Legislation and policy
that changes kids’ lives
DEPARTMENT UPDATE: CHILDLAW POLICY INSTITUTE
T
he ChildLaw Policy
Institute, part of the
multipronged Civitas
ChildLaw Center,
improves the lives of Illinois
children and families through
systems reform and legislative
advocacy. The institute develops
and promotes child-centered
laws, policies, and practices, and
builds coalitions and partnerships
to improve the functioning of the
legal, social welfare, juvenile justice,
health care, and other systems
that disproportionately affect
underserved families.
“Most of our work focuses
on efforts to reform or improve
systems that especially affect
the lives of low-income and minority
families: lead poisoning prevention,
child protection, and juvenile
justice,” says Anita Weinberg (JD ’86),
director of the institute. “We want
our students to think critically about
whether a law is effective, fair, and
sufficient—and also whether there
are better ways than the legal system
to address some issues.”
The institute’s ChildLaw Policy
and Legislative Clinic, established
in 2010, grew out of the ChildLaw
Legislation Seminar. Working in
project teams under the supervision
of clinic faculty, students “research
and assess problems, propose
solutions, draft legislative materials,
and develop skills presenting this
information orally and in writing,”
Weinberg says. Students develop
a sophisticated understanding of
the realities, opportunities, and
limitations of the legislative process
through the seminar, coalition
meetings, and trips to Springfield to
meet with legislators.
In one of the clinic’s ongoing
projects, a team of students works
with the Illinois Department of Children
and Family Services (DCFS) statewide
Youth Advisory Board, teaching youth
ages 15–21 about the legislative
process and advocacy skills. As a
result of the board’s efforts and Loyola
students’ help, two bills passed the
General Assembly this summer with
youth testimony. One law mandates the
existence of the Youth Advisory Board;
the other strengthens the college
scholarship program for youth in
foster care.
Over the years, clinic students
have also worked with the institute’s
ongoing legislative efforts on lead
poisoning prevention. Recently
Weinberg spearheaded an effort
with other parts of the University to
convene a public-private-community
summit on healthy homes—an
expansion of her longstanding
commitment to eliminating lead
hazards in housing.
Responding to proposed
legislation that would have
restricted youth adjudicated
delinquent for a sex offense from
being in any environment in which
children are present, clinic faculty
and students offered to help the
Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission
complete a study now gaining
national attention.
“Our recommendations include
more training and education for
those working with youth identified
as sexually offending, the removal
of a registry of these youth, and
community-based treatment that
involves families,” says Weinberg,
noting that most youth sex offenses
are intrafamilial, half of offenders are
under age 14, and this population
reoffends at far lower rates than other
juvenile offenders.
That kind of interdisciplinary
solution is a hallmark of the
institute’s approach. “We’re focused
on drafting legislation,”Weinberg
says, “but sometimes legislation isn’t
the right way to go: policy reform,
improved practice, or education
could be a better choice.”
■
C
linical Professor of Law Anita Weinberg (JD ’86), director of Loyola’s ChildLaw Policy Institute, was awarded the first
Ignatius Loyola Award for Excellence in Teaching at Loyola’s University-wide Faculty Convocation in September.
The award, which will be presented once every two years, is the University’s most prestigious teaching honor, and
recognizes a faculty member whose teaching shows a commitment to excellence, raises global awareness, promotes
social justice, and educates the whole student. One student describedWeinberg as “a true teacher in the meaning of the
words ‘to draw forth.’”
“I’m proud to be at a university that uses social justice as a unifying direction,” says Weinberg of the award. “To have
been honored for my work this way is exciting and also gratifying. Loyola has a very committed, passionate group of people
working across the University, and it’s great to be recognized as a part of that.”
■
aweinbe@luc.edu
Loyola
honors
Weinberg
FELLOWSHIPS
Turning their talents towardDetroit
T
he greater Detroit region has
experienced a significant loss
of young talent over the past several
years. Many of Michigan’s young
people are gravitating toward other
Midwestern cities such as Chicago
and Minneapolis.
A nonprofit organization,
Challenge Detroit, aims to change
that trend by bringing innovative,
entrepreneurial young thinkers
to experience Detroit for a year.
A number of host companies and
organizations employ Challenge
Detroit fellows in meaningful,
yearlong jobs. These companies and
Challenge Detroit’s organizers hope
the project will help attract—and
retain—a vibrant group of young
professionals in the city.
In addition to working at their
host companies, fellows gather
weekly to work in teams generating
solutions to pressing needs faced
by the project’s partner nonprofit
organizations. These “community
challenges” are organized around
health disparities, educational
empowerment, neighborhood
activation, and other topics.
Two Loyola law alumni are
among the approximately 35
individuals chosen from more than
850 applicants as Challenge Detroit’s
third group of fellows. Kristina Wilson
(JD ’14) grew up in Detroit and is
being hosted by Penske, a truck rental
and car sales company. “This is a
wonderful program that will give me
an opportunity to give back to the
city I love and to work for a wonderful
company in my field right out of law
school,” she says.
Sarms Jabra (JD ’14), whose
hometown is Farmington Hills,
Michigan, is working for Skidmore
Studio, a design group. “Detroit has
the potential to reinvent what it
means to be a great American city,
and I want to help determine that
identity,” he says.
■
Loyola University Chicago law alumni and friends gathered with Dean David Yellen (center) at the University Club of Chicago on October 29 to honor 2014 awardees Mark Braun
(JD ’49, left), Medal of Excellence; Francis Wolfe Jr. (JD ’98), Francis J. Rooney/St. Thomas More Award; Michelle Kohut (BS ’96, JD ’02), St. Robert Bellarmine Award; and Richard
Cozzola (BA ’74, JD ’80), Public Service Merit Award. To view photos of the event, visit
LUC.edu/law/alumni
.
Anita Weinberg
ALUMNI AWARDS LUNCHEON
For more information, visit
challengedetroit.org
.
LEGAL BRIEFS
Kristina Wilson
Sarms Jabra
2
LOYOLA LAW
FALL 2014
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