CLIA impacts Youth Voice

Youth Voice impacts young people

• In 2010, 98% of the high school seniors in CLIA programs graduated and went on to college, career school or the military.


• CLIA provided an adult mentor for over 200 local teens in 2010-2011.


• Twenty CLIA Law & Leadership students enrolled in early college courses at the University of Baltimore in Fall 2010 with assistance on tuition and books for their families.


• CLIA created paid “professional” jobs for 18 teens in 2010 to work in City Hall, government agencies and CLIA’s office.


• CLIA’s Youth Justice workshop helped the Juvenile Unit at the Baltimore City Detention Center lower violent incidents in the facility by almost 300% over three years.

Youth Voice impacts schools

• CLIA drafted a new law-related career education curriculum for Baltimore City Schools which was approved by the Maryland State Department of Education in 2007. It is currently used in seven local high schools.


• In September 2002, CLIA was awarded a Gates Foundation grant to design the Baltimore Freedom Academy (BFA), which opened in 2003.


• In 2002, CLIA was awarded a contract to administer the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program (SVPDP) in Baltimore City. CLIA has provided teacher training and support for 11 Baltimore City middle school teachers and reached over 500 students.


• CLIA has partnered with the University of Maryland Law School to develop an innovative Consumer Law curriculum. Students will learn important lessons from victims and advocates and will have the opportunity to work on real cases and studies with attorneys and law students.


• CLIA’s Teen Leaders for Change after-school program spent 2009-2010 working on a project to make sure low income students had access to free or low cost school uniforms. Their research showed some classmates were not attending school because of uniform-related issues.


• CLIA partnered with the Hippodrome Foundation to provide City Schools with hundreds of tickets to performances of Twelve Angry Men and Hairspray, preceded by workshops on the legal system and the impact of racism.

Youth Voice impacts Baltimore

The support of advocacy projects designed and implemented by young people for the betterment of schools and neighborhoods is central to CLIA’s mission. Over the last 5 years, youth inspired and engaged by CLIA have:

• Worked with public health officials to design a survey on flavored tobacco use and administer it to almost 2,500 teens. The information was presented to the City Council and the City’s Health Commissioner.


• Helped to negotiate the removal of over 75 alcohol and tobacco billboards near residential communities, schools, and churches and passed one of the nation’s strongest outdoor advertising regulations designed to protect young people.


• Surveyed a thirty-block radius of the city to create a comprehensive study of vacant houses. The results led to the demolition of over thirty vacant properties by the city.


• Negotiated with the MTA to restore needed bus service to their school and to develop a feedback mechanism whereby students could register service complaints to the MTA.


• Advocated to the City School Board for funding to fix school bathrooms, many of which were effectively unusable and not in compliance with the city health code.


• Hosted a televised public hearing at City Hall where students could learn how the school system budget is created and to offer comments.


• Taped an anti-gang public service announcement with filmmaking students at Goucher College.


• Collected information on non-compliant bars and liquor stores in their neighborhoods and participated in arbitration with some of those businesses.


• Researched the use of private homes for drug dealing and helped law students draft and file several drug nuisance cases.


• Assisted community leaders with a 1997 bond bill that led to funding of the Earles R, Mitchell Community Center in Park Heights.


• Surveyed local middle schools, documenting multiple violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and drafting a report for the School Board.


• Created a video and a pamphlet geared towards educating young homeowners and first-time home buyers avoid real estate scams. Students also worked with the AARP to create workshops to educate senior citizens on home improvement scams.

 

Youth Leaders Win Courage Award 

 

Just Kids' Core Alliance of Youth Leaders (CAYL) was awarded the John P. Sarbanes Courage Award for 2012. The award was presented to CAYL for their "courage as advocates for youth who are charged as adults, their efforts to stop the proposed youth jail," and for "inspiring us with their courage in the face of injustice." 

 

CAYL is the youth leadership group of the Just Kids Partnership. CAYL consists of five youth leaders; Jabriera Handy, Kevin Junior, Christian Bailey, Kevin Reverley, and Jaelynn Travis, and is led by Rashad Hawkins.

 

Kevin Junior, Jaelyn Travis, Kevin Reverly and Rashad Hawkins.

CAYL leads youth organizing activities, assists with overall community organizing, attends meetings with legislators and other policymakers, and presents testimonies about their experiences at community meetings, legislative hearings, and other events. CAYL were active leaders and organizers in the Alliance to Stop the Youth Jail in Baltimore, a campaign which stopped the unnecessary building of a jail that would have housed youth charged as adults.

 

CAYL members also serve as the youth representatives on the Just Kids Steering Committee, an advisory committee that meets monthly and helps to guide the activities of the Just Kids staff. Their work is instrumental in spreading the word about the negative effects of automatically prosecuting youth as adults on youth and communities. They dispel misconceptions about youth who are swept into the adult system, and build public opinion in support of the Just Kids campaign and juvenile justice reform.

 

CAYL members are courageous leaders who work tirelessly to change the lives of youth who come in to contact with the criminal justice system. They bring the energy and real life experiences to the campaign. The Just Kids Partnership is very proud of the youth's many accomplishments.

 

 

 

 

 

CLIA Alumni Update:  Renee White  

 

 

All CLIA youth are capable of doing amazing things, but there are still a few stars who rise to the top.  Renee White was one of those stars who continues to exceed expectations! 

 

Renee, a 2009 graduate New Era Academy high school and a participant in CLIA's Teen Leaders for Change (TLC) after school program, is now making her mark at the University of Baltimore.  Renee, like many Baltimore City graduates, started her college career at Coppin State University.  She says "I'm glad I followed the advice I received at the beginning of college to work hard from the start rather than let my grades slip and have to catch up."  Throughout her time at Coppin, Renee worked at IKEA , maintained a work study position in the Office of Accounts Receivable and earned a 2.8 GPA. 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renee's dedication and understanding of how to advocate for herself is paying off.  She recently transferred to the University of Baltimore to major in Accounting.  She is hoping to join the Beta Alpha Psi accounting honors society this semester and graduate in December 2013. The classes at UB are challenging, and Renee is still holding two jobs, but her outlook is as positive and goal-oriented as ever.  She continues to work at IKEA to pay for the insurance on her new car, and her work study position is with the Chair of UB's Departments of Marketing, Finance and Accounting.  After graduation, Renee plans to pursue her CPA license.

 

Of her time at CLIA, Renee says, "CLIA opened up a lot of opportunities for college and high school experiences and created a better networking system for me." Renee is taking advantage of every opportunity and networking contact to reach her goals and succeed!