise, and newcomers to the city, predominantly white and upper class, are moving into traditionally low-income areas. The effects of the city’s economic renaissance could not be more evident: almost 75% of low-income renters have unaffordable rent burdens, live in dilapidated housing, or live doubled and tripled up with friends or family. While housing costs have risen, the average income of the poorest DC families has remained unchanged over the last twenty years. Nina Dastur works on the Catalyst Project, engaging low-income residents in local policymaking to promote equitable social and economic development in their communities. Hosted by the Center for Community Change, Nina partners with local grassroots groups committed to effecting social change through a democratic, self-help approach to community organizing. For almost 30 years, CCC has been committed to reducing poverty and rebuilding low-income communities. CCC helps organizations build their communities' capacity for self-help, develop strong leaders, provide critical services, build homes, develop businesses, give residents a say in their community's future and bring people together to become a force for change in their communities. A resident of the city, Nina has worked on poverty issues in the District for the last five years. As an attorney at the Legal Aid Society of DC, she represented low-income residents in housing, public benefits and family law matters, and directed the organization’s law reform work on issues relating to welfare reform and affordable housing. For the two years prior to her fellowship, she helped to create a poverty policy clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, where she supervised second- and third-year law students engaged in local advocacy.

Michele Davila 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York NY Sponsor(s): Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Primary Issue Area: Prisoners Rights Secondary Issue Area: Criminal Law City University of New York School of Law at Queens College, 2003

Michele Davila is hosted by the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem (NDS). NDS is a non-profit organization that provides free criminal and civil legal services to Harlem residents. As a summer legal intern at NDS, Michelle had the opportunity to observe criminal trials, write omnibus motions, assist in testimony preparations, interview potential clients and arrange voluntary surrenders to police precincts. Michele’s project is enhancing the services that NDS provides by offering a holistic approach to helping ex-offenders in their efforts to seek gainful employment. In addition, the project is ensuring that ex-offenders understand that they have rights to employment, in spite of their criminal records. Michele has a particular interest in this project because her late mother was creating an organization called “Vision is Victory” with the plan to break the cycle of recidivism by providing ex-offenders with education, entrepreneurial and job training skills. Michele's inspiration stems both from her late mother’s dream and from her own commitment to making a difference in the Harlem community where she was born and raised.

Ishbel Dickens 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Columbia Legal Services, Seattle WA Sponsor(s): Legal Aid for Washington Fund (LAW Fund) Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness University of Washington School of Law, 2002

There are more than two thousand mobile home parks in Washington State, housing approximately 10% of the state’s population. Many of these people are elderly, disabled, and/or young families, farm workers and people with limited incomes. Ishbel states, “These people buy mobile homes with the vision of fulfilling their American dream of homeownership, only to awaken to the American nightmare where the landowners have all the property rights and therefore all of the control over who and how people will live in their mobile home parks.” Ishbel first got involved with the plight of mobile homeowners more than fifteen years ago and went to law school specifically to be a more effective advocate for the vulnerable people who own their homes but not the land upon which they are situated. She works to preserve “at-risk” parks, educate mobile home owners about their rights under the law and advocate for stronger protections for mobile home owners. Ishbel is hosted by Columbia Legal Services (CLS), a statewide agency whose mission is to help low-income people facing unique barriers or obstacles to equal justice. CLS, with other access to justice partners, defines, promotes and enforces a full range of legal rights and interests within the civil justice system. While based at CLS, Ishbel collaborates with other equal justice organizations concerned about mobile home advocacy. During law school Ishbel was Vice President and then President of the Student Bar Association. During that same time, Ishbel was awarded the Seattle Human Services’ Excellence in Advocacy Award; the American Bar Association’s John J. Curtin Award for Homeless Advocacy; the Washington Legal Foundation’s Goldmark Fellowship; and the Student Bar Association’s Charles Z. Smith Public Service Award. Ishbel was also chosen as the female speaker for her class graduation in 2002.

Ellen Eardley 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Women's Law Center, Washington DC Sponsor(s): Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Primary Issue Area: Womens Rights Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties University of Cincinnati College of Law , 2003

Ellen Eardley works on the Education Project at the National Women’s Law Center. Through litigation and policy initiatives, the National Women’s Law Center strives to improve the lives of women and their families in the areas of employment, health, family economic security and education. The Center has been at the forefront of advocacy for Title IX. Ellen’s project focuses on eliminating the barriers that prevent women and girls at the vocational or post-secondary level of education from pursuing training for traditionally male-dominated occupations. Through outreach to tradeswomen’s organizations and student groups, Ellen identifies and investigates specific instances of discrimination. In addition, Ellen collaborates with other service providers to develop innovative legal strategies based on Title IX and Title VII. A graduate of a joint degree program in women’s studies and law, Ellen feels that her commitment to social justice will enable her to contribute significantly to the goals of the Center. Ellen’s Master's thesis evaluates the representations of race and gender in the settlement of a racial profiling lawsuit in Cincinnati. During law school, Ellen interned at the Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights, Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and a Cincinnati civil rights law firm, as well as the National Women’s Law Center. She is also an activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Pablo Escobar 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Western Law Center for Disability Rights, Los Angeles CA Sponsor(s): Morrison & Foerster Foundation Primary Issue Area: Education Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2003

Pablo Escobar works as an education rights advocate representing children of low-income families with learning disabilities in the Los Angeles area. California guarantees every child’s right to a free and appropriate public education. When children have learning disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia, school districts are required to provide them with appropriate accommodations to ensure that they can fully benefit from their schooling. However, Pablo reports, children with learning disabilities are often not given these services. The problem is magnified when the child comes from a low-income family whose parents lack the time and resources to help their child. There is also a nationwide trend to place students of color in restrictive special education classes inappropriately because “behavioral” issues are misdiagnosed as learning disabilities. As a consequence, Pablo’s work also includes ensuring that children are not placed incorrectly. Pablo’s host organization, the Western Law Center for Disability Rights (WLCDR), is a non-profit organization that helps individuals with disabilities assert their rights through direct legal representation, facilitating mediation services and providing legal information, training and outreach. One of WLCDR's services is the Learning Rights Project, which provides special education advocacy for children with learning disabilities. Pablo has always been interested in education and educational policy, and he is particularly excited to use his law degree to help the low-income Latino community in which he grew up. Pablo believes that there are no real silver bullets to correct the ills of society but that a proper and effective education comes close. The Latino and African-American communities, however, face greater obstacles in this quest, and the difficulties are exponentially greater when the child has a learning disability. Pablo hopes to help those who would fall through the cracks without the assistance of WLCDR.

Michelle Fei 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Center for the Practice & Study of Community Problem Solving, New York NY Sponsor(s): JEHT Foundation Primary Issue Area: Other Area New York University School of Law, 2003

Michelle Fei works with the Center for the Practice & Study of Community Problem Solving at New York University Law School. Founded by Professor Gerald P. López, the Center aims to improve the quality of problem solving available to low-income, of color and immigrant communities, enhancing the capacity of those who live and work in these communities to satisfy basic needs, shape healthy relationships and realize lofty aspirations. Through the Center’s East Harlem Reentry Initiative, Michelle strives to help ex-offenders and their families deal with a range of economic, health, social and political problems, shape reentry policies and practices, and coordinate the services necessary for productive living. Supported by the Center and its collaborators, Michelle is developing community education programs; cultivating consortia of service providers and researchers; advising (and recruiting advocates to help represent) ex-offenders and their families; and generating and disseminating knowledge of what works and what doesn’t in reentry. In shouldering these responsibilities, Michelle draws directly upon two years of closely supervised clinical training (including work with ex-offenders) and empirically ambitious reentry research. During her final law school year, Michelle (who speaks both Mandarin and Spanish) served as Project Director for the Center’s Neighborhood Legal Needs & Resources Project, a comprehensive study of the problems and resources in East Harlem, Harlem, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy. During this period, she benefited from training in the aims and methodologies of community-based participatory research and the relationship of that research to the effective delivery of street-level services. In 2003, Michelle was awarded NYU’s Bender Prize for “commitment to a public service-oriented cause or project outside of and separate from Law School commitments" and the Moncrieffe Award "to the outstanding student in the area of Racism and the Law."

Lia Fiol-Matta 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Community Legal Resource Network, Flushing NY Sponsor(s): Marlene O. Fowler Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties City University of New York School of Law at Queens College, 2003

Lía Fiol-Matta works with Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN), an organization designed to support and mentor attorneys in small and solo firm practices who are committed to serving communities that lack meaningful access to justice. CLRN’s model of community-based lawyering distinguishes itself from more conventional lawyering in that it seeks to empower the communities being served and implements lasting changes that lead to social justice. Lía’s work at CLRN revolves around identifying the unmet legal needs affecting New York City’s various underserved communities, particularly immigrant populations. She organizes and develops “practice groups,” focusing on various areas of law, in which CLRN members share experiences, support each other and receive professional development assistance from experienced practitioners. Lía also takes on pro bono cases with organizations and attorneys associated with CLRN. She looks forward to creating the first training manual for new attorneys on designing and implementing a successful community-based justice practice. Lía’s commitment to serving the public interest is a continuation of the work she did in her 15-year career as a psychologist, counselor and educator prior to entering law school. She serviced mostly disadvantaged and/or minority youth in Puerto Rico, Connecticut and New York City. She was particularly impacted by her work as a therapist at a non-profit organization in NYC devoted to serving sexual minority youth, where she heard countless accounts of discrimination and abuse against this population. While in law school, Lía was project coordinator of a recently created low-income legal clinic in East Harlem.

Reena Ganju 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Sanctuary for Families, New York NY Sponsor(s): Latham & Watkins LLP Primary Issue Area: Domestic Violence Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Columbia University School of Law, 2003

Reena Ganju works with immigrant victims of domestic violence to obtain public benefits so that they will have the economic resources they need to escape abusive relationships. In the post-1996 welfare reform era, battered immigrants residing in New York City are routinely denied public benefits despite their eligibilty under federal and state law. Reena reports that many caseworkers deny benefits to battered immigrants because they incorrectly apply the highly complex immigrant eligibility rules. In addition to wrongful denials, New York City welfare centers often subject women to harassing procedures, verbal abuse or simply refuse to serve them at all. Reena states, "Welfare centers make it practically impossible for battered immigrant women and their children to get the assistance they so desperately need." In addition to direct legal services, Reena conducts legal education workshops for welfare centers and community-based organizations on battered immigrants' public benefit entitlements under state and federal law. Sanctuary for Families, a domestic violence legal services provider, recognized the need for this project after seeing many of their immigration clients denied public benefits. Reena's project compliments the holistic approach Sanctuary for Families provides for its clients, and it augments the services available to battered women throughout New York City.

Jeffrey Gold 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Indiana Legal Services, Inc., Bloomington IN Sponsor(s): Indiana Equal Justice Fund; Individual Donors Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness DePaul University College of Law, 2003

At Indiana Legal Services, Jeff Gold works in rural south-central Indiana with public housing tenants and voucher-holders, a currently underserved population. Jeff’s project focuses on three community needs: (1) preventing termination of tenancies and subsidies; (2) improving living conditions in public housing and Section 8 rental units; and (3) improving tenant opportunities for self-sufficiency and homeownership. To address the tenants’ needs, Jeff works directly with public housing authority staff to address management issues, represents resident councils and provides legal education and direct representation to tenants. Jeff is also networking with local attorneys in the various communities to create a cadre of pro-bono counsel in these areas. Jeff’s interest in this project comes from his work as a tenant organizer in Dallas, where he helped organize tenant associations at subsidized buildings that faced dramatic rent increases and other problems. During law school, Jeff interned at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, where he worked on various housing matters.

Kristi Graunke 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Georgia Legal Services Program, Farmworker Division, Atlanta GA Sponsor(s): Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP Primary Issue Area: Farmworkers Yale Law School, 2002

Agriculture, Georgia's largest industry, is heavily dependent on a steady supply of cheap agricultural labor. Although some United States citizens engage in farmwork in Georgia, many of the state’s farmworkers are migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti. These migrants are often recruited in their home countries by promises of high wages, reimbursement for work-related travel expenses and legal working and living conditions. When they arrive in Georgia, however, workers are regularly subjected to substandard housing, withheld travel cost reimbursements, illegal paycheck deductions and unlawfully withheld wages. Some workers become virtual slaves, forced to work for little or no pay through the use of violence or threats that complaining workers will be reported to immigration authorities. Kristi Graunke works with the Farmworker Division of Georgia Legal Services, an organization that provides employment-related legal representation to farmworkers across the state of Georgia. Kristi’s project focuses specifically on the problems faced by Georgia farmworkers who are victims of immigrant smugglers and who are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude. Kristi endeavors to enforce the human rights of Georgia’s most marginalized and under-represented farmworkers, using labor and civil rights laws, such as the newly-enacted Victims of Violence and Trafficking Protection Act (VTVPA).

Yesenia Gutierrez 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, New York NY Sponsor(s): Morrison & Foerster Foundation Primary Issue Area: Health Care Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness City University of New York School of Law at Queens College, 2003

Yesenia Gutierrez works with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to improve access to health care for New York City's nearly 14,000 homeless children. Her project provides legal counseling and direct representation to homeless children and their parents. Using the administrative fair hearing process, Yesenia advocates for the right of homeless children to be exempted from Medicaid managed care plans and to maintain their enrollment in Medicaid. Her project also provides educational workshops at city shelters for homeless families to inform them about their right to access health care services in New York City. The know-your-rights presentations include information on the rights of homeless children to free health care in New York City’s public hospitals, emergency care in all hospitals and exemption from mandatory enrollment in Medicaid managed care plans. Yesenia is using her experience providing these services to develop impact litigation to create systemic changes to public health insurance programs. New York Lawyers for the Public Interest's Access to Health Care Project focuses on access to health care for low-income and other underserved communities. NYLPI's experience in the healthcare field and dedication to community lawyering form the foundation for Yesenia's work. Yesenia's commitment to improving access to health care began while working for New York City's Department of Homeless Services. There, she encountered families who faced the challenges of being homeless and attempting to gain access to health care while navigating hostile public health insurance and shelter systems. In addition to Yesenia's legal interests, she is dedicated to issues surrounding the ethical treatment of animals. She shares her life with her dog Sara and husband Damian.

Kelly Haragan 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Environmental Integrity Project, Washington DC Sponsor(s): Rockefeller Family Fund Primary Issue Area: Environmental Justice University of Texas School of Law, 1995

Kelly Haragan works with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) in Washington, DC. EIP works to safeguard federal environmental laws by improving the quality of federal and state enforcement and permitting and by protecting those programs from political and corporate interference. Kelly addresses loopholes in federal and state air laws that have allowed chemical and petrochemical industries to repeatedly emit far more pollution than authorized by their permits. This pollution includes high levels of toxics which adversely affect those living in surrounding communities, who are often low-income people and people of color. Kelly works to improve state air laws and enforcement in refinery and chemical plant communities in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Kelly became involved in environmental law during college while working at the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter office in Austin, Texas. During law school, she worked with a local public interest environmental law firm, the Conservation Fund and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. After graduating from law school, Kelly worked for five years at a public interest environmental firm on environmental permitting and citizen suits, including suits under the federal Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. She has worked for Public Citizen’s Texas office on environmental enforcement and public participation issues for the past two and a half years. Her work with Public Citizen included lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its approval of Texas’ air permitting program and against Alcoa for violations of the Clean Air Act at its Rockdale smelter. In addition, Kelly has made presentations at numerous EPA citizen trainings across the country regarding public participation in the air permitting process.

Amber Harding 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Washington DC Sponsor(s): Steptoe & Johnson LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights Secondary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Georgetown University Law Center, 2003

Amber Harding advocates on behalf of homeless or nearly homeless residents of DC who face barriers to achieving stable housing as a result of mental disabilities. Amber works to: (1) ensure equitable treatment of persons with mental disabilities in shelters and public and subsidized housing through legal representation; (2) educate clients about their housing rights and empower them to advocate on their own behalf; and (3) enact systemic changes in the shelter and low-income housing systems through education, litigation and legislation. Persons with disabilities often face insurmountable obstacles to obtaining a safe place to sleep in DC. While shelters and subsidized housing providers have acknowledged barriers for persons with physical disabilities, Amber reports that there has been virtually no effort to reform the system to accomodate the needs of persons with mental disabilities. According to the Department of Housing and Community Development, nearly 1 in 3 homeless persons suffer from a mental illness. A lack of housing can quickly exacerbate a mental illness that might not be incapacitating but for the extreme stress and vulnerability of homelessness. When Amber interned at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless as a law student, she found it striking that so many shelter providers and landlords were not complying with the anti-discrimination laws that provide protections for persons with disabilities. Her clients with mental illnesses often faced irrational fears and biases when applying to shelters and for apartments. In addition, those who successfully challenged admission denials still faced the possibility of unlawful expulsion or eviction actions. Amber hopes that, through advocacy aimed at removing the artificial barriers of intolerance and misapprehension, DC residents with mental disabilities will travel a less onerous path to obtain stable housing.

Brooke Heymach 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, San Mateo CA Sponsor(s): Fenwick & West LLP Primary Issue Area: Health Care Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of California-Hastings College of the Law, 2003

Brooke Heymach works on the Children’s Health Education, Representation and Outreach Project at The Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. Her project responds to a basic need of children with disabilities and children of the working poor in San Mateo County: access to healthcare. The Children's HERO Project uses four strategies to enforce the right to healthcare: individual representation, community education, systemic advocacy and litigation. Brooke is working to create the following sustainable outcomes: (1) more children have the health coverage to which they are entitled; (2) agencies modify their eligibility and enrollment processes to ensure that families are not erroneously denied services; and (3) more accurate information is available to individual families and community-based organizations about eligibility and legal rights. The Children's HERO Project grew out of a project Brooke designed with Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County for the summer of 2002. The Legal Aid Society embodies a long-standing tradition of addressing the pressing legal concerns facing under-represented and vulnerable communities in San Mateo County. The Legal Aid Society is known in the community as an indispensable part of the safety net for low-income children, families, seniors and persons with disabilities. Brooke is deeply committed to the work of the Children’s HERO Project. In her practical training for her master’s degree in social work, she learned that the lack of healthcare was often the catalyst for widespread problems in a family, ranging from a child’s poor performance in school to a parent having to take a second job. This project is the culmination of her previous work on children’s health issues, along with a personal belief that continuous, comprehensive healthcare is not a privilege, it is a right.

Mary Holper 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition, Washington DC Sponsor(s): Baker & McKenzie Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Immigration Law Reform Boston College Law School, 2003

Mary Holper works at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in Washington, DC. The CAIR Coalition unites community groups, pro bono attorneys, volunteers and immigrants to work for a fair and humane immigration policy. The main focus of Mary's project is to provide legal assistance to non-citizens who are detained by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). They are detained pursuant to the 1996 amendments to the immigration laws, which subjected many lawful immigrants to mandatory detention and deportation. Mary visits detainees to conduct legal rights presentations and directly represents those who face removal from the U.S. because of a misdemeanor or other criminal charges. As a fluent French and Spanish speaker, she is able to directly communicate with the many detainees who come from countries in Africa and Latin America. In addition, Mary conducts training sessions for criminal defense lawyers and immigrant service providers about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. She is also creating a referral network of low-fee attorneys for detained non-citizens. Her goal is to facilitate access to justice for immigration detainees, who remain in custody beyond their criminal sentences and yet have no right to an appointed attorney. Mary’s commitment to helping immigration detainees developed from her work as a law student with the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network in Boston. She visited INS detainees in New England to conduct group rights presentations, corresponded with detainees about their defenses to deportation and participated in litigation concerning individual cases. She also completed an independent study as a law clerk for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project in New York and provided direct services to non-citizens at Ayuda, Inc. in Washington, DC. Before law school, Mary taught English for one year in Costa Rica with the volunteer program WorldTeach and volunteered at the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center in Chicago.

Donna Johnson 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Inc., Philadelphia PA Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Community Economic Development Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law, 2003

Donna Johnson works with childcare providers as part of an initiative of the Community Economic Development Unit of Community Legal Services, Inc. The Unit provides legal representation to group clients, such as community faith-based and non-profit organizations, that serve Philadelphia’s low-income residents. Donna's project is extending these services to a growing number of childcare providers in the city’s low-income neighborhoods. While her project supports the childcare industry, it also fosters affordable, accessible, quality childcare for families. Philadelphia has some of the most complicated regulations governing childcare providers in the country. This complicated scheme is a disincentive to individuals and community groups who seek to become childcare providers. In 2000, while there were over 1,400 registered childcare programs in Philadelphia, over 17,000 children from TANF families received care from unregistered and unregulated providers. Donna’s commitment to community economic development stems from years of service to community organizations. While in law school, she worked for the Center for Community Nonprofit Organizations (CCNO), where she assisted nonprofit organizations. At CCNO, Donna received inquiries from childcare providers seeking legal services. However, Donna was unable to help these individuals because CCNO did not service childcare providers. This was particularly disheartening to Donna, having seen her mother start a childcare business to move out of poverty. Donna witnessed her mother’s childcare business fail, in part, due to lack of legal assistance. Through her project, Donna will be able to help childcare providers become successful businesses. In turn, these providers will play a significant role in the lives of many low-income children and families in Philadelphia’s communities.

Kevin Keenan 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow The Legal Aid Justice Center -- Just Children Program, Charlottesville-Richmond VA Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Yale Law School, 2002

Kevin Keenan’s project seeks to ensure that young people in Virginia’s juvenile corrections centers receive the services necessary for successful rehabilitation and community reentry. The JustChildren Program provides a continuum of legal services to vulnerable young people in Virginia. Kevin's host organization, the Legal Aid Justice Center, has been providing legal services to the poor in central Virginia since 1967. Currently, there is virtually no legal representation or advocacy for Virginia’s children once they are sentenced to juvenile corrections facilities. As a result, it is not clear whether the system is meeting their needs and respecting their rights to humane conditions, education, health care, rehabilitative services, and other mandated services. Many of these children should not be in prison. According to a 2002 report of the American Bar Association, “[T]he juvenile court (in Virginia) has become the dumping ground for unwanted children with mental health and school-related problems.” Kevin comes to this project with substantial experience in criminal justice reform and nonprofit management. Kevin graduated from Yale Law School in 2002, where he focused on police reform and the law, served as co-editor-in-chief of the Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal, and was Simpson, Thacher, & Bartlett’s Cyrus Vance Summer Fellow in international human rights. After law school, Kevin worked on nonprofit law and criminal justice issues as the Rockefeller Brothers Fellow in the General Counsel’s office at the Vera Institute of Justice. Prior to law school, he served as the interim executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey and worked on police reform in Northern Ireland at the Committee on the Administration of Justice in Belfast.

Jaynie Leung 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Children's Law Center of Minnesota, St. Paul MN Sponsor(s): Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Disability Rights University of Minnesota Law School, 2003

Jaynie Leung works with the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota (CLC) in St. Paul. CLC provides legal representation and uses policy advocacy to advance the rights and interests of Minnesota’s children in the foster care and state ward systems. Currently, Minnesota’s children with mental health issues are not receiving the services they deserve according to state and federal guidelines. Through the Children’s Mental Health Advocacy Project, Jaynie provides legal representation on a selected basis for children with mental health needs. She advocates for policy reform as a way of improving access to mental health services for children by identifying where the gaps in services exist. Ultimately, she will determine what issues form the basis for a national policy on children’s mental health. Jaynie’s commitment to advocating for underrepresented populations throughout the state of Minnesota allows her to advance the goals of CLC. As a law clerk at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul, she represented SSI clients and learned how to address the needs of clients with mental health issues. Her research experience on federal and state disability laws at that clerkship equipped her with the skills to advocate for policy reform. Her active involvement in representing low-income clients throughout the state extends to her volunteer work in greater Minnesota at Legal Aid Services of Northeastern Minnesota, in the downtown Minneapolis Legal Aid office, and clinical work at the University of Minnesota. During law school, she was an editor on the Journal of Law and Inequality and participated on National Moot Court. Jaynie spent her last semester in law school studying in Dublin, Ireland, where she satiated her love of traveling for the time being.

Diana M. Lin 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc., Chicago IL Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Georgetown University Law Center, 2003

Diana Lin’s project is designed to combat the increased violence and discrimination faced by Arab, Muslim and South Asian Americans in the wake of the September 11th tragedies. Many of these residents are immigrants who are unaware of the legal remedies available to them when they are attacked, criminally profiled, fired or evicted due to their religion, ethnicity or race. Through educational outreach and litigation, Diana’s objective is to: (1) increase the reporting and prosecution rate of hate crimes against these groups; (2) ensure that civil penalties are secured against the perpetrators of these crimes; (3) challenge incidents of housing and employment discrimination; and (4) reduce government use of racial, ethnic and religious profiling in anti-terrorism and other law enforcement efforts. For several decades the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Diana’s host organization, has addressed a broad range of civil rights and economic justice issues including hate crime, employment discrimination and fair housing through policy advocacy and impact litigation. Diana will work with the organization’s Project to Combat Bias Violence, the Midwest’s only comprehensive resource center on hate crime prevention and response. The Project represents hate crime victims in lawsuits against offenders and educates the community about applicable laws. Diana’s commitment to racial justice issues stems from the hostility and harassment she experienced growing up as one of a handful of Asian immigrants in an otherwise all-white suburb of Chicago. She has worked to advance immigrant and civil rights as a program associate at the Ford Foundation, a board member of the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership and a legislative aide to the first African American female U.S. Senator. In law school, Diana taught legal rights to D.C. jail residents through the Street Law program and won asylum for a Colombian refugee through her school’s legal clinic.

Sonia Mansoor 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Sanctuary for Families, New York NY Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Domestic Violence Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Columbia University School of Law, 2002

Sonia Mansoor works in the greater metropolitan area of New York City, addressing the multiple needs of South Asian immigrant women who, as a result of domestic violence, are in need of assistance regarding immigration, family law, matrimonial, public benefits and criminal justice matters. Sonia’s project coordinates the resources of service providers and community organizations and furthers education and training activities. Many South Asian immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence are not only unaware of the legal remedies available to them in the United States, but also face a host of cultural and linguistic barriers that obstruct their access to legal services and support structures. Sonia’s project increases these women’s awareness and use of remedies directly through counseling and indirectly through educating community, religious and governmental organizations. Sonia is working to reduce the barriers faced by these women by creating a pro bono panel of attorneys and law students knowledgeable in the languages and cultures of South Asia. Sanctuary For Families is an ideal host for Sonia's project, as it is dedicated to advocating for legal rights of all battered women, especially women from underserved communities. Sonia previously worked with Sanctuary For Families as an Equal Justice America Summer 2002 Fellow, where she advocated for domestic violence victims in order of protection proceedings and public benefits appeals. Fluent in Urdu, English and Punjabi, Sonia has worked in Pakistan on cases involving the right of an adult Muslim woman to marry of her own free will without the consent of her guardian, international parental kidnapping and the validity of U.S. civil marriage in Pakistan. Sonia has also done research work in the past on honor killings, dowry deaths, the discriminatory Hadood laws dealing with rape and adultery, post-divorce maintenance in South Asian Muslim Family Law, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir family law codes.

Judy Marblestone 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Los Angeles CA Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Workers Rights University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2003

As a Fellow at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) in the Workers’ Rights Unit, Judy Marblestone advocates with and on behalf of garment workers. Her work includes outreach to garment workers about their rights under a new California law, AB 633, that holds garment manufacturers jointly liable for wage and hour violations. In concert with a statewide anti-sweatshop coalition, Judy’s project seeks to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of AB 633 in order to achieve its full potential. Finally, Judy identifies new and effective legal theories and strategies to promote systemic change in the garment industry so that garment retailers, manufacturers and contractors cease violating garment workers’ most basic rights. APALC has long been at the forefront of efforts to advance the rights of garment workers. Since its victory in the El Monte slave labor sweatshop case in the mid-1990’s, APALC’s Workers’ Rights Unit has continued to advocate both in the courts and in the legislature to end sweatshop conditions and establish corporate accountability in the garment industry. APALC consulted with a UCLA School of Law research team, of which Judy was a part, that published a preliminary evaluation of AB 633. Judy also worked with APALC to develop the curriculum for a law school course on issues affecting garment and other low-wage workers. Judy’s academic, extracurricular, and work experiences over the past ten years have all focused on eliminating economic and social inequalities that are particularly burdensome for low-wage workers. She worked for the garment workers’ union for four years before attending law school. Judy also loves ultimate frisbee.

Jody Marksamer 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Francisco CA Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Gay/Lesbian Rights Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth Northeastern University School of Law, 2003

Jody Marksamer works on the Safe Homes Project at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The goal of his project is to improve the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in foster care, group homes and the juvenile justice system. Between 4% and 10% of the nearly one million children in these placements are LGBTQ, and most of these youth experience anti-gay abuse and discrimination while in these systems, Jody reports. Additionally, there are virtually no programs that have adopted policies or other safeguards to protect LGBTQ youth in the juvenile justice system from harrassment. Jody´s project addresses the need for education and guidelines in the foster care and juvenile justice systems in order to ensure the humane treatment of LGBTQ youth. It further advances these goals through aggressive legal advocacy to secure and protect their basic human rights. For over 25 years, NCLR has been advancing the rights of LGBT people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, free legal advice and counseling, and public education. NCLR is particularly committed to providing support and advocacy for youth. Jody became involved in legal advocacy for LGBT communities while at Northeastern University School of Law. He spent three months working at NCLR counseling LGBT youth and adults, as well as assisting with litigation. From 2002 to 2003, he was one of the organizers of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, which successfully advocated for the passage of a gender identity non-discrimination ordinance in Boston. At Northeastern, Jody facilitated a project for first-year students that developed solutions to legal barriers negatively affecting the health of homeless youth in Boston. Jody also worked with the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, where he assisted in the development of standards for the care and treatment of transgender youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Demetria McCain 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Housing Law Project, Oakland CA Sponsor(s): Bernard E. and Alba Witkin Charitable Trust; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Norman Hurwitz; Washington Mutual Foundation Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Howard University School of Law, 2001

Demetria McCain concentrates on the Rural Rental Housing Preservation Project at the National Housing Law Project, helping preserve rural rental housing stock while protecting low-income tenants from displacement. The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service directly financed construction of nearly 450,000 units of assisted rental housing for low- and very low-income households under its Section 515 program, much of which is deeply subsidized. Unfortunately, a large number of owners seek to prematurely convert the subsidized housing to private, market-rate housing. Section 515 residents are generally unaware of the threats facing them and, unlike their counterparts in HUD housing, have few protections. Demetria seeks to achieve better compliance by RHS and owners with the laws/regulations that govern prepayment and to stop efforts to circumvent or undermine the prepayment statute. Demetria's project includes several strategies intended to preserve housing: create a system for identifying and reviewing RHS prepayment requests; alert local advocates and residents to prepayments; assist litigation challenges; provide technical assistance to agencies seeking to acquire and preserve Section 515 housing; and monitor improper distribution of Section 8 vouchers to residents in a property whose owner wants to prepay. As a staff attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services Program in Washington, DC, Demetria advocated on behalf of low-income tenants. She believes that “housing for low-income residents is critical, whether it is in urban or rural America.” Her decision to change careers and enter law school was precipitated by her desire to represent underrepresented populations. As a budding social engineer and public interest attorney, her experiences during law school included equal employment advocacy at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, First Amendment litigation at People for the American Way Foundation and representation of the elderly in Howard’s elder clinic.

Abby McClelland 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles CA Sponsor(s): Pillsbury Winthrop LLP Primary Issue Area: Public Benefits/Welfare Reform Secondary Issue Area: Disability Rights University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2002

Abby McClelland works on the Mental Health Project within the Administrative Law Advocacy Group at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. The Mental Health Project addresses the needs of the many welfare recipients in Los Angeles County with mental illnesses or disabilities. The Project provides direct legal services to recipients with mental illnesses or disabilities, monitors the performance of a recently created policy for participants with learning disabilities and works with county administrators to implement the protections provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act. An estimated half of the 190,000 welfare recipients in Los Angeles County suffer from mental illnesses or disabilities. If the county welfare program fully and correctly implemented the Americans with Disabilities Act, it would identify these mentally disabled recipients, provide them with appropriate training and education to attain self-sufficiency, and allow them to request individualized program modifications to accommodate their disabilities. This project allows Abby to draw upon her background in both welfare advocacy and mental health. As an undergraduate, Abby majored in psychology, focusing her studies on public perceptions of the mentally ill. At Legal Aid Foundation of Chicago, Abby provided direct services to government benefits recipients. She continued to focus on public benefits at UCLA Law School, where she organized a student clinic to visit county welfare offices and provide services to recipients. While interning at the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Health and Human Services, Abby investigated and analyzed complaints of systemic discrimination against the disabled within welfare systems and helped draft investigation plans and compliance agreements to resolve the complaints.

Kyla McSweeney 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston MA Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Public Benefits/Welfare Reform Suffolk University Law School, 2003

Kyla McSweeney works as the Child Care Specialist at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). Her project addresses both the consumer and supply sides of child care in order to ensure that low-income families have access to high quality child care options. Her project assists low-income families in accessing and using child care subsidies by representing and educating parents who have been denied such subsidies. Kyla’s project is also enhancing the quality of child care for low-income families by working with local child care providers on career ladder and wage initiatives. The Massachusetts child care subsidy system is complex and difficult for low-income parents to navigate. Families compete for a limited number of subsidies because they cannot afford the high cost of private child care. High quality child care has been associated with positive outcomes for young children, and studies have shown that the quality of child care is linked to the educational level and salaries of child care workers, Kyla reports. As a former preschool teacher, Kyla knows first hand the impact high quality child care has on young children. Kyla also has experience with the child care subsidy service and delivery system through her positions at a local child care resource and referral agency and at the Massachusetts Department of Education. Kyla attended Suffolk University Law School’s Evening Division while working full-time as the Evaluation Coordinator for a preschool grant program administered by the Massachusetts Department of Education, which provides subsidies for low-income children.

Sara McVicker 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, York PA Sponsor(s): Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Harrisburg Diocese Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Other Area Villanova University School of Law, 2003

Sara McVicker is working with her host organization, the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), to develop a program assisting particularly vulnerable immigrants detained in rural Central Pennsylvania, including children, families, individuals with mental health issues and victimized women. The program provides direct legal services to these immigrants, while also creating a model to evaluate specific needs and to organize resources, including recruitment and training of pro bono attorneys. Sara's project will establish a lasting program that coordinates attorneys and resources in an organized and dedicated system providing legal services for particularly vulnerable immigrants. PIRC is a non-profit organization that has been providing legal services to immigrants since its establishment in 1996. While PIRC, along with various other agencies, screens cases and assists in the legal representation of the general immigrant population in the region, there remains an enormous need for more comprehensive legal services for particularly vulnerable immigrants. These immigrants receive inadequate representation due to the isolation of the facilities from major metropolitan areas and the lack of intensified training, resources and dedication needed to provide them with competent assistance. Sara’s commitment to providing legal services to particularly vulnerable immigrants stems from her devotion to public interest law, and her interest and experience in immigration law. Sara worked as a Villanova Public Interest Fellow at the Homeless Advocacy Project in Philadelphia. She also participated in the Villanova Law School Clinical Programs. There, Sara witnessed the need for more comprehensive legal services for immigrants, which contributed to her strong desire to develop this project.

David Miller 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Mississippi Center for Justice, Jackson MS Sponsor(s): Individual Donors; Jones & Funderburg; Law Office of Michael J. Miller, Esquire Primary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Yale Law School, 1999

David Miller's host organization, the Mississippi Center for Justice, is a nonprofit public interest law firm committed to advancing racial and economic justice. The Center was founded in June 2002 by civil rights advocates, trial lawyers, social service advocates and other Mississippians committed to pursuing systemic advocacy strategies to combat discrimination and poverty, particularly in the areas of public education and other needs of children, consumer rights, including fair credit and housing access, and welfare to work. The Center is committed to community-centered advocacy and pursues a wide range of advocacy strategies in multiple forums. As the Center's Equal Justice Works Fellow, David is conducting a targeted community needs assessment and using the resulting data to develop and refine a concrete, multi-faceted advocacy strategy designed to achieve specific social justice goals. David thereafter intends to implement the advocacy strategy by engaging as appropriate in litigation, policy advocacy, administrative agency representation, community education and media relations. David is a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and a product of its public schools. He believes that this Fellowship is an ideal opportunity to put his experience as a civil litigator into the service of disadvantaged communities in his home state.

Rajesh Nayak 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow National Center on Poverty Law, Chicago IL Sponsor(s): AT&T Wireless Primary Issue Area: Housing/Homelessness Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Yale Law School, 2003

Raj Nayak is a fellow with the Housing Unit at the National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago. He works to protect the relocation rights of Chicago public housing residents subject to the Chicago Housing Authority's citywide redevelopment plan. Raj's project has two main goals: first, to preserve the relocation rights of families who are becoming lost in the larger relocation process; and second, to help secure support and resources for families who will ultimately remain in non-redeveloped public housing. Raj is designing and implementing a community legal education campaign to help families understand and exercise their rights. In the process, he seeks to discover more systematic problems with the redevelopment plan that can be addressed through negotiation and, when necessary, targeted litigation. Raj also works with residents at developments that are slated for less dramatic rehabilitation, to ensure that these families are not left behind in the larger redevelopment scheme. NCPL's housing attorneys have represented families in public and subsidized housing for decades. Most recently, NCPL has started to litigate on behalf of a class of families who have been largely resegregated into the private market as a result of the CHA’s redevelopment plan. In college, Raj began working with Chicago’s Coalition to Protect Public Housing, a resident-led organization advocating for greater resident participation in public housing administration. Since then, Raj has interned both with NCPL and with the Housing and HIV Teams at the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, and with the Living Wage Project of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. In law school, Raj was a supervising student in the Community Legal Services clinic, and he taught an eighth grade seminar on the Civil Rights Movement and social action through the Umoja program.

Melanie Orhant 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Ayuda, Inc., Washington DC Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities Secondary Issue Area: Human Rights American University Washington College of Law, 2003

Melanie Orhant is working with her host organization, Ayuda, Inc., to develop the Program to Assist Trafficked Individuals’ Rights and Needs. Ayuda’s mission is to advocate for and defend the legal and human rights of low-income Latino and other immigrant communities in Washington, DC. Melanie provides direct legal services for people trafficked into the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. These legal services include assistance for the newly created T and U non-immigrant visas, asylum, wage and hour claims, work authorization and trial preparation in criminal cases against traffickers. Melanie also recruits, trains and assists pro bono attorneys in trafficking cases, and she performs outreach to educate law enforcement and social service and religious organizations. Prior to law school, Melanie was Co-Director of the Human Trafficking Program at Global Survival Network (GSN) in Washington, DC, where she led an investigation of the trafficking of people into the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and co-authored a report on the findings. Before working at GSN, she was a founding member of Action for Reach Out, Hong Kong’s leading support and advocacy organization for women working in the sex industry. She has been a consultant on the issue of trafficking for a number of national and international organizations and has presented her work at national and international conferences. Melanie is a founding member of the Freedom Network (USA): To Empower Trafficked and Enslaved Persons and a board member of Different Avenues, a Washington, DC-based organization that works with young people who live and survive on the streets.

Wendy Radcliff 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Charleston WV Sponsor(s): Friends and Family of Philip M. Stern; Stern Family Fund Primary Issue Area: Environmental Justice West Virginia University College of Law, 2003

Wendy Radcliff works to reduce emissions from Appalachian coal-burning power plants by enforcing the Clean Air Act. Wendy is the first public interest attorney in the region to focus exclusively on air quality issues resulting from the coal industry. Her work is vital in the Appalachian region, where air quality is notoriously poor, with health-degrading levels of ozone, sulfur dioxide and particulates emitted by outmoded coal-burning power plants. Wendy is using four strategies to accomplish her goal of reducing emissions by coal-fired power plants: (1) litigation and regulatory advocacy to bring the region into compliance for ozone and hazardous air pollutants; (2) coordination and strengthening of grassroots advocacy; (3) participation in stakeholder groups; and (4) training of citizens to monitor coal-fired power plant emissions, governmental action and permit issuance. A 2003 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law, Wendy brings broad expertise in environmental and labor advocacy to her work at the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. The Appalachian Center works to solve environmental problems and to achieve a sustainable economic future by providing legal assistance to individuals, organizations and communities on environmental matters of wide impact. Wendy's commitment to environmental issues in West Virginia began twelve years ago when she worked as an environmental and labor organizer in her community. Wendy is married to Scott Finn, a newspaper reporter, and she is the mother of Iris, born in March 2003.

Monica Ramirez 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Florida Legal Services, Inc., Tallahassee FL Sponsor(s): Florida Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Farmworkers Secondary Issue Area: Womens Rights The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law, 2003

Mónica Ramírez is hosted by the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project of Florida Legal Services, Inc. She represents Florida’s 70,000 migrant farmworker women in the fight against gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Her project is the first of its kind to systematically and comprehensively address these problems within the farmworker population through the development of bilingual community legal education, targeted outreach and litigation. Her work will create a template for other farmworker legal services programs throughout the country to address sexual harassment and gender discrimination nationwide. The Migrant Farmworker Justice Project (MFJP) was established to provide legal assistance to Florida’s 350,000 farmworkers. The MFJP focuses its efforts on class actions and other litigation impacting the interests of Florida farmworkers, including employment issues, housing issues and civil rights. In addition to its litigation work, the MFJP undertakes a considerable amount of administrative and legislative advocacy on behalf of farmworkers, both at the state and national levels. Mónica began working with the migrant farmworker population in an attempt to understand her family’s farmworker history. As she began to learn about the farmworker plight, she realized that farmworkers today are still among the most oppressed working poor, particularly farmworker women. Since her freshman year of college, Mónica has focused on farmworker justice through her course studies and by working for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Ohio, Legal Services of Northwest Ohio and Farmworker Legal Services of New York during summer breaks throughout college and law school. In addition, she has spent a great deal of time educating the community at large about farmworker issues through farmworker awareness programs because she believes that education is the vehicle for change.

Sabrina Salomon 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Miami FL Sponsor(s): Florida Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Domestic Violence Secondary Issue Area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities University of Miami School of Law, 2003

Sabrina Salomon provides legal representation to Haitian women and children who are victims of domestic violence and who may be eligible for immigration status adjustment under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Domestic violence, prevalent in Haiti, is considered a private matter, and there are no laws to protect the victims. Because of cultural differences and language barriers, abused women from Haiti generally do not report abuse and often fail to seek help. A native of Haiti, Sabrina is fluent in Creole, French and Spanish, and she has working knowledge of Portugese and German. She uses her language skills to conduct outreach in the community, including radio interviews and weekly classes to inform and empower this vulnerable group of immigrants. Sabrina's host organization, Florida Immigration Advocacy Center (FIAC), was founded in 1996. FIAC was created with a mission to protect and promote the rights of all immigrants in South Florida. In 1997, LUCHA: A Women’s Legal Project was started to provide a holistic approach to victims of domestic violence. Along with legal services, victims are taught how to take charge of their lives. As a third year student, Sabrina interned at the University of Miami Children and Youth Law Clinic. She worked with unaccompanied Haitian children seeking legal residency in the state under Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Sabrina’s experience at the clinic motivated her to continue advocacy on behalf of the Haitian community, to which she is committed. Sabrina welcomes the opportunity to help educate victims and provide them with the tools to overcome domestic abuse.

Erica Schair 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Rocky Mountain Childrens Law Center, Denver CO Sponsor(s): Arnold & Porter Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Family Law University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2003

Erica Schair works at the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center (RMCLC) as a guardian ad litem, or a child advocate and legal representative. Erica represents abused and neglected children while focusing on creating an interdisciplinary approach to legal advocacy. Her project builds on the already successful work of RMCLC and expands its reach by involving the medical and social work communities to provide more comprehensive care to abused and neglected children. Erica strongly believes that professionals must collaborate to fully address the needs of children in the dependency system. Lawyers at RMCLC serve as guardians ad litem for abused and neglected children in the metropolitan Denver area. Unique to RMCLC is that each advocate personally gets to know each and every child that he or she represents. Their smaller caseloads and private mission allow the attorneys at RMCLC to have a better understanding of their clients and advocate for programs to address each of their client’s specific needs. In August 2002, 11,076 children were in the Colorado child welfare system because of abuse and neglect allegations. Erica believes that serving these children’s needs is a societal imperative and that the connection between child maltreatment and future crimes is well-documented. In her work at the University of Pennsylvania’s Interdisciplinary Law and Medicine Child Advocacy Clinic, she witnessed firsthand the need for cross-profession collaboration. Her experience in this clinic solidified her desire to work as a guardian ad litem and help serve abused and neglected children.

Sarah Schriber 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Roger Baldwin Foundation, ACLU, Chicago IL Sponsor(s): Equal Justice Works Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Northwestern University School of Law, 2003

Sarah Schriber works with the Children’s Initiative, a project of the ACLU’s Roger Baldwin Foundation in Chicago. The Children’s Initiative serves as a legal advocate for the constitutional rights of Illinois children kept in government custody, utilizing class action litigation, education, and policy advocacy to secure these rights. Sarah’s project addresses the mental health and education needs of the more than 500 juvenile detainees at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Cook County. Sarah identifies the acute legal needs of detainees in the areas of education and mental health, and then represents them individually or, if necessary, makes the appropriate referrals. She further advocates for the development and implementation of a model education and mental health services system by collaborating with detained youth, teachers, health care professionals, and community agencies dedicated to juvenile health and justice. Sarah’s interest in issues affecting youth, and in civil rights generally, comes from a variety of public interest law experiences. Before law school, Sarah worked at Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal Services in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, assisting people whose legal issues related to their HIV-positive status. At Northwestern, in addition to working with the ACLU, Sarah worked as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic representing youth in delinquency hearings. She has also worked in the trial and mental health divisions of the Public Defender Service in Washington, DC and as a student attorney defending clients in public housing eviction cases at Chicago’s Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic. During her last year at Northwestern, Sarah traveled with a group of students to Uganda to study freedom of information and of the press by meeting with lawyers, journalists, and government officials.

Hina Sodha 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Chicago IL Sponsor(s): The Chicago Bar Foundation Primary Issue Area: Workers Rights DePaul University College of Law, 2003

Low-wage workers with limited English-speaking skills are a crucial and increasingly exploited group in the Chicago metropolitan area, asserts Hina Sodha. These individuals are often mistreated and victimized by their employers, subject to discrimination, sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions, unfair pay practices and denial of benefits and unemployment insurance. Many find themselves without recourse because of their limited English skills and threats by employers. These problems have gotten worse since September 11th and the economic downturn. The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, which provides free civil legal services and representation to low-income individuals throughout Chicago, is committed to working with immigrants and minorities on issues affecting their rights in the workplace. As part of her project, Hina works with grassroots organizations and coalitions that are addressing issues affecting low-wage workers with limited English proficiency. Hina works with various ethnic communities, including South Asian/Arab communities, which are relatively underserved, and with whom Hina has significant ties. As a native Urdu speaker, Hina strives to reach and assist workers in the South Asian community. Hina’s project entails 1) training workers on the basic rules of at-will employment and laws against workplace discrimination; 2) providing direct legal representation to workers; and 3) providing legal advice and techinical assistance to workers' organizations. While attending DePaul University’s College of Law, Hina worked with the Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing, an organization which represents low-income tenants in eviction cases. She also addressed immigration issues as an extern at the Legal Assistance Foundation and spent her third year representing asylum seekers at DePaul University’s Legal Clinic.

Barbara Stalder 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Lone Star Legal Aid, Houston TX Sponsor(s): Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of Houston Law Center, 2003

Barbara Stalder works on the Children's Law Center of Houston project. The Children's Law Center provides pro bono legal services to abused and neglected children in Harris County, Texas. Barbara's project recruits and provides training to lawyers to serve as attorneys ad litem in child abuse proceedings. Since Texas law requires that a lawyer be appointed where the state is seeking termination of parental rights or managing conservatorship of the child, Barbara’s project is a vital link in making sure that children receive competent and zealous representation by lawyers trained in child abuse and neglect issues. The Children's Law Center is the only center in Houston exclusively providing pro bono legal services to abused and neglected children. Lone Star Legal Aid has provided legal services to Houstonians since 1948. Barbara works with the Family Law Division under the guidance of seasoned family law attorneys, some of whom have worked in the family courts for over 20 years. Barbara's interest in child advocacy began in 1991, when she became a Court Appointed Special Advocate. Barbara also served as a founding board member for the Advocacy Center for the Children of El Paso, whose mission is to provide necessary services to sexually abused children. In law school, Barbara worked at the Children's Assessment Center as a summer fellow and the Harris County Attorney's Office, Children's Protective Division Unit. In the spring of 2003, Barbara, two friends and fellow child advocates spearheaded the formation and approval of Texas’s first affiliate of the National Association of Counsel for Children. This affiliate marks only the second law school chapter in the country. Barbara currently serves on its board of directors.

Tim Stevens 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc., West Palm Beach FL Sponsor(s): Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Elderly Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of Florida Levin College of Law, 2003

Tim Stevens' Grandparent Caregiver Project is helping to address the economic, social and legal needs of the over 8,000 grandparent households raising over 13,400 grandchildren in Palm Beach County. Grandparent caregivers who courageously step in to raise their grandchildren are 60% more likely to live in poverty and often suffer from severe emotional strain and self-neglect, Tim reports, while grandchildren in their care commonly have unmet physical, social and developmental needs. Tim works to meet these specialized needs through the integration of: (1) a partnership network of county service providers, community leaders, senior centers, churches, schools, senior living facilities and area support groups, (2) a grandparent caregiver outreach and education program, and (3) legal advocacy in the areas of custody, public benefits, education, housing law and end of life planning. Tim began working with the elderly in high school and then college through volunteer work at a nursing home and an Alzheimer Respite Center. His coursework in Gerontology led him to an internship as a Victim Advocate for the Ninth District State Attorney’s Office, where he enabled elderly victims to overcome the procedural and physical health challenges presented by the court system. Tim also has assisted elderly Tibetans suffering from malnutrition, emergency trauma and Big Bone Disease in rural areas of Tibet through his work with Doctor’s Without Borders, the Red Cross and the Committee for the International Support of the People. During his two law school summers, Tim was a Florida Bar fellow working with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County’s Elder Law Project. He enjoyed his experiences working with elderly clients and became sensitized to the specialized needs of grandparent caregivers and the many ways legal advocacy can improve their lives and the lives of their grandchildren. Tim has been continuously inspired by the ability of his elderly clients to overcome adversity.

Tammy Wilsker 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow University of Miami Children & Youth Law Clinic, Coral Gables FL Sponsor(s): Florida Bar Foundation; Greenberg Traurig, LLP Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of Miami School of Law, 2003

Florida ended its longstanding right to continued foster care for over-eighteen-year-olds in 2002, replacing it with a "scholarship" program under which very few youth qualify. In 1999, after studies showed that a large percentage of foster children wound up homeless, in jail or in mental hospitals, Congress passed the Chafee Act directing states to provide independent living skills training. Unfortunately, only 25% of foster children actually receive this state-mandated independent living skills training and are leaving foster care without the basic survival skills most people take for granted. Tammy Wilsker’s program, Project Foster Youth Independence (FYI), works in conjunction with the University of Miami School of Law’s Children & Youth Law Clinic and the Florida’s Children First! project to provide: (1) individual case advocacy to Miami-Dade foster children and youths eligible for benefits under Florida’s new Road to Independence Act, (2) statewide education and training for judges, attorneys and state workers regarding Florida’s obligations under this law, and (3) media pressure on state officials to create a better law that is truly in the interests of children. Tammy went to law school to become a voice for underprivileged children, and much of her law school career was dedicated to that goal. She has worked with her host organization, the UM Children & Youth Law Clinic (CYLC), since her second semester of law school. The CYLC provides representation to older foster children and has carved out a niche in immigration and mental health rights. Coincidentally, it was Tammy’s first research assignment that sparked her interest in the plight of Florida’s "throwaway kids," older children often overlooked because they are unlikely to be adopted. In addition to her work at the CYLC, Tammy spent one summer as a Bergstrom Fellow through the University of Michigan School of Law at the Bronx unit of the Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Division in New York City.

Susan Wright 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, Minneapolis MN Sponsor(s): Family of Hyman Edelman; Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand Primary Issue Area: Children/Youth Secondary Issue Area: Family Law Vanderbilt University Law School, 2003

Minnesota has the worst record among the 50 states when it comes to racial disparity in out-of-home placement of children, reports Susan Wright. In 2000, approximately five percent of the children in Minnesota were African American, yet they made up over 19 percent of children placed in substitute care through the child protection process. African American and American Indian Children were represented in out-of-home care at a rate of more than five times their representation in the state population. Hennepin County has the highest number of maltreatment reports, the most children in out-of-home placements and the highest concentration of children of color. Susan provides legal advocacy for children living in Hennepin County to ensure access to preventive services as a means of reducing the racial disparities in out-of-home placement. She advocates on behalf of children at risk of out-of-home placement and children returned to the care of their parents without adequate care and service plans. She believes that the way to reduce race discrimination in Minnesota’s child protection system lies in the development and implementation of strategies for system-wide change through advocacy, legislation and litigation. The Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis (LASM) has an 85-year history of providing low-income people in Hennepin County with the legal services they need to become more self-sufficient. Susan is certain that working with this team of talented and dedicated attorneys will keep her goal well within her reach.

Stacey Young 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Women's Law Project, Pittsburgh PA Sponsor(s): Anonymous Primary Issue Area: Womens Rights Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth Emory University School of Law, 2003

Stacey Young advocates for the reproductive rights of low-income and minor women in Western Pennsylvania. The threats to these women’s reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care stem from onerous state laws, inadequate sexuality education in public schools and a dearth of family planning clinics. The region’s few clinics are limited to urban centers and often contend with aggressive resistance from anti-choice forces. Stacey has incorporated litigation, policy advocacy and public outreach strategies into her multidisciplinary approach. She is working with the courts to streamline judicial bypass procedural systems for minor women unable to procure parental consent. Through litigation, she will challenge crisis pregnancy centers that violate constitutional parameters and consumer protection statutes. In addition, Stacey is working with public schools to implement comprehensive and unbiased sexuality education curricula. Stacey’s host organization, the Women’s Law Project, has counseled many of the nation’s major reproductive rights cases over the last seventeen years. The issue of reproductive rights has remained principal to the Project’s overall scheme of advancing the legal status of women and girls. Stacey’s project serves as an extension of her longstanding commitment to reproductive rights. She has worked for the Center for Reproductive Rights, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Population Connection. In these positions, Stacey lobbied for international family planning legislation, coordinated national media campaigns targeting drug stores’ refusal to stock contraceptive prescriptions and assisted in litigation challenging restrictions to minors’ abortion rights. Stacey is grateful for the opportunity to work in geographic regions where women’s reproductive rights are critically threatened.

Sara Zimmerman 2003 Equal Justice Works Fellow Disability Rights Advocates, Oakland CA Sponsor(s): Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP Primary Issue Area: Disability Rights Secondary Issue Area: Children/Youth University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), 2002

Sara Zimmerman reports that over 90% of the schools in California fail to provide adequate accommodations for kids with disabilities, violating both state and federal law. The absence of accommodations poses a risk to children's safety, interferes with their ability to learn and impedes their social development. Sara struggles to remedy this injustice through a variety of techniques: parent organizing, negotiating with schools and impact litigation. She focuses on making advocacy available to children and parents in rural areas where legal aid is less plentiful, as well as on helping to overcome language barriers for those seeking to fight for their rights. Disability Rights Advocates is a ten-year-old organization that has won numerous civil rights victories for people with disabilities. Fighting both nationally and internationally, Disability Rights Advocates works to ensure dignity and equality for people with all types of disabilities, increasing access and opportunities in employment, education, transportation and health care. Sara has a strong background in labor organizing and immigrant rights. Her interest in disability issues was stimulated when she developed bilateral repetitive stress injuries in her hands and wrists. Sara is committed to bringing together various strands of the progressive movement in order to resist discrimination and advance rights effectively. She loves to strategize with her one-year-old daughter Sofia.