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EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS FELLOW, CLASS OF 2009
Name of Host Organization: Legal Services for Children
City, State: San Francisco, California
Issue area: Children/Youth, Public Benefits/Welfare Reform
Sponsor: McDermott Will & Emery
THE INSPIRATION
Prior to law school, I worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), which oriented me towards issues facing foster youth and gave me the invaluable experience of directly advocating for youth in dependency court. It was my first glimpse into the struggles children in foster care face, suffering the effects of sexual abuse, neglect and constant instability. It was this initial experience and the close relationship I developed with these youth that led me to pursue a career in child advocacy.
THE PROJECT
My project focuses on providing access to public benefits for youth in out-of-home care as a means to maximize their placement stability, facilitate educational success, and increase their overall safety and well-being. Without legal assistance, the benefits to which a youth may be entitled are never applied for, may be grossly miscalculated, or may be improperly denied, the result of which is devastating on the youth's permanency and safety in their placement.
BIOGRAPHY
Hometown: | Berkeley, California |
Law school: | |
Making the connection: | After my first year of law school, I worked at the National Center for Youth Law where I assisted youth with severe mental health needs in their application and appeals process for supplemental security income. Many of the youth were denied or underpaid vitally necessary supplemental security benefits. I learned how complex it can be for even an educated advocate to evaluate a single client’s benefits entitlement, and quickly realized that it would be impossible for uninformed clients to navigate the benefits application and appeal processes alone. |
Surviving law school: | I had to look at law school as the tool necessary to fight for the clients I would one day represent. The days I did not want to be in class, I motivated myself by thinking about how privileged I was to have the opportunity and how many people I could help with my degree. I took advantage of every opportunity to take a clinic, extern, or volunteer in the community. I attended inspirational lectures of attorneys, community organizers and judges who I admired to remind me of my ultimate goal when I felt particularly discouraged. |
Recommended books: | The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende; Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder; Trumpet by Jackie Kay; Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides; Burr by Gore Vidal; East of Eden by John Steinbeck;We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch; and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. |
Favorite website(s): | www.magnumphotos.com - to be inspired by beautiful photography www.nextbus.com - to calm the nerves www.finecooking.com - to have a pavlovian response |
Music I love: | Bill Withers, Harlem; Nina Simone;Eva Cassidy, Wade in the Water; Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas; Ibrahim Ferrer, Ay Candela;Van Morrison,Sweet Thing; Zap Mama, Mamadit;Earth Wind & Fire, Shining Star; Sigur Ros, Suo I Eyrum; The Idan Raichel Project, Mi'Ma'amakim |
Words to live by: | “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” - Nelson Mandela |