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 THE
PUBLIC INTEREST LAW CENTER OF PHILADELPHIA
Affiliated with the
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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Roosevelt Hairston, Jr., Chair
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Eric J.
Rothschild, Vice Chair
Pepper
Hamilton LLP
Melissa A.
Wojtylak, Treasurer
Reed Smith LLP
Scott Bennett
Freemann, Secretary
Freemann Law
Offices
Danielle Banks
Stradley Ronon
Stevens & Young LLP
Richard L.
Bazelon
Bazelon Less
& Feldman
Anna M. Bryan
White and
Williams LLP
Nicholas E.
Chimicles
Chimicles
& Tikellis
William H.
Ewing
Joseph B.G. Fay
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Brian T.
Feeney
Greenberg
Traurig LLP
H. Robert
Fiebach
Cozen O'Connor
Howard R.
Flaxman
Fox Rothschild
LLP
Ellen S.
Friedell
Reaching
Agreement ADR LLC
George G.
Gordon
Dechert LLP
Stacy L.
Hawkins
Diversity
Consultant
Rutgers School
of Law - Camden
Marilyn
Heffley
Sunoco, Inc.
Donald K.
Joseph
Rutgers School
of Law - Camden
Aliza R.
Karetnick
Duane Morris
LLP
Marciene S.
Mattleman
After School
Activities Partnership
KYW
Sharon F.
McKee
Hangley
Aronchick Segal & Pudlin
H. Laddie
Montague, Jr.
Berger &
Montague PC
Derek
Redcross, CPA
Redcross
Associates
Paul H.
Saint-Antoine
Drinker Biddle
& Reath LLP
David Smith
Schnader
Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
Marc A. Topaz
Barroway Topaz
Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP
Shelly D.
Yanoff
Public
Citizens for Children & Youth
EX OFFICIO
DaQuana
L. Carter
Barristers'Association
of
Philadelphia
Scott F.
Cooper, Chancellor
Philadelphia
Bar Association
Abbie DuFrayne, Chair
Young Lawyers'
Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association
Rudolph
Garcia, Chancellor-Elect
Philadelphia Bar Association
Ellen T.
Greenlee
Defender
Association of Philadelphia
Grace P. Manno
Asian Pacific
American Bar Association of Pennsylvania
Carlos Montoya
Hispanic Bar
Association of Pennsylvania
John Savoth, Vice
Chancellor
Philadelphia
Bar Association
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Letter
from the Executive Director
Our dedicated board of directors asked these questions
and others this year as we put each of our projects under the
microscope in a strategic planning process designed to make sure that
our precious time and resources are spent in a way that is coherent and
effective.
In this newsletter, we begin to answer those questions as we highlight
some of the many initiatives guided by our able project director, Adam Cutler.
We are giving voice to residents in Eddystone, Pennsylvania whose
elected officials approved a metal scrap recycling facility, ignoring
public opposition. Through grants from the EPA, we are providing
legal and technical support to Chester, Pennsylvania and the Hunting
Park neighborhood of Philadelphia, communities already organized to
improve the quality of their surroundings. We joined the
public discussion about Marcellus Shale drilling as co-hosts and
panelists following a film screening at WHYY. Through a
fellowship from the Skadden Foundation beginning
in the fall, we will provide legal advice to minority individuals,
communities and organizations seeking to supplement their incomes and
create community food sovereignty through urban farming.
To us, these projects fit naturally with the rest of our work. If
we are to have equality, all of us must ensure that our fellow citizens
have access to the basic conditions people need to thrive, including
education, jobs, housing and health. And health comes not just
from having access to a doctor and dentist (although that certainly is
a central right which our attorney James Eiseman is working to
vindicate in Florida with our partners at Boies Schiller &
Flexner). A neighborhood with parks, available healthy food
and clean soil, water and air are equally critical.
p.s. If you are one of the generous donors
who has already supported the Law Center this year, thank
you! If you haven't made your gift yet, there's still time
to make a year-end donation online by clicking here.
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Support the Law Center today!
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The
Law Center counts on donors like you to be able to provide exceptional
services to our clients. Please join us in our efforts by making a
tax-deductible gift today.
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Film Screening and Marcellus Shale
Discussion Features Adam Cutler, DEP Sec. John Hanger, and Others
The Law Center partnered with WHYY to present
the November 17th Philadelphia premiere of Deep Down,
a documentary exploring a small Appalachian community's mobilization
around mountaintop removal mining. The film was followed by a
panel discussion about the parallels between the film and the
environmental, social and economic issues around Marcellus Shale
drilling. Adam
Cutler, Director of the Law Center's Public Health and
Environmental Justice Clinic joined John Hanger,
former Secretary
of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP), Tracy Carluccio from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Christine
Knapp of PennFuture, and State Representative Tony Payton, Jr.,
of the 179th District in Philadelphia on the panel. Watch a video of
the panel
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EPA Grant to Aid Residents of
Chester, PA in Reducing Environmental Hazards
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CEP's Rev. Strand
with clinic students
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The Law Center's Public
Health and Environmental Justice Clinic received a
$100,000 grant through the United
States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Community Action for a
Renewed Environment (CARE) grant program to help residents
organize and take action to reduce toxic pollution in their
neighborhoods. The grant will help build the capacity
of the Chester Environmental Partnership (CEP), led by Reverend
Horace Strand (pictured), to catalogue environmental hazards in the
community and organize a community-wide effort to address these issues.
More information
about EPA's CARE program
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Law Center Co-Sponsors
Report On Costs of Air Pollution to Downwind Areas
The Law Center co-sponsored a study released December
8th finding that, without key pollution controls, pollution from
coal-fired power plants is costing businesses in downwind states
nearly $6 billion annually due to higher labor and insurance costs, lost
work days, and lost productivity. The report, "Expensive Neighbors: The
Hidden Cost of Harmful Pollution to Downwind Employers and
Businesses," concludes that the benefits of the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed "Transport
Rule" under the Clean Air Act far outweigh any associated
compliance costs. More on our
website...
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Public Health &
Environmental Justice Clinic Represents Eddystone Clients
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Picture
via Eddystoner
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Since the Spring
of 2010, the Law Center has been advising Eddystone Residents for
Positive Change (ERPC), a community group which is
addressing a proposed metal shredding and processing facility for
the Eddystone Burough, which could introduce dangerous pollutants
into the air and the adjacent Delaware River. Eddystone residents began
voicing their concerns to the Eddystone Borough Council in early 2010,
but the Council approved the plans in October despite these
objections. Residents hope to convince the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection (DEP) not to grant the
facility the necessary permits. At a public hearing hosted by the
DEP on Tuesday, December 15th, the Law Center, speaking on behalf
of the ERPC, made their voices heard along with many other town
residents. More about the
hearing...
DEP hears from
Eddystone residents, Delco Times, 12/14/10
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Law Center Welcomes Two
New Fellows to Public Health & Environmental
Justice Project
Jaimee
L. Moore,
a graduate of the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University and
former intern with the Law Center's Public Health and Environmental
Justice Law Clinic, has returned to the Law Center as a Drexel Public Service
Fellow. As a fellow, Jaimee will continue to work with
Adam Cutler and this year's Clinic students on with the Law
Center's work with low-income and minority communities to protect the
health of their neighborhoods. The Fellowship lasts through May,
2011. More about Jaimee....
 In Fall 2011, Amy Laura Cahn will
join the Law Center as a recipient of the prestigious Skadden Fellowship,
which has been described as "a legal Peace Corps."
Amy Laura will provide comprehensive legal assistance, including direct
legal, transactional, and negotiation support, to Philadelphians in
historically underserved and low wealth communities using urban farming
to encourage economic independence, foster community food sovereignty,
and reclaim neighborhoods from urban blight. Amy Laura graduated magna cum laude in
2009 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is
currently clerking for the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
She worked with the Law Center and her classmates from Penn Law's
Visual Legal Advocacy seminar earlier this year to produce "Pennhurst: the Road to Civil
Rights for People with Disabilities," a documentary
about the Law Center's groundbreaking lawsuit to close Pennsylvania's
largest state-run institution for people with disabilities. The
video will be available online soon.
More about Amy Laura...
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 Getting
Results for the Students of LMSD
The Law Center's legal proceedings on the behalf of
students languishing in low-level and special education classes in Lower Merion School District
are moving forward and continuing to get results. On December
21st, Judge Harvey
Bartle III set Blunt
et al v. LMSD to return to the trial pool in November,
2011, after the parties exchange documents and information and take
pre-trial testimony. This federal lawsuit alleges that LMSD has
systematically discriminated against its black students by
disproportionately and inappropriately placing them in special
education programs and the lowest level classes, where they are
segregated from their white peers and receive a substandard education.
Complementing this high-impact litigation, the Law
Center's advocacy on behalf of individual students continues to achieve
real results for the students whose educations have been neglected by
LMSD. High school students S.M.
and A.L. were
both awarded compensatory education from LMSD this month. And, a
federal court judge decided that a Hearing Officer's decision to
deny S.L. and
his family's request for a hearing seeking an Independent
Educational Evaluation (IEE) was unfounded and ordered the Hearing
Officer to allow S.L. and his family a hearing on that issue.
This ruling established that hearing
officers cannot decline to hold a hearing on any
right protected under the IDEA.
Loraine Carter, president of Concerned
Black Parents, an organization in which many of the
families we represent are involved, wrote:
"With PILCOP advocating for us, one middle school
boy is enrolled in a private school where his gains are tremendous and
he feels it's the absolute right match for him, another is attending a
local college where she is prospering while gaining the academic skills
lost through years of receiving an inappropriate education within Lower
Merion, another is receiving reading and math support with Lindamoode
Bell in Bryn Mawr, and several others were removed from special
education simply because they never were disabled to begin with. By the
way, the Lower Merion School District is paying 100% of these students'
tuition."
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Participate in a Study of
Parents of Children with Disabilities
A doctoral student at Peabody College and the Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center has asked us to help her with a study of parents of
students with disabilities. The study will examine parent-school
collaboration as it relates to parental and child characteristics. The
study itself will involve the parent answering a survey about him/herself,
the child with a disability, and the relationship with the school the
child attends. Altogether, the study will take about 20-30
minutes. The results of the study will be available to those who are
interested.
Click here to participate!
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Judge Rules Methadone
Treatment Center Lawsuit Can Proceed
Judge Kim Gibson of the
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled on
December 7 that the RHJ Medical Center, a methadone clinic for which
the Law Center is serving as co-counsel, has standing to sue the City
of DuBois, PA, for discriminatory practices that prevented it from
opening. The court denied the city's motion for judgment on the
pleadings, relying heavily on the Third Circuit's opinion in the Law
Center's successful suit on behalf of New Directions Treatment Services
against the City of Reading, PA. (The Third Circuit struck down a
Pennsylvania law that banned methadone treatment facilities within 500
feet of schools, public playgrounds, public parks, residential housing
areas, child-care facilities, churches, meetinghouses, and other
facilities, essentially making it impossible for clinics to provide
recovering drug addicts with the treatment they need for their
recovery.)
Read more about the
RHJ case.
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Law Center Friends and
Colleagues Celebrate the Season
On the evening of December 16th, past and
present staff, interns, volunteers and colleagues of the Law
Center braved the snowy weather to gather at the Law Center's office
and celebrate the Holiday season. Thanks to all who attended for making
it such a memorable evening, and happy
holidays from all of us at the Law Center!
Pictured at right are Law Center Board Member and
Symposium Chair
Donald Joseph and Michael Churchill of the Law
Center.
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Meet Our
Volunteers!
The Law Center's day-to-day operations rely in large
part on the hard work of its wonderful volunteers. A big thank you to
our volunteers and interns for their contributions to the Law Center's
success! Our current volunteers are Christa Cobb, Jim Kostman, Dean Williams,
Bunmi Bayode,
Eileen Somers,
and Karen
Wheeler. This month we feature Christa Cobb
(pictured at right), who has volunteered at the Law Center
for over a year, taking on important responsibilities such as
helping to coordinate the panelists for our 3rd annual Symposium on Equality.
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Three Local Foundations Join
Others to Support Law Center Projects
The Claneil Foundation, the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback
Foundation and the Philadelphia Bar Foundation recently joined our
other foundation donors to support
our projects. The
Claneil Foundation grant supports our work to secure a
quality education for children in the School District of Philadelphia
by enforcing the provisions of the desegregation case settlement
agreement negotiated last summer. The Lindback Foundation grant
supports our project to train law students, lawyers and parents of
children with disabilities in the School District of Philadelphia about
the Individuals with Disabilities Act. The Philadelphia Bar Foundation
grant provides general operating support. The Law Center extends
our thanks to all three funders for their generosity!
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Support the Law Center by
Shopping through GoodShop
While shopping online for post-holiday bargains, you can
take a few simple steps to donate a portion of what you spend to
the Law Center. Go to GoodShop.com and
select the store from which you want to make a purchase, and as much as
7% of your final purchase will be donated to the Law Center. Also,
whenever you perform an web search on GoodSearch.com
with the Law Center selected, we'll receive a one cent donation. If
enough people take these easy steps, GoodSearch could
contribute significantly our mission of equal citizenship for all.
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Join Us at These Upcoming
Trainings and Events:
Assistive
Technology: Leveling the Playing Field for Children with Disabilities
When: Tuesday January
25, 2011, 12-4 p.m.
Who should attend:
parents, including foster parents, advocates, attorneys, human service
workers, child care providers, and others who work with children who
experience disabilities.
What:
This seminar will
focus on the legal requirements of how to obtain and utilize assistive
technology in schools, including addressing assistive technology
(augmentative communication) evaluations, device selection/trials, and
incorporating assistive technology within IEPs. This seminar is
designed for those with varying degrees of knowledge.
View the course outline. | REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
"Ask Absolutely Anything"
Education Public Information Sessions
When: Thursday,
January 27th, 3-6:30 p.m.
Where:
92 Greenfield Avenue in Ardmore, PA (Zion's Annex)
Cost: FREE, first
come, first served.
Our clients, Concerned Black Parents, are hosting these weekly sessions
during which, Law Center attorneys will respond to questions from Lower
Merion students and their families on general and special education
issues.
Children with Behavioral and
Counseling Needs and Juvenile Justice Issues
When:
Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 12-4 pm
Who should attend:
parents, including foster parents, advocates, attorneys, human service
workers, child care providers, and others who work with children who
have emotional needs and/or behavioral problems, and who have
encountered or may encounter the juvenile justice system.
What:
This seminar will focus on practical ways to work with your child's
team to improve behavioral programming, reduce suspensions and other
disciplinary actions and avoid involvement in the juvenile justice
system, as well as what to do if the child is in the juvenile justice
system, and to assist a child with emotional needs. This seminar is
designed for individuals with varying degrees of knowledge. REGISTRATION IS
NOW OPEN
View our full
calendar of trainings
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The Public Interest
Law Center of Philadelphia is dedicated to advancing the Constitutional
promise of equal citizenship to all persons irrespective of race,
ethnicity, national origin, disability, gender or poverty. We use public
education, continuing education of our clients and client organizations,
research, negotiation and, when necessary, the courts to achieve systemic
reforms that advance the central goals of self-advocacy, social justice
and equal protection of the law for all members of society. www.pilcop.org
The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia is a
registered charitable organization. A copy of the official registration
may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll
free within Pennsylvania 1.800.732.0999. Registration does not imply
endorsement.
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