Legal Momentum News Brief—January 15, 2018

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January 16, 2018

Legal Momentum Provides Training on Cyber-Bullying and NYC School Students’ Rights

Legal Momentum Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer Becker provided training on cyber-bullying and the legal rights of New York City school students for 50 staff members of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center in the Bronx, New York. The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center provides educational and personal empowerment programs for early childhood, youth, and adults and families. A wide range of young people, many of them “at risk,” benefit from the center’s youth programs, which include tween and teen boys and girls and youth with special needs. The center invited Legal Momentum to give a presentation on cyber-bullying and the rights of New York City students to its entire staff to empower them to assist their clients with these important issues. For information on how to arrange a similar training for your organization, email info@legalmomentum.org.

Launching Rights Now! Workshops This Spring

Legal Momentum’s Rights Now! Peer Educator Empowerment Program is now scheduling workshops for March 1 through June 30, 2018. We are partnering with community organizations around New York City to bring these activity-based workshops on healthy relationships and legal rights to young women and girls. Rights Now! workshops are offered on these topics:

  • Power, Privilege, and Oppression
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Social Media and Cyber-Violence
  • Legal Rights

The workshops build confidence and knowledge as participants learn how power, privilege, and oppression have an impact on their lives. They are designed to teach teens and young women of color about healthy relationships and their legal rights through dialogue facilitated by Peer Educators and Legal Momentum staff. To schedule a Rights Now! workshop at your organization, contact Ane Mathieson, Rights Now! Policy Fellow, at amathieson@legalmomentum.org. For more information about the Rights Now! program, visit https://www.legalmomentum.org/rights-now.

Title IX Calls Jump in Number to Legal Momentum Helpline

In December 2017, Legal Momentum took action for five specific individuals: for three of the cases, Legal Momentum assessed the student’s situations and provided feedback on schools’ policies aligned with federal Department of Education guidelines. We directed them to organizations that will provide ongoing assistance. For the fourth case, we are providing informal guidance on reasonable accommodations available to them. For the fifth student, who seeks to strengthen her school’s current policies, Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer Becker, a former Title IX coordinator for the nation’s largest public school system, provided extensive feedback on the student’s recommendations and on specific school policies that can be improved.

2018 Women of Achievement Dinner to Honor Six Outstanding Women

Legal Momentum’s 13th Annual Women of Achievement Awards Dinner will take place at the InterContinental San Francisco on Wednesday, March 21. The awards will salute the accomplishments of six extraordinary women who have achieved success at the tops of their professions. 

The 2018 Women of Achievement Honorees are:

  • Esha Bandyopadhyay, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP
  • Ashlie Beringer, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel (Regulatory, Product, Privacy), Facebook
  • Natasha Innocenti, Partner, MLegal Group
  • The Honorable Michelle K. Lee, Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Distinguished Public Service Awardee
  • Michelle Leetham, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary, Rodan + Fields
  • Sonja Perkins, Managing Director, The Perkins Fund 

To reserve a ticket or table at the event, visit https://www.legalmomentum.org/woa2018. For information on event sponsorship or advertising in the event’s Dinner Journal, email friends@legalmomentum.org.