Everychild 2017 Grant: Center for Juvenile Law and Policy at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Our grant to the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy (CJLP) at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, launched the Everychild Integrated Educational and Legal Advocacy Project (EIELAP). The project’s aim is to stop the school-to-prison pipeline for “crossover youth,” the name given to foster youth who are also involved in the juvenile justice system. The CJLP already provided integrated pro bono advocacy for juveniles in delinquency court. The Everychild-funded program expanded those services to include integrated legal and educational representation for an anticipated 300 crossover youths. The project also trained 1,500 child advocates in education law, including delinquency and disability issues. Additional project goals are to secure successful outcomes for at least 90 percent of the clients served, based on their identified needs, and train 36 lawyers in best-practices education advocacy for children. Upon completion of the project, CJLP will host an EIELAP Symposium for child advocates, policymakers and stakeholders that shares project outcomes and formulates possible strategies for systemic reform and a replicable system standard of integrated advocacy. Contemporaneous with the Symposium, CJLP will publish an evaluation and assessment in conjunction with Dr. Jorja Leap, Adjunct Professor of Social Welfare and Director of the Health and Social Justice Partnership at UCLA.