November 20, 2008

Dear Friends,

This has been an exciting year of growth, progress, and opportunity for Youth Represent and the young people we represent. We were recently recognized for our work with New York City youth with a Union Square Award, which supports innovative, grassroots projects and organizations responding to pressing social issues. In addition, your generous support has made it possible to expand the number of youth we represent and the types of services we provide so we can continue to take the journey from courtroom to community with our young clients. This year your support will go even further! Every dollar you donate, up to $20,000, will be matched dollar for dollar by the Wachs Family Foundation. We are exceedingly grateful for their generosity, particularly in these difficult economic times.

We are also very pleased to announce that Alison Wilkey has joined Youth Represent as a senior staff attorney. With her addition, Youth Represent is serving a growing number of clients in their court cases and providing comprehensive representation if their court involvement precludes them from returning to school, gaining employment, or remaining with their family in public housing. Next year, Alison will spearhead a financial literacy and benefits program for our clients and their families who are working but still struggling to make ends meet.

The challenges our young clients continue to face well after their criminal justice involvement is over are unimaginable. Court-involved youth can be denied jobs or barred from public housing for low-level convictions such as playing basketball after the park closes or sitting in a friends lobby in a New York City Housing Authority building. In addition, zero tolerance policies in schools rely on suspension, expulsion, and arrest for criminal charges to deal with even minor disciplinary problems.

Youth Represent is working hard to change this unfortunate reality one child at a time. For example,

• Thomas, age 17, was arrested. Shortly thereafter, his parents received an eviction notice from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) because Thomas was arrested near NYCHA property. Based on his arrest alone NYCHA had given his parents the unthinkable choice of either permanently excluding their son from their home even for visits (a lifetime bar), or be evicted. (Sadly, his parents had already permanently excluded another son who was arrested for trespass even though the case was eventually dismissed.) When we met with Thomas and his family they were devastated. The thought of having to permanently exclude another child was too much to bear. Thomas was also visibly shaken and ashamed that his behavior had put his parents in jeopardy of losing their home. We worked closely with Thomas, his family, and the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), a well-respected alternative to incarceration program, and slowly Thomas began to turn his life around. He graduated from high school, enrolled in college, and was hired as an intern with a government agency. Thomas’s accomplishments enabled us to advocate in criminal court and convince the judge and DA to seal his record. We then persuaded NYCHA to agree to five years housing probation for Thomas’s family instead of evicting the family or permanently excluding Thomas from his home. Thomas is currently living at home, attending a NYC college full-time, and working part-time.
  
  
• Efrain, an eight-year-old special education student, was arrested and suspended from school for cursing at his teacher. Arrests of special education students are quite common; over 32% of children in juvenile detention facilities nationwide have special learning needs although they represent only 8.6% of the public school population. At a hearing to challenge the suspension, we discovered that the school had failed to provide the services recommended on his Individualized Education Program and proved that his actions at school were a direct result of not having these needed services. We were able to have the suspension dismissed and then worked with the faculty and Efrain’s mother to ensure that the school put these services into place. Efrain now has the support he needs to succeed academically and socially.

These examples illustrate the strength of Youth Represent’s comprehensive advocacy as the successes achieved were the result of our collaboration with the criminal justice system, myriad agencies, our clients, and their families. Working together, we were able to find an outcome that satisfied the needs of the many stakeholders and gave Thomas and Efrain a second chance.

However, none of what we accomplished this year could have happened without your generosity. Only with your help can we continue to expand the number of children we serve. We hope we can count on your support this year so we can continue our mission of providing holistic, quality representation to one of New York City’s most vulnerable populations – its children.

Sincerely,

Laurie Parise
Founder/Executive Director