Legal Services for Children |
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Dear Friends & Supporters,
LSC is proud to launch its first eNewsletter! These quarterly on-line publications feature program highlights and updates, client stories and testimonials, special features on LSC’s stellar volunteers and pro bono attorneys, and other current news relevant to our programs and services. This quarter’s eNewsletter includes:
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• LSC Hosts Free MCLE trainings on Juvenile Law, Jan. 10-13, 2005 • Shannan L. Wilber, LSC's Executive Director, Receives Prestigious NACC Award • LSC Fights to Get Berkeley Students Back in School • Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP) • LSC Consolidates & Streamlines Pro Bono Panel • LSC Receives $35,000 Challenge Grant: Leverage Your Gift Today! • Taproot Foundation Awards LSC with Second Grant & Designs New LSC Brochure • LSC Staff, Board Member & Volunteer News • Youth Highlight: “I am a change agent” by Ronald, Youth Task Force member |
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LSC Hosts Free MCLE trainings on Juvenile Law, Jan. 10-13, 2005 Legal Services for Children is providing free trainings relevant to child advocacy. The Guardianship, School Discipline & Special Immigration Juvenile Status trainings will also provide an opportunity to join the Bar Association of San Francisco and Legal Services for Children’s Pro Bono Panel. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge on children and the law. Guardianship* [1.5 MCLE credits] School Discipline* [1.5 MCLE credits] Special Immigrant Juvenile Status* [1.5 MCLE credits]
Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Ethics in the Representation of Juveniles [2 Hours of Ethics credits]
Thursday, January 13, 2005
*Attending these trainings will allow you to participate in BASF/LSC Pro Bono Panel.
Registration:4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
RSVP & Questions:
There is no fee for the trainings but you are required to RSVP. |
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Shannan L. Wilber, LSC's Executive Director, Receives Prestigious NACC Award
Shannan Wilber, Executive Director of Legal Services for Children (LSC), has been awarded the prestigious 2004 Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award of the National Association of Council for Children (NACC). The Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award is given to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to enhancing the well being of children through legal representation and other advocacy efforts. Shannan received the award September 9, 2004 during the NACC's 27th National Children's Law Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shannan has worked tirelessly as a legal advocate for disadvantaged children for the past 16 years. The award recognizes her passionate work on behalf of children, as well as her leadership at Legal Services for Children, a non-profit organization committed to advancing the rights of youth. After serving youth as an attorney for most of her career, Ms. Wilber became Executive Director of LSC in San Francisco in 2001. Under her guidance LSC has designed and implemented innovative new projects, such as the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, focusing on the specific legal and social needs of high-risk girls; the Detained Immigrant Children’s Project, providing legal advocacy for unaccompanied minor detained by the Department of Homeland Security; and the Model Standards Project, a national project with the National Center for Lesbian Rights to develop and disseminate model professional standards for serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in out-of-home care. In addition, Shannan has increased the diversity of the Board of Directors, and taken significant steps toward the organization’s financial sustainability.
Press Release:
Shannan Wilber, Legal Services for Children, Inc. (LSC) has been named the recipient of the NACC 2004 Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award. The NACC presents the award annually to individuals and agencies that make important contributions to the welfare of children through legal advocacy. After serving youth as a juvenile law staff attorney for most of her career, Ms. Wilber became Executive Director of LSC in San Francisco in 2000. LSC, like the JLC in Philadelphia, was founded in 1975 as one of the first juvenile law clinics in the country. Ms. Wilber has established LSC as a model full service children’s law office, utilizing a multidisciplinary staff that collaborates to represent the “whole child” in cases of abuse, guardianship, mental health, immigration, and mental health cases. Ms. Wilber is also a leader in the movement to create effective child welfare systems for gay and lesbian youth and to provide fair custody opportunities to gay and lesbian parents.
The NACC is a national professional membership and child advocacy organization. For more information, contact the NACC at 888/828-NACC or www.NACCchildlaw.org.
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LSC Fights to Get Berkeley Students Back in School On August 13th, 2004 Legal Services for Children, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, and the Youth and Education Law Clinic at Stanford University School of Law filed a federal class action lawsuit against Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). The plaintiffs are African-American and Latino students who have been illegally excluded from school or assigned to sub-standard alternative programs, in violation of their rights under California law and the United States Constitution. The lawsuit claims that the district has excluded the three named plaintiffs and other African-American and Latino students from school with the intent to discriminate against them because of their race or ethnicity. In some cases, the district has kept these students out of comprehensive schools for periods ranging from a few weeks to two full school years. Since the plaintiffs believe that there are as many as fifty additional African-American and Latino students who have been unlawfully excluded from BUSD, they filed a class action lawsuit to protect the rights of the students who have not been identified. The lawsuit demands that BUSD discontinue its unlawful practices, search for and identify all students who have been excluded from school or re-assigned to sub-standard programs, provide educational services to all students who have been illegally excluded from school, and pay monetary damages to the students. The lawsuit also names Student Services Director Gerald Herrick and Superintendent Michele Lawrence, in their individual capacities. The parties are currently negotiating a settlement of the lawsuit. For more information, contact Abigail Trillin or Gabriela Ruiz. |
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Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP)
Legal Services for Children’s Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP) was started in September 2003 by Erin O’Donohue, LSC Skadden Fellow and Staff Attorney, and is co-coordinated by LSC Social Worker Van Lam. Formerly an LSC intern, Erin identified a need in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area for legal services targeted specifically to young women. The objective of LSC’s YWEP is to advocate for greater safety, stability, and permanency for at-risk girls by addressing and providing comprehensive services for their complex and overlapping legal and social issues. Although all at-risk minors need and deserve appropriate and effective child advocacy, the needs of female children are unique. For those young women lacking a solid support system, the addition of any risk factors – such as abuse or neglect, loss of a caregiver, school failure, domestic violence, lack of access to health care or mental health services – can prove enormously destabilizing.
In order to reach this high-risk and in-risk population of young women, project staff have done intensive outreach to agencies serving Bay Area youth, especially those who work specifically with girls. While many agencies were familiar with Legal Services for Children few were aware of the myriad issues that could be addressed through legal avenues. Through outreach, collaboration and referrals between LSC and other agencies, LSC increased its ability to provide gender-specific services to Bay Area girls. One significant collaboration is YWEP’s participation in the Teen Dating Violence Task Force. Through this task force members are identifying issues and possible solutions to share with schools and other youth-serving institutions.
With the support of the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, the Five Bridges Foundation and San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, Legal Services is successfully providing services to high-risk young women with many needs in the Bay Area.
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LSC Consolidates & Streamlines its Pro Bono Panel
Legal Services for Children (LSC) has a long tradition of recruiting and training volunteer attorneys to represent our clients, particularly for guardianship cases. In recent years, we have worked closely with private firms and the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) to train pro bono lawyers to represent children in school discipline and immigration matters, collectively receiving nearly 1000 hours (over $200,000) of free legal assistance per year. LSC and BASF recently decided to consolidate, streamline and expand the different pro bono panels representing children in San Francisco. Under this new arrangement, BASF will recruit attorneys and sponsor regular trainings, and LSC will conduct the trainings, coordinate the assignment of cases to panel attorneys, and provide technical assistance and social work consultation on specific cases. Attorneys can receive training in the law and procedure related to probate guardianship, school discipline and/or immigration, and can accept cases in any or all of these areas. This arrangement will provide more flexibility and cut down on unnecessary administrative costs. It will also increase the number of participating attorneys, and the capacity to serve clients needing services.
There are currently about 70 volunteer attorneys serving on the pro bono panel. Working closely with BASF, LSC will continue to recruit new volunteers with an emphasis on training bilingual and bicultural attorneys to work with our clients. The next series of trainings is scheduled for January 10-14 (please see attached flyer and information).
Interested in joining LSC’s pro bono panel? Please contact Adetunji Olude, coordinator of the pro bono panel at (415) 863-3762 ext. 324 or adetunji@lsc-sf.org for a list of upcoming training dates and additional information on how you can get involved!
*Click here to download a copy of our MCLE training flyer.
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LSC Receives $35,000 Challenge Grant: Leverage Your Gift Today!
This year LSC is honored to receive a $35,000 Challenge Grant from the Louis R. Lurie Foundation. If LSC is able to raise $35,000 in new or increased support from donors and caring individuals like yourself, the Lurie Foundation will match your gift 1:1, and contribute up to an additional $35,000 to support LSC’s programs and services.
Please consider helping us meet this challenge. Your gift ensures the children and youth of our community are provided basic services to stabilize their lives and help them realize their full potential. If you are a new donor, the Lurie Foundation will match your gift this year 1:1. For current donors, the net increase in your gift will also be matched 1:1 (for example, if you gave $100 in 2003 and $175 this year, the Lurie Foundation will match your net increased gift of $75, making your contribution today worth $250 to LSC!)
Yes, I want to support LSC! To make a tax-deductible contribution, please mail your check payable to “Legal Services for Children” to:
Legal Services for Children
Or contact our office to make a credit card payment or pledge over the phone (VISA & M/C accepted). LSC also accepts gifts of stock, real estate, planned gifts and in-kind donations. For more information, please contact Kelli-Ann Nakayama, Development Director at (415) 863-3762 ext. 318 or kelli@lsc-sf.org.
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Taproot Foundation Awards LSC with Second Grant & Designs New LSC Brochure
The Taproot Foundation recently awarded Legal Services for Children (LSC) its second $25,000 grant, providing professional donated services. The Taproot Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that connects volunteer business professionals with non-profits on branding and identity grants, brochure design, website design and database management. The recent Taproot grant provides LSC with professional project management, design and copy write services for a new general information brochure. The first grant, received in 2003, provided LSC with a new logo, letterhead, business cards, style guide and the tag line, “Advancing the rights of youth since 1975.”
This year’s Taproot team is composed of volunteers with various professional backgrounds and areas of expertise: James DeKoven, Copy Writer; Sheila Geiger, Marketing Manager; Melissa McLean, Designer; Cheryl Shiflett, Program Officer; and Rachel Weidinger, Grant Manager. Together, the team designed a brochure that helps increase LSC’s visibility among supporters and partnering organizations, visually portrays LSC’s core values and services, and functions as a design template for all future marketing and communication materials (website, program pamphlets, annual reports, eNewsletters, etc.) The result is a professional and informative two-color brochure with compelling photographs and a clean design that will be appreciated for many years to come.
A copy of LSC’s new brochure is now available on our website! To download your copy, click here.
LSC would like to thank the Taproot Foundation, especially the team of talented volunteers, who donated countless of hours to help make this beautiful brochure possible. For more information about the Taproot Foundation, visit their website at www.TaprootFoundation.org.
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LSC Staff, Board Member & Volunteer News
BOARD MEMBERS HONORED
LSC is proud to announce that Jeff Bleich, Partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP and John O’Toole, Executive Director of the National Center for Youth Law were both recognized as California’s Top 100 Lawyers by California Lawyer. Earlier this year, James Bell received KQED’s “Local Hero” Award. James is also honored with the Cheyenne Bell Leadership Award given by the Center for Young Women's Development, to acknowledge his extraordinary community leadership. We are proud to count them as dedicated board members and applaud them for their commitment to our community.
LSC welcomes two new staff attorneys, Lisa Frydman and Shani King. We are happy to add these two talented and dedicated individuals to our team of advocates.
Congratulations to staff attorney Molly Dunn, who was recently awarded a clinical teaching fellowship at Stanford Law School. Molly came to LSC three years ago as a NAPIL Fellow. She helped foster a strong relationship between LSC and the Public Defenders office, and played an instrumental role in the Education Project. We miss you Molly and wish you the best in your new position!!
Congratulations to Helen Jiang, LSC’s Office Manager who gave birth to Derick on July 21, 2004!! Also congratulations to Ron Gutierrez, LSC’s Clinical Director whose daughter Rosie was born on May 15, 2004!! We are happy to have two new healthy, beautiful babies in the LSC family.
Throughout the year, LSC provides an opportunity for law and social work student internships. These internships are an ideal way for students to learn about the day-to-day work of the agency, as well as the broader issues that LSC addresses in the field of youth law and policy. We would like to thank all of our legal and social work interns, and administrative interns who have dedicated hundreds of hours this year! Each of our volunteers is an integral part of the services and programs we provide and our team is incredibly grateful for your support. Our legal and social work interns receive hands-on experience through meeting with clients, conducting research and case management, drafting legal documents, advocating for clients in court hearings, and staffing LSC’s afternoon legal intake line and weekly legal clinic.
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Youth Highlight: “I am a change agent” by Ronald, Youth Task Force member
The Youth Task Force is a joint project of LSC and San Francisco’s Children’s Systems of Care (CSOC). As consumers of the foster care, special education, juvenile justice, and mental health systems, these members dialogue with professionals who provide services to youth. As part of the program, youth participate and create spoken word poetry. Below is a poem Ronald presented at LSC’s 2003 annual fundraising event, Words, Wine & Wit.
I am Ronald
Take me for example
Now let’s talk about obstacles
On my way out of high school
Now I know by this time you are saying
Let me tell you what the Youth Task Force does in everyday life
I am Ronald
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©2004 Legal Services for Children. All Rights Reserved. Photo by Brian Moore. Click here to unsubscribe. 1254 Market Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102. Tel. (415) 863-3762 |
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