The Bench & Bar magazine is published to provide members of the KBA with information that will increase their knowledge of the law, improve the practice of law, and assist in improving the quality of legal services for the citizenry.
Issue link: https://kentuckybenchandbar.epubxp.com/i/546018
Four incoming 1Ls with diverse backgrounds and experiences have been named as inaugural first-year fellows in the Human Rights Fellowship Program. They include Briana Lathon, Kristen Barrow, Marianna Michael and Abigail Lewis. The program will build off of the Louisville Bar Foundation's Greenebaum Human Rights Fellowship that was created in the spring of 2014. The fellows, who were chosen for their interest in human rights advocacy, have been awarded an admissions-based grant and will work to address human rights needs in the Louisville community during their time in law school. The initial focus is on the city's immigrant/refugee population. Students will be able to explore human rights law through hands-on experiences and will develop research, project management and interpersonal skills while offering an opportunity to work with diverse and often vulnerable populations. Their work will be supervised by Professors Enid Trucios-Haynes and Jamie Abrams. Identifying opportunities The initial work on the grant has so far included an extensive needs assessment effort identifying ways in which the law school could be active in the community on human rights issues. Together with the faculty supervisors, the 2014-15 LBFG Human Rights Fellows – Janet Lewis , Katherine Hall and Ben Potash – spent the school year examining what services are being provided to the immigrant popula- tion in the City of Louisville. Their prelimi- nary findings have been communicated to local service providers and at a Muhammad Ali Center event which was geared toward the local immigrant/refugee community. Additionally, the incoming fellows will use this research as a springboard to continue identifying unmet needs and to find solu- tions and opportunities. The preliminary findings were broken down into chal- lenges/opportunities: Challenge: Nearly all organizations surveyed consistently identified out- reach challenges. Opportunity: The Fellowship Pro- gram could be helpful in the effort to increase outreach efforts, including via a condensed resource guide and community-based needs assess- ments. Challenge: Multiple respondents ex- pressed support for more collabora- tion and communication among providers. Opportunity: The Fellowship could host regular liaison meetings among organizations and others interested in the topic and any research proj- ects could serve a dual purpose of distributing information to service providers and educating the commu- nity at large. Challenge: Language access is iden- tified as a "critical need," including at domestic violence intake centers and courthouses. Opportunity: Regular working group meetings can identify general gaps in language access services, as well as issues at government offices. Challenge: Few comprehensive re- ports consider immigration and/or human rights issues in the city/state. Opportunity: The Fellowship aims to provide public education about the legal system and human rights is- sues. Narrower topics affecting un- documented noncitizens can also be researched by fellows. Challenge: Louisville's noncitizen, immigrant and refugee population needs holistic services addressing a variety of concerns. Opportunity: The Fellowship could act as a direct service provider via pro bono legal services in conjunc- tion with other service providers. With these findings, the group's next objective is to develop and sustain an understanding of noncitizen population needs, and to address these needs more holistically. The Human Rights fellows entering law school will be committed to implementing these recommendations and will work with alumni on cases, create outreach presenta- tions and help come up with legislative proposals. They will also unveil a final report during the fall semester, create a re- source guide for dissemination at schools, churches, community centers, etc., and host an annual summit of service providers. Why immigration? The initial focus has been on immigration needs because it is an area in which stu- dents have an interest, said Trucios-Haynes. "I have been teaching this subject for the past 20 or so years and I have seen an increase in interest from students because of the greater public awareness of immigration policy issues. But it's also an area of the law that includes the unique intersection of constitutional law, criminal law, international law and a statutory code that is complex," she said. In Kentucky specifically, the foreign-born population has grown from 0.9 percent in 1990 to 3.3 percent in 2013. Undocument- ed immigrants make up 2.6 percent of the state's workforce. And, according to the report, 3.6 percent of this population speaks a language other than English. Public school children speak 116 languages at home. 38 B&B; • 7.15 C O L U M N S U of L BRANDEIS' HUMAN RIGHTS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM AIMS TO BRIDGE SERVICE GAPS FOR IMMIGRATION POPULATION