VOLUNTEERS WANTED
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE WITH A SMALL EFFORT
ACC Chicago is excited to launch our high school diversity pipeline program - Street Law 2024, an engaging initiative designed to help prime the pipeline to the legal profession for young people from underserved high schools in Chicago and the Northwest suburbs. This year we are planning to meet with students in-person to deliver the program, while following all applicable health and safety protocols.
We are looking for volunteers!
This program – developed by ACC in collaboration with the Street Law organization (www.streetlaw.org) - creates partnerships between lawyers and nearby high school law classes serving youth from a variety of backgrounds. The idea behind the program is to encourage high school students to continue their educations and to consider careers in the law.
The ACC Chicago Chapter Street Law Program has both a Chicago and a Northwest Suburbs component, and volunteers can select which component (city or suburbs) is most geographically convenient for them. ACC Chicago has forged relationships with both Chicago Public Schools and the U-46 District; together, we have identified a number of high schools and teachers that would be grateful for opportunities to partner with in-house counsel through the current semester.
Volunteers find it to be a fun and gratifying way to give back to the community and, at the same time, form meaningful relationships with their in-house colleagues. The time commitment involved is fairly flexible, probably averaging 10 hours over the course of two months – a small commitment to perhaps change the life of a deserving student.
Over the next couple months, ACC Chicago volunteers will visit each of the participating classes, and ACC Chicago will bring all of the students to a one-day conference (one for each geographic component) near the end of the spring semester.
The program kicks off with training sessions on the dates below, during which we learn how to access proven lesson plans for the classroom visits, and began to plan for the student conference.
February 23 – Northwest Suburbs Volunteers
Times: 3:00 – 4:00 pm Online
RSVP: ACCNWSuburbsStreetLaw@gmail.com for the Zoom invitation
February 27 – Chicago Volunteers
Times: 3:00 – 4:00 pm Online
RSVP: ACCLoopStreetLaw@gmail.com for the Zoom invitation
The program has been extremely successful each year with more than 80 in-house attorney volunteers reaching out to well over 200 promising young students. We receive tremendously positive feedback from the students and teachers, with requests for us to add students to the program this year if possible.
If you are interested in volunteering to participate in this very worthwhile program (even just the conference day), please contact:
Sara Levy, Board Member, Program Co-Chair
ACCLoopStreetLaw@gmail.com (Chicago program)
Adam Rouse, Program Co-Chair
ACCNWSuburbsStreetLaw@gmail.com (NW Suburbs program).
