Caring Causes: Juvenile Law Center Leadership Prize Awards

Today Juvenile Law Center, the oldest public interest law firm for children in the country, is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Leadership Prize. The group’s annual Leadership Prize is awarded to outstanding advocates working to advance the rights and well-being of youth in the child welfare and justice systems. The work of our awardees has substantially improved the lives of the country’s most vulnerable youth.

The 2018 winners of the Prize are:

• Francis “Frankie” V. Guzman, Juvenile Justice Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, Oakland, CA.
• Judge Steven C. Teske, Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court of Clayton County, GA
• Teen Vogue, U.S. Media Brand; Publishers of Kids Incarcerated, Series on Incarcerated Youth (Award to be accepted by Allison Maloney, Teen Vogue News and Politics Editor)

Please read more about the awardees here.

"Judge Steven Teske, Attorney Frankie Guzman and Teen Vogue - each using different strategies to advocate for kids -  have all done remarkable work and made a real impact on the lives of youth in the child welfare and justice systems,” said Sue Mangold, Juvenile Law Center Executive Director. “We are privileged to work with them and to honor their achievments."

The 2018 Leadership Prize Selection Committee included James Bell, W. Haywood Burns Institute, Chair; Mary Lee Allen, Children’s Defense Fund, 2017 Leadership Prize Recipient for Child Welfare; James Forman, Jr., Yale Law School; Vernon Francis, Dechert, LLP; and Riya Saha Shah, Juvenile Law Center. Juvenile Law Center will celebrate the awardees at a reception on May 9, 2018 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Solomon Jones,author, journalist, columnist and community champion on youth and criminal justice issues, will emcee the event. For more information and details, please visit this link.

Recipients of the Leadership Prize are leading lights in the field whose inspirational careers have served as beacons for the next generation of advocates. The inaugural recipient, Juvenile Law Center Co-Founder Robert Schwartz, not only brought Juvenile Law Center to national and international prominence over the course of his 40 years of leadership, he also helped develop the nascent field of children’s law, inspiring thousands of children’s rights advocates working nationwide. Today, Juvenile Law Center is recognized both nationally and internationally for its expertise as a trailblazer in the field of children’s rights law.

Juvenile Law Center advocates for rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the foster care and justice systems.

Founded in 1975, the organization is the first non-profit, public interest law firm for children in the country. We fight for youth through litigation, appellate advocacy and submission of amicus (friend-of-the-court) briefs, policy reform, public education, training, consulting, and strategic communications. Widely published and internationally recognized as leaders in the field, Juvenile Law Center has substantially shaped the development of law and policy on behalf of youth. We strive to ensure that laws, policies, and practices affecting youth advance racial and economic equity and are rooted in research, consistent with children’s unique developmental characteristics, and reflective of international human rights values.For more information about Juvenile Law Center’s work, visit www.JLC.org.