Hello Everyone!
I said I would do spotlights on cool organizations as we come across them in our activities. Therefore, I come to you today with brief spotlights on three cool organizations.
As it is Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I will start with the most relevant first. Today school was cancelled and the University closed, but the law school offered an opportunity to volunteer through its Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day. We got up early on our day off, walked to school, and then hopped on a bus that took us to Martin Luther King, Jr., High School (a very fitting place for our service project, don't you think?). We volunteered through an organization called Philadelphia Reads. It is a joint collaboration among the City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia School District, and the Free Library of Philadelphia (interesting fact- they call it the free library because while Philadelphia was the first city to have a public library system, it was not free - you had to pay a membership fee. Now there is the pay-for library system and the free system.). The coalition works to improve the literacy of Philadelphia children and youth through outreach programs, mentorships, and book drives. This last activity was crucial to our involvement. Martin Luther King, Jr., High School serves as the home base for book donations. We sorted through boxes and boxes of donated books, putting them in bins with other books based on intended age group and/or type of book, then further sorted each grouping into an order appropriate for shelving like at a library. Teachers then come in monthly to pick out "new" books for their classrooms. Rory even had the opportunity to record the Velveteen Rabbit as a read along audio book.
The next two organizations also come to us through involvement as school. Drexel has a 50 hour pro bono requirement for graduation. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, pro bono is latin meaning "for the good," short for pro bono publico, or "for the public good." It is common practice in the legal profession that firms must complete a number of pro bono hours each year. To help us complete our 50 hour requirement, the law school coordinates a number of legal volunteer opportunities for us to participate in each year. Unlike the day of service, these opportunities are a more consistent commitment over a semester or an entire academic year. This semester is the first opportunity we have to work on pro bono projects, and we are allowed to complete up to 25 of our 50 hours this semester.
Rory is considering work as a public defender upon graduation and has found a real interest in prisoner re-entry work in the last six months. Therefore, he was very excited to learn that one of the pro bono options was a prisoner re-entry program in Philadelphia. We are currently unsure of the exact name of the organization, but we do have some facts. Similar to Rory's work in drug court when he was a Guardian ad Litem last year, it is a specialized federal court system dedicated to prisoner re-entry. I realize I should maybe explain what prisoner re-entry is. It is working to help people who spent time in prison re-enter society in a way that helps them get back on their feet, provide for their families, and deters future crime involvement. That's all we know for now - he starts on the 25th so wish him luck, and we'll write more about it then!
I will be completing my pro bono hours with the Migrant Farm Workers Tax Clinic. Next week I will attend a training to make me IRS certified to assist low-income workers prepare their taxes. While I am in no way interested in tax law, I am excited for this opportunity! I may get the chance to use my Spanish skills, I'll be helping low-income workers (which was very rewarding last year), and I'll be learning how to prepare taxes-a very useful skill for anyone to have. The tax clinic operates every Saturday in February and the first two in April. Again, I don't have too many other details at this point but I will share what happens in a future blog.
Until then, hope you enjoyed learning about some of the awesome work that these organizations are doing and that your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was great.
Signing off,
Danielle
No comments:
Post a Comment