Renai is working with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago’s Housing Law Project to address issues faced by public housing residents, specifically those affected by the Chicago Housing Authority’s (“CHA”) redevelopment plan to provide new housing for lease compliant public housing residents.  Renai’s project focuses on ensuring that the CHA and the developers building these new communities honor public housing families’ right of return to the new units.  Renai observes, “many families are at risk of losing their right of return, either because they will be unfairly evicted before they have the opportunity to apply for the new housing or because they will be arbitrarily denied admission into these new developments because of the application of new admission criteria.  

From the time Elsa Rodriguez was a small child growing up in Harlem, she learned that real success did not just mean earning a large paycheck, it meant putting yourself in a position where you could give back to your community.  With that background guiding her, Elsa entered law school knowing she would be a public interest lawyer.  Elsa became dedicated to the issues of domestic violence and family law after learning that a friend’s mother had been killed trying to flee an abusive relationship.  

Beatriz Rodriguez represented her host organization in the Regional Non-Profit Pro Bono Initiative, a regional collaboration designed to provide legal assistance to community-based organizations of Alameda County, California.  Beatriz’s dedication to work in defense of the poor came from both her personal background and her law school participation in public service.  As a first generation American with strong ties to her Cuban and Puerto Rican cultures, she is firmly committed to advocacy on behalf of racial and ethnic minorities and women.  

Andrea Rodriguez provides comprehensive legal advocacy for families with lead poisoned children at the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation in Washington Heights.  Childhood lead poisoning is the most common and socially devastating environmental disease of young children.  Despite the fact that lead-based paint was banned in 1960 in New York City, the Court of Appeals of New York held that the city's lead paint poisoning cases remained "alarmingly high.  

The project seeks to bring greater permanency to the lives of children who are being raised by their grandparents or other relatives by connecting families that provide kinship care with pro bono private attorneys who represent them in custody, guardianship and adoption matters in all five boroughs of New York City.  While much of our outreach is directed at senior citizens groups, the project serves caregivers of any age.  I also conduct presentations at community-based organizations and am a member of the New York City and State kinship task forces.  

Through direct representation and collaboration with others, I increase the representation of refugees being denied asylum on spurious national security-related grounds.  My project aims to assist the broadest possible number of refugees in need of assistance in addition to spurring immigration law reform.  .  

Teenage mothers, still children in the eyes of the law, face unique legal obstacles.  Their children are more than twice as likely to be placed in foster care and more likely to have low birth weights that can lead to developmental delays.  Teen pregnancy is also the leading cause of high school dropout.  

This project will serve indigent parents involved in the child protective system.    I will address mental health issues within families that can lead to unnecessary foster care placements and the termination of parental rights.  Through direct representation, the development of resource materials for practitioners and legislative advocacy, this project aims to keep families together by assisting parents in obtaining appropriate and timely mental health services.  

Kira Romero-Craft works with the Guardian Ad Litem program at the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association.  The Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association provides civil legal assistance to low-income residents, the working poor, children and disadvantaged groups with special legal needs in Orange County, Florida.  Kira's project focuses on providing advocacy for undocumented immigrant children in juvenile and immigration court.  

Jeremy Rosen worked to increase access to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability for homeless persons with mental disabilities.  Jeremy’s national and local advocacy focused in three areas: litigation, public policy reform and information dissemination.  As a law student, Jeremy worked as a policy intern with Consumers Union and a law clerk with Legal Services of Northern Virginia.  

Debra is serving her second year as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney at Three Rivers Legal Services (TRLS) in Gainesville, Florida.  At TRLS, she is currently managing several community-based legal clinics along with her fellow Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney Nancy Wright.  Topics for these clinics include housing advice, job corps, elder outreach and homeless outreach.  

My project focuses on providing education advocacy for teens transitioning or aging out of foster care in New York City to ensure their educational and vocational needs are met with appropriate services.  It provides direct representation to foster care youth and their families related to education; technical assistance to caseworkers, advocates and attorneys; and extensive community outreach and trainings on education and the law to those involved in the child welfare system.  .  

Prior to becoming an Equal Justice Works Americorps Attorney, Gary worked as a law clerk at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services (NMRLS).  Although he researched a variety of legal issues, his primary focus became elder law.  In fact, he co-authored the 2006 Healthcare Resource Manual and is working to finish the 2007 Elder Law Resource Manual.  

Lindsey serves at the Dayton office of Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO), where she is continuing the work of previous Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Attorney Stephanie Dannemann.  Lindsey strives to increase the amount of pro bono work performed by the legal community by promoting the awareness of pro bono opportunities and recruiting attorneys from the rural areas of Western Ohio.  She also works to instill in law students a public service ethic that will continue throughout their legal careers by developing quality pro bono opportunities and fostering partnerships with local attorneys and organizations.  

Juliane Russomanno has been working with disadvantaged youth for over eleven years.  Her volunteer experience has ranged from working with emotionally disturbed children in residential facilities to volunteering with youth through the Special Olympics, to dedicating time to underprivileged youth growing up in the midst of poverty and crime.  Through these experiences, Juliane decided to turn her passion for serving children into a professional career dedicated to serving the legal needs of a group of individuals who often lack representation—youth.  

Dustin Rynders works with Advocacy, Incorporated (AI) in Houston, Texas.  AI is a disability rights nonprofit organization and member of the Protection and Advocacy (P&A) network that was created by Congress in 1975.  Dustin's project helps ensure that students with disabilities are given the positive support that they need to learn and behave appropriately in school.