Youth Advocacy Project Honor

This is a lovely thing that my good friends at the Youth Advocacy Project have organized. I am truly honored to be honored as they said at the Academy Awards last night. Unfortunately, I'm going to be on the transplant ward at MGH but it sounds like they're going to try to beam me in via web cam for the celebration. If you can turn out and support a great cause while also showing your support for me, I'll be mighty grateful...


Save The Date!

Youth Advocacy Project’s

2009 Spring Celebration

Thursday, April 30, 2009

6:00—8:00 p.m.

Back Bay Events Center

180 Berkeley Street, Boston

Honoring our partners in the community:

Extraordinary Leadership Award

Stephen M. Pratt

CEO,

MY TURN, Inc.

Service to Communities in Need Award

Clementina M. Chéry

President and CEO,

The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Featuring entertainment by

The Gil Scott Trio

and a performance by

Ritmo en Acción

Hyde Square Task Force’s award-winning Afro-Latin dance troupe

Please contact Priscilla Duffy at 617-989-8125 or

pduffy@publiccounsel.net, or visit www.youthadvocacyproject.org,

for more information or to purchase tickets.

WHAT IS YAP AND WHAT ARE ITS OBJECTIVES?

The Youth Advocacy Project’s mission is to help Boston’s neediest children at some of the most challenging moments of their lives. YAP assists children in delinquency proceedings with effective representation in court, with educational advocacy, with psychological assessments, and with individualized referrals to community resources.

In addition to the traditional YAP Program, YAP also runs the EdLaw Project, providing educational advocacy to children in the Boston community, and produces Community Notebooks, which are books that serve as an informational resource for local professional who work with at-risk youth.

WHO ARE YAP'S CLIENTS?

YAP's client base is drawn from this state’s poorest population. More than 95% of YAP’s clients are children of color between the ages of 7 and 21, with 65% between the ages of 12 and 15; over 80% are boys. Over 70% of our clients live in Roxbury, Dorchester or Mattapan, and all are from families living at or below the poverty line. Typically, nearly 80% experience chronic difficulties in school, over 40% are truant, over 35% are chronic substance users, 20% are children of an incarcerated parent, 10% are pregnant or are a parent, and nearly 5% are homeless.

WHO IS YAP'S STAFF?

YAP's staff includes social workers, psychologists, community outreach workers, trainers and administrators, as well as attorneys. To be effective in the long run YAP helps each child address a host of concerns, including academic difficulties, mental and/or physical health issues, and the need for nurturing adult relationships and appropriate after-school programming. We are proud to be the first public defender office in the country to adopt what psychologists call a “Youth Development Approach” that addresses the needs of the whole child, not just the needs of the youth offender.