LACLJ’s Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Legal Advocate, Emily Harrington, tabling at Denim Day Community Resource Fair at East Los Angeles College on April 2nd.

This year, LACLJ’s Teen Legal Advocacy (Teen/LA) Program expanded its outreach and education to teens and young parents and to other service providers in the community. Education is crucial to ensuring that teens have the tools needed to navigate crisis situations such as domestic violence, sexual assault and high-conflict co-parenting.

Survivors of Interpersonal Violence: Teen/LA presents quarterly at the East Los Angeles Women’s Center and YWCA Greater Los Angeles, two local rape crisis centers. Our team trains these service providers on the legal needs and rights of sexual assault survivors. In April, our team participated in Denim Day Community Resource Fair (to provide East LA College students with resources related to sexual assault and domestic violence) as well as Spring into Love – Healthy Teen Summit (an event hosted by Black Women for Wellness to educate youth on reproductive health topics).

Young Parents: In partnership with the Los Angeles Superior Court, LACLJ conducts “Young Parents Day,” a monthly workshop at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Attendees are young parents ages 14-24 who learn about their legal rights, family law issues, and conflict resolution. This year, our attorneys also conducted presentations to Home-SAFE (a program of Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, which focuses on family support services) and Alliance for Children’s Rights (who hosted an event called “Raising Baby” to provide resources to young parents).

Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth: Our Equal Justice Works Fellow, Erica Carroll, conducts outreach for her project which focuses on foster youth who are also parents. She frequently meets with agencies serving foster youth, including the Department of Children and Family Services, First Place for Youth, and Children’s Law Center. Erica’s outreach to potential clients includes presentations at New Village Girls’ Academy (an all-girls high school for pregnant and parenting youth) and St. Anne’s (a residential placement for pregnant and parenting foster youth).

FAREWELL, EMILY! — LACLJ’s 2014-2015 Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) Legal Advocate, Emily Harrington, completed her year of service this month. Emily provided legal support to attorneys, conducted outreach, and worked closely with clients on safety planning and court accompaniment in the Teen/LA program. We will miss her, but are excited for her new chapter. Emily is headed to Central and South America to continue her work in human services and improve her Spanish skills. She plans to eventually attend graduate school for her Master’s in Social Work. Thank you, Emily, for being an amazing advocate for our teen clients!