Breanna Bollig

The Project

Breanna (she/her/hers) will empower tribes and tribal families to provide trauma-informed education advocacy for tribal children in California’s child welfare system.

Historically, the United States has used “education” to assimilate Native children, take tribal land, and disrupt tribal economies, and these events still affect tribes and Native children today. Native people have the highest rates of trauma and child welfare involvement, and the lowest rates of academic achievement compared to any other racial group. Without trauma-informed education advocacy, Native children in the child welfare system are especially at-risk for not being able to access an education.

Breanna is continually inspired by the child welfare advocacy provided by tribes and California Tribal Families Coalition. It is a privilege to help expand this trauma informed advocacy into education systems, which have continued to fail tribal children.

Fellowship Plans

Through her project, Breanna will identify tribal children within California’s child welfare system who are being unlawfully denied an adequate and trauma-informed education. She will then work with each child’s tribe to ensure that education advocacy support is provided. Breanna will also raise awareness of new caselaw establishing that trauma is a disability for special education purposes and provide comprehensive special education trainings and resources for tribes and tribal families. If necessary, Breanna will collaborate with pro bono attorneys and other non-profit organizations to pursue impact litigation on behalf of tribes, tribal parents, or education rights holders for tribal children.

Through my work within child welfare, education, and tribal systems, I became aware of the disconnect between these disciplines. My Equal Justice Works Fellowship puts me in the unique position to combine these systems to ensure comprehensive child advocacy.

Breanna Bollig /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Liz’s (she/her/hers) project at Legal Counsel for the Elderly will preserve safe and affordable housing for low-income older adults in D.C. through direct representation, outreach, and systemic advocacy, with a focus on building capacity for self-advocacy and collective action.

The affordable housing crisis in D.C. makes it almost impossible for low-income older adults to age in place. Nearly one-third of all extremely low-income renters in D.C. are older adults, and some spend up to 90% of their monthly household income on rent. In addition to being severely rent-burdened, many older adults, including those in units owned by the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA), live with hazardous conditions like severe mold that endanger their health and safety. There is an immediate need for direct representation to stabilize individual tenancies. To create sustainable and systemic change, there is also a need for lawyers to engage in outreach, community education, and strategize with organized tenant groups to support self-advocacy and collective action.

Fellowship Plans

Liz will represent tenants in administrative hearings and before the D.C. Superior Court Housing Conditions Court to preserve housing subsidies, enforce rent control, and make sure landlords address dangerous conditions of disrepair. At the same time, she will identify and build relationships with organized groups of older adult tenants, including senior building tenant associations. Through outreach, she will listen to tenants’ needs, develop trainings on tenant rights and entitlements, and conduct intakes in the community. Over time, she will identify patterns of landlord abuse and develop litigation strategies that respond to community-defined needs and complement tenant organizing.

Media

Liz Butterworth Honored With the Gants Access to Justice Award

I believe that housing is a human right, that older adults have a right to age in place, and that collective action is the route to justice. I am committed to supporting the self-advocacy and collective power of older adult tenants.

Liz Butterworth /
2022 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Sabrina provided legal services and legislative advocacy for girls of color to ensure access to education that is free of discriminatory discipline, harassment, and violence from school-based police.

Sabrina’s project addressed how school resource officers (“SROs”) contribute to the overrepresentation of Black girls in every aspect of school discipline and exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline. As victims of “adultification” bias, Black girls are often viewed as less innocent than their peers. This bias creates a barrier to connecting girls of color with the supports they need to thrive in school, such as mental health resources or even legal representation after facing discrimination. When paired with school policies that allow discipline to turn on subjective impressions of student behavior, this bias leads SROs to harshly discipline, sexually harass, and exclude girls of color—ultimately pushing them out of schools and into the criminal legal system.

As a first-generation Haitian-American, Sabrina grew up relying on spaces and mentors in schools to help her explore her identity as a woman of color. Today, she is dedicated to educational equity work as a means of keeping schools safe for girls of color as they similarly come into their own.

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship, Sabrina:

  • Led in drafting two federal amicus briefs in support of Black students alleging racial discrimination in discipline, dress codes, hair policies, and school policing against their schools
  • Reviewed, edited, and collaborated with Congressional offices on at least 13 federal school climate or discipline bills that were set to be introduced in the 117th Congress
  • Authored a 21-page public comment on behalf of the Center in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s request for information on the “nondiscriminatory administration of school discipline”
  • Presented to over 600 partners and allies on the harms of exclusionary discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly for Black girls
  • Developed and assisted in the launch of a national campaign to end the pushout of Black girls called She Deserves Dignity
  • Extended the Center’s platforms to Black girls through focus groups, virtual panels and briefings, and social media to share their experiences and recommendations for safer, more inclusive school climates

Next Steps

Sabrina will continue to work at the National Women’s Law Center as Counsel of Education & Workplace Justice. She will grow the Center’s school discipline and policing portfolio as well as expand their resources.

Media 

‘Sexist,’ ‘Racist,’ ‘Classist’: Georgia 8th Grader Challenges School Dress Code

Eighth grader protests 'sexist' school dress code

How a 13-year-old girl is challenging a 'sexist,' 'racist,' 'classist' school dress code

Georgia 8th grader fights school dress code that she claims is sexist

Sacrifice the Status Quo, So Families Don’t Have to Sacrifice for Education

Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Protecting Our Students in Schools Act

Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act

Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Ending PUSHOUT Act

In 2020, Black Women Kept Democracy Safe, but Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe? A Series on Creating Better, Safer Schools for Girls of Color

DeVos’ Hypocritical Power Grab at the Department of Education

Hair: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Behind the scenes, civil rights groups urge Biden administration to place limits on school police

At a very young age, I witnessed my parents make significant sacrifices for me to obtain a quality education. Since then, I have viewed education as a powerful doorway to opportunity, the access to which should not depend on someone’s race, gender, income, or zip code.

Sabrina Bernadel /
2020 Equal Justice Works Fellow