Justice Podcast

Aurora is the founder of popUPjustice and the former executive director of Columbia legal services. Aurora shares her immigrant story and access to justice journey, including her vision as founder of popUPjustice, a social justice startup focused on community building and innovation. We also talk about the importance, or rather, the imperative for diversity at the decision-making table in social justice organizations, movements, and communities. Shownotes at justicepodcast.com

The City Bar Justice Center is different from other legal aid organizations in that it can’t do the work without volunteers. The Justice Center is built for pro bono. The Justice Center recruits, trains, and mentors volunteer attorneys that want to give back to the community and matches them with low income clients in New York City who can’t afford to pay for the legal services that they need. The Justice Center has been known as a resource through the court system for a long time, including the hotline: 212-626-7383 for free legal services consultations over the phone and the referral services hotline: 212-626-7373 for an inexpensive consultation for those who can afford to pay a little. Full shownotes at JusticePodcast.com

“Everything we do is community located, community operated and community directed. The difference in community activism lawyering vs. traditional aid is not only in terms of access but impact.” The Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA)’s founder Lam Nguyen Ho shares his journey and the work his organization is doing in the access to justice space to bring about systemic change. Want to get involved? Access to justice requires a commitment to being a part of the communities that you want to provide access to, says Lam, and that commitment needs presence, knowledge, and humility. Full shownotes at justicepodcast.com

“How do we implement race-based advocacy with design thinking to ideate a legal solution?” – a critical-thinking blog challenge put forth by Miguel Willis to the ATJ Tech Fellows captures the essence of this episode and what Miguel and the access to justice tech program program is all about. Want to get involved? Miguel says to fall in love with the problem first before thinking about the solution. Learn, study, inquire. Find your big WHY. The ATJ Tech Fellow program is a summer program for law students. The program has intentionally diversified the access to justice space by recruiting law students of color, LGBTQ groups, and women’s groups. It pairs law students around the country with legal services organizations, courts and public defenders offices. Fellows work on developing new technology such as web portals, chat bots, or improving a process or technology in use. Shownotes at justicepodcast.com