Graessle (King & Spalding), and Counselor
Cartavia Conley (Metro Reentry Facility).
Employment Specialist Zandria Redding
(Georgia Justice Project) served as the
moderator.
Attendees learned about Georgia Justice
Project’s legal project at Metro Reentry
Facility assisting returning citizens resolve
legal barriers to successful reentry, which
include resolving detainers, driver’s license
suspensions, and modifying child support
arrears. The attendees also learned about
Georgia’s criminal justice system, the legal
barriers faced by Returning Citizens, and
the professional responsibility of lawyers to
ensure that those released from our prisons
can meaningfully return back to society as
productive citizens.
Contact Erin Donohue-Koehler at
[email protected] for more information.
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers presented a
program entitled Atlanta’s Eviction Problem
on March 10, 2020. Co-Director of Safe
and Stable Homes Ayanna Jones-Lightsy
(Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation)
and Staff Attorney Pierce Hand (Atlanta
Volunteer Lawyers Foundation) presented
the information to the attendees. The CLE
reviewed the basics of the eviction process
in Atlanta, and highlighted some of the
major problems that renters have with this
Moderator), Danielle Whylly (Community Outreach
rn District of Georgia, Panelist), James Graessle
tavia Conley (Counselor, Metro Reentry Facility,
process. It concluded with a look at how
other cities are tackling these issues (e.g.
eviction diversion process, game day counsel
and advice, and other nonlegal solutions). Contact Adrian Wright at
[email protected] for more
information.
Contact Ayanna Jones-Lightsy at
[email protected] for more
information. Education Advocacy for Children
in Care: Student Tribunal Hearing
Training
__________________________________
Eleven programs scheduled for Pro Bono
March Madness were canceled due to
COVID-19. To educate our members about
those programs, we asked the organizer
of each program to provide us with some
information to share. We hope you will
consider learning more about these
worthwhile programs.
Advocating for the Truant Child
1. What attendees would have learned had
they been able to attend:
The Truancy Intervention Project was
developed and organized in late 1991 by
co-founders Hon. Glenda Hatchett (The
Hackett Firm) and partner Terry Walsh
(Alston & Bird) in response to the recurring
factor of truancy among children who
appeared in Juvenile Court. As a partnership
between the Fulton County Juvenile Court,
Fulton County School System, Atlanta Public
Schools, TIP, and the Atlanta Bar Foundation,
the Project provides volunteer attorney and
non-attorney partners to children who are
involved with the juvenile court system due
to excessive absences from school.
2. Why should we consider volunteering
with this organization now?
Did you know that missing just two days
a month means a child misses 10% of the
school year? Chronic absenteeism is strongly
linked to academic course failure and even
eventually dropping out of high school. TIP
provides resources and intervention services
to children who are chronically absent
from school and, as a result, either become
involved with the local juvenile court or are
referred for early intervention at the school
level. Since its inception in 1991, TIP has
served roughly 400 at-risk children each year
and touts an impressive 85% success rate.
1. What attendees would have learned had
they been able to attend:
This training is designed to prepare attorneys
to represent students who are facing public
school disciplinary hearings. Because of the
impact a long-term suspension or expulsion
may have on a student's academic success
and on the flow to the "school-to-prison
pipeline," it is important that the tribunal
procedures provide meaningful due process
to a student. This training provides the basic
tools necessary for attorneys to ensure due
process is preserved and students are afforded
a fair and impartial administrative hearing.
2. Why should we consider volunteering
with this organization now?
Public school students in foster care often
face disciplinary hearings alone. Georgia
Appleseed offers attorneys the unique
opportunity to represent children in foster
care during school disciplinary hearings
through our Tribunal Representation Project.
In addition to the Tribunal Representation
Project, Georgia Appleseed offers many
opportunities for pro bono volunteers
including safe and healthy housing projects,
school based behavior health projects, and
host of additional education and juvenile
justice projects aimed at keeping kids in
schools and out of prisons. Through the
Tribunal Volunteer Attorney Network,
lawyers get to use their skills to keep foster
children in school, provide a voice in
important due process hearings, and work to
end the school-to-prison pipeline.
Contact Caroline Durham at
[email protected] for more
information.
Employment Law for Nonprofits
1. What attendees would have learned had
they been able to attend:
www.atlantabar.org THE ATLANTA LAWYER
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