The American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division has announced that “Access to Education: Changing the Trajectory of Success” will be the division’s 2016-17 public service project.
The initiative aims to combat the crisis of unequal access to education in underserved and often overlooked communities, according to organizers.
They say the project will demonstrate to 9th grade students the value of pursuing secondary education through the use of a smart device platform, with the goal to equip students with the knowledge, skills and exposure they need to break down educational barriers and fill voids in their communities.
The initiative has several aspects:
• Dare to Dream. This is an in-classroom-based vision board crafting program focused on the value of higher education, goal-setting and building mentor relationships with high schools nationwide.
• Blossom mobile app. This app, targeted to 9th grade students, offers career planning and skills development tools, alternative post-high school education options, job and industry profiles and information about scholarship outlets.
• Career Day. Young lawyers and law students will visit schools and facilitate a connection between students’ academic pursuits and their potential professional endeavors in the future.
• S.M.A.R.T. Providing students with the tools and the support to pursue secondary education, by setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based to help them realize their vision.
“I came to the United States when I was 7 years old as a refugee from the former Soviet Union and grew up in an immigrant community where I learned English as a second language in school,” said Anna Romanskaya, chair of the ABA Young Lawyers Division. “My family came to this country so that my sister and I could have an equal opportunity to obtain an education and be whatever we wanted to be, regardless of our gender, race or religion.”
Romanskaya said the project “is near and dear to my heart and I want immigrant and vibrant communities to have access to the secondary education that has helped me achieve so much in my life.”
The project was launched last week at the division’s fall conference in Detroit.
The Young Lawyers Division has more than 160,000 members and more than 300 affiliated groups.
YLD makes contributions to the communities where its members practice law through public service initiatives.
Past YLD initiatives include American Voter Project, Project Salute: Young Lawyers Serving Veterans, Serving Our Seniors, Voices Against Violence and Wills for Heroes, Bullyproof, Project Street Youth and World Wise Web.
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