November 9, 2023
CCA’s Youth Justice Advocacy News
Understanding and Advocating for the Youth in the Justice System
Understanding and Advocating for the Youth in the Justice System
CCA’s vision is a Connecticut where all children and youth have their educational, health, and basic needs met, and receive the services and supports they need to thrive and reach their full potential. Involvement with the juvenile or criminal justice systems can damage many aspects of a youth’s life: education, physical and mental health, employment prospects, housing opportunities, and family relationships. CCA’s work with youth at risk of being drawn deeper into the juvenile justice system helps them access appropriate educational services and addresses obstacles to success to break the cycle of school failure and justice system involvement.
Youth Justice and Violence Reduction Grant Expands CCA’s Advocacy
The City of Hartford has awarded CCA a grant to support expanded advocacy to collaborate with the City and other nonprofit partners in the City’s Youth Justice and Violence Reduction Initiative. CCA will provide reentry rights training and civil legal services to Hartford youth who are justice-involved or disengaged/disconnected, to address barriers to education, employment and basic needs. This grant will allow CCA and the other nonprofit partners to work more closely together to provide youth with individualized, holistic services. For more information, contact attorney Marisa Halm Director of the CCA Youth Justice Project.
Supporting Youth Reentry
Attorneys Nate Fox and Marisa Halm attended the Hartford Reentry Center’s Fall Reentry Fair to share information about the legal rights of reentering youth and conduct outreach to reentering youth in need of legal services.
Building Youth’s Skills
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the youth involved in CCA’s Speak Up Initiative attended the community-building event series, DominGO! The Speak Up Youth practiced public speaking and event coordination skills while spending the day connecting with community members and educating them on our mission.
CCA Spotlights
Medical-Legal Partnership Project Enhances Collaboration at CCMC
CCA’s Medical Legal Partnership Project at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) has begun a pilot project to improve behavioral health outcomes for children with autism and other behavioral health diagnoses served at CCMC. Dr. Robert Keder has joined the Project as part-time Medical Director, where he will coordinate trainings for medical providers about children’s legal rights related to behavioral health, and provider advocacy strategies. For more information, contact Bonnie Roswig, Director, Disability Rights, Medical-Legal Partnership Project.
Providing Essential Skills for Future Attorneys
This October UCONN law students participating in our Child Advocacy Clinic, taught by attorney Stacy Schleif held a mock trial at UCONN Law School. The students joined CCA attorney Karol-Ann Brown and conducted a mock trial on issues related to the Child Welfare System as part of their clinic experience.
CCA Law Student Alumni Event
Thank you to CCA’s Law Student Alumni who attended our first Reunion at Parkville Market’s The Local! We were so grateful to have our Law Student Alumni panelists Sarah Eagan, John Khalil, and Justin Taylor lead in sharing some history about their alternative advocacy paths since their time with CCA. We were also delighted to welcome so many of our Hartford-based alumni and our current group of CCA law students! We hope to make this an annual event, based on the wonderful response to the evening, and plan to host a virtual event next time so that we can engage even more of our Alumni in sharing the work we do!
