New York Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke representing the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn has obtained through the Institute Competitive Grant Program a grant for the Medgar Evers College Pre-Law Program. The fund is to assist the college’s community-based legal group. An amount totaling over half a million dollars was given to Medgar Evers College, Center for Law, and Social Justice (CLSJ), to begin its new Esmeralda Simmons Pre-Law Program.
Congresswoman Clarke in speaking to the Caribbean Life newspaper, on obtaining the funds stated, that “it was a honor to fight for the funding to support the profoundly innovative Esmeralda Simmons Pre-Law Program, which is certain to build on the storied legacy.”
The grant will help promote highly effective teaching programs and in achieving this funding also the Center for Law and Social Justice will enact to provide legal services as well as to mentor and advise college students in Brooklyn who desire to pursue a career in law. The CLSJ will also include juniors enrolled at Medgar Evers who are interested in the program. The course will instruct students on a variety of topics pertaining to the practice of law over the course of a year. The announcement also includes the CLSJ’s plan to have students participating in workshops, conferences, different speakers series and other eventful activities to obtain valuable academic experience connected to law.
Executive Director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, Daniel Favors, Esq and members of the CLSJ welcomed the incredible award, which would allow the college to pay tribute to the legacy of our pioneering founding director and civil rights attorney, Esmeralda Simmons by nurturing our community‘s next generation of legal scholars and advocates.
“This program will set the gold standards for preparing students from our communities for the rigors of law school and the legal profession while employing a racial justice legal framework so that they can work to advance equity and justice in New York and our nation,” said Favors.
The personnel at the center aim that the $535,000 will help provide programs that will engage the students from the Brooklyn communities who are preparing to enter into law school.
