So you don’t have money to donate to public interest organizations and you don’t have time to handle pro bono cases. You can still help the Juvenile Law Center by FOLLOWING THIS LINK and voting for the Foster Youth Speak Out project by September 1, 2008.
American Express is providing $2.5 million in funding to the five projects that receive the most votes, with grants ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million. If local attorney Jessica Feierman’s project makes it to the final five, Philadelphia’s JLC expects to be the non-profit that implements the program.
500,000 youth are in foster care nationwide. FYSO will allow them to have their voices heard so they can advocate for safe, nurturing, permanent homes and for positive school experiences. FYSO will create an interactive web community connecting foster youth across the nation with each other and the public to improve the foster care system. Youth will get further support from volunteer lawyers, who will teach them the advocacy skills they need to transform foster care from the inside.
Foster Youth Speak Out needs about another 1000 votes to make the top 25 as they currently rank. You do not need to be an American Express Card member to nominate FYSO — just sign in as a guest and follow directions to nominate the project. You do not need to be an attorney to vote.
It really takes less than 1 minute to help and if you have another minute you can watch the video.
Tags: American Express, foster care, Foster Youth Speak Out, Juvenile Law Center, pro bono, public interest
August 29, 2008 at 5:44 pm |
Sounds like a great idea and a great cause. I’ll definitely look into that link, I guess I only have 3 days. Better get on it.
September 15, 2008 at 4:01 am |
Hopefully the Juvenile Law Center got the funding they were seeking from American Express.