Cesar Chavez Day: Defending Our Youth; Protecting Our Health
Day in and day out, the Bay Area’s most vulnerable residents—foster children, veterans, immigrants with limited English proficiency, LGBTQ individuals, and victims of domestic violence—rely on Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) in times of crisis. While legal aid funding hangs in the balance, our clients’ struggles against the conditions of poverty persist. Today and every day, BayLegal commits to stalwartly defending the rights and livelihoods of our clients.
Here are a few of our lawyers making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth and families across the Bay Area.
Defending Our Youth
One-third of Bay Area youth live in poverty; that’s an estimated 160,000 young people under the age of 25 struggling to navigate challenges like:
- unmet education needs
- food scarcity
- housing instability
- lack of access to mental and physical health care
Brian Blalock launched BayLegal’s Youth Justice Project as a Skadden Fellow in 2007 to provide at-risk Bay Area youth with the wraparound legal support they need to succeed at home, in school, and in their communities. Today, BayLegal’s Youth Justice Project has served over 1,100 youth with an outstanding 95% success rate and significant reduction in recidivism for juvenile justice system-involved youth. Learn more about BayLegal’s Youth Justice Project here.
Protecting Our Health
CONGRATULATIONS to Jia Min Cheng on her 2017 Heroes and Hearts Award from the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation! Jia-Min was recognized for her leadership in helping families overcome the legal obstacles impacting their health through BayLegal’s San Francisco Medical-Legal Partnership with the Children’s Health Center at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Watch a video about the impact of Jia Min’s work here.
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