NJSBF.org - Foundation Invests in Newark's Future

Foundation Invests in Newark's Future

NEW JERSEY STATE BAR FOUNDATION INVESTS IN NEWARK’S FUTURE

The New Jersey State Bar Foundation and Newark: perfect together.

As the statewide resource for law-related education to the public, the Foundation (NJSBF) is mindful of the particular opportunities and obstacles that arise when supporting efforts to assist diverse segments of an urban population in obtaining vital services. Rising to that challenge, over the years NJSBF has maintained a continuous commitment to Newark-based projects and activities that benefit the citizens of New Jersey’s most populous city.

This year is no exception. During the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the Foundation is committed to supporting a myriad of law-related projects aimed at enhancing the quality of life for Newark residents of various ages, abilities, backgrounds and circumstances. Partnering with various community and social service organizations, NJSBF has provided funding for the following initiatives:

Crime Prevention

Newark Community Law Feasibility Study and Youth Court. Thanks in part to NJSBF funding, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice in partnership with the Center for Court Innovation conducted a study on finding solutions to petty crime by youths. The result, now in the hands of the City of Newark rather than the courts, is a Youth Court in which teenagers are trained to act as de facto judges, jurors and advocates in cases involving their peers. The goals of Youth Court are to provide teens with alternatives solutions to engaging in petty crime, instill notions of personal responsibility and restitution to the community, and help other teens get on the right path with links to tutoring, mentoring and counseling services as well as leadership training.

Newark Re-Entry Legal Services Network. The Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s ReLeSe program, supported by NJSBF, focuses on breaking down the barriers that prevent previously incarcerated individuals from making their way successfully back into society.

Community Law and Education Project. NJ Law and Education Empowerment Project (NJ LEEP)’s version of Street Law brings law and law-related topics to young people who might not otherwise have a positive reference or role model while helping them build academic skills. Among the Newark youth served by law students from Seton Hall University are students from TEAM Academy, First Avenue School, Weequahic High School and East Side High School.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker recognizes and appreciates the vital role that the Foundation is playing in his revitalization plans for the city and its people, including crime prevention. “Thanks to the support the City of Newark has received from the New Jersey State Bar Foundation,” said Mayor Booker, “we have been able to remove some of the barriers that continue to prevent the successful re-entry of Newark residents who have been formerly incarcerated…..From Newark’s ReEntry Legal Services (ReLeSe) program to Court-based Family Law Seminars, we are starting to make great strides in transforming lives and reducing the rate of recidivism, which will benefit our community as a whole.”

Character and Citizenship

George Street Playhouse Character Development Initiatives. The playhouse maintains a touring company that visits Newark schools and parent and community groups to perform any of four commissioned plays addressing tolerance, conflict resolution, bullying, self-esteem and peer pressure. Foundation funding provides playbills for the youthful audiences and study guides for teachers to enhance post-performance discussion, partial subsidies for schools and groups that cannot afford the entire performance fee and full scholarships for those that cannot afford any fee.

Informing the Immigrant: Citizenship Preparation Class. The Foundation is enabling the Hispanic Development Corporation to offer the Newark Latino community training in English language and computer skills, immigration issues, United States history and government in preparation for the citizenship interview.

Special Education Law

Spanish translation of A Basic Guide to Special Education. Through NJSBF support, Newark’s Spanish-speaking residents gained access to the Association for Children of New Jersey’s informative booklet, a comprehensive resource outlining the rights of children and distributed to law guardians, DYFS staff, court volunteers and other caretakers.

Special Education Training Series. NJSBF has awarded generous grants to the Newark-based Statewide Parent Advocacy network (SPAN), Inc. towards its “New IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act]/New State Code Special Education Training Series” as well as its “Special Education Rights of Children and Youth Involved in DYFS Training Series.” The grants provide audio-visual materials and otherwise go to training parents and professionals to advocate for developmentally disabled children to make sure they receive the services guaranteed to them by law.

The Right to Special Education in New Jersey: A Guide for Advocates. The Education Law Center in Newark received funding to reprint its comprehensive pamphlet for advocates of special-needs children on their right to appropriate education.

Special Education Clinic. With Foundation support, students at the Rutgers University School of Law-Newark represent the parents of at-risk children at school meetings and in Federal Court proceedings challenging the appropriateness of a school’s educational plan for indigent children with disabilities. The clinic also conducts workshops for parents, case managers, guardians and family court judges.

Family Law

Court-Based Family Law Seminars. With Foundation help, Newark’s Volunteer Lawyers for Justice are continuing a series of free family law seminars on the basics of divorce law and other relevant laws as well as the mechanics of modifying or enforcing court orders.

Those who are not yet lawyers are hard at work, too. Besides their efforts in special education above, Rutgers Law School clinic students help Newark families with a variety of legal services:

Newark Youth Advocacy Project—Law students can continue to serve up to 500 homeless youngsters each year at Covenant House with issues involving foster care transition, disability advocacy and tenant rights. The program is held in conjunction with Rutgers’ Community Law Clinic and Child Advocacy Center.

Child Advocacy Clinic—Part of the Child Advocacy Center, the clinic addresses the needs of Newark’s at-risk children living in poverty by aiding in legal issues concerning public benefits, child welfare and family law, including providing children’s rights education to those who work with the children.

Street Law Project—Students at Rutgers Law School-Newark teach civil rights and other law-related education classes to teens at several Newark high schools: Barrington, East Side, University, First Avenue and Orange.

Aging Out: Don’t Miss Out Outreach—NJSBF also funds the printing of the Child Advocacy Center manual, Aging Out: Don’t Miss Out, which explains in easy-to-digest, comic book format the rights and entitlements of youth as they age out of the foster care system and into adulthood. The manuals find their way to the target audience through community outreach by students at the Child Advocacy Center, which sends teams into the community to meet with teens in foster care. The teams distribute the manuals and use them during their meetings with the youths.

The Foundation looks ahead to many more successful years of enhancing the lives of Newark residents and all other New Jerseyans through legal and law-related education.

Founded in 1958, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation is the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association. The Foundation’s mission is to
promote public understanding of the law through a free, comprehensive public education program. Among its activities, the Foundation conducts seminars and conflict resolution training, publishes materials, operates a videotape loan library and speakers bureau, and coordinates elementary, middle and high school mock trial competitions.

For more information about the Foundation’s grant projects, please contact Cynthia Pellegrino at cpellegrino@njsbf.org or call 732-937-7507. For more information about the Foundation’s general programming and publications or to order publications, visit the Foundation online at www.njsbf.org or call 1-800-FREE-LAW.

—NSJBF—