In
this e-Newsletter:
Annual
Luncheon to be held on October 17, 2006
Save the date!
The 2006
Annual Luncheon has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 17 at the Chicago
Athletic Association. The reception will begin at 11:30am and lunch
will begin promptly at 12:00pm.
Our keynote
speaker is Lynn Sweet, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Reserve
your space now for the Annual Luncheon!Tickets
and table sponsorships are available by calling Amanda Grant at 312-988-6599.
We look forward to seeing you on October 17!
2006
Summer Staff and Projects
The following
are the summer staff and some of the ongoing projects of the Chicago
Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. These
projects are accepting volunteers. Please contact Malcolm Rich for more
information (312-988-6552 or malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org).
Communications:
We are re-engineering the Council and Appleseed websites to be more
useful to our members, donors, the legal community in general, and to
the public at large. Staff: Development Director Amanda Grant and Intern
Lesley Roselle.
Criminal
Justice Survey:
Chicago Appleseed is conducting the research. Developing recommendations
and the advocacy is a joint Chicago Appleseed/Council effort. Julie
Dona and Kristin Lewis have interviewed over 100 judges, defense counsel,
and prosecutors. Badesch Fellow Mollie Hertel designed and implemented
a courtwatching project involving about 25 law students. PILI Fellows
Matt Satchwell (Kirkland & Ellis) and Peter Huh (Skadden Arps Slate
Meagher & Flom) have interviewed dozens of former defendants and are
working on interviewing victims and witnesses. Project staff and members
of the Advisory Committee are meeting weekly to discuss particular issues
and to start the process of turning research into recommendations and
an advocacy plan. This project has the cooperation of the Cook County
State’s Attorney’s Office, the Cook County Public Defender’s Office,
and Presiding Judge Paul Biebel.
Federal
Judicial Evaluation:
The Chicago Council of Lawyers has released our report on federal district
judges and we have now begun the preliminary work on our mail and personal
interview evaluation of magistrate and senior judges. Our goal is to
evaluate sitting federal district judges every three years. Council
Board members Mike Early and Peter Steinmeyer chair this project.
Financial
Literacy:
This is a Chicago Appleseed project done collaboratively with Appleseed
Centers in Nebraska, Texas, Georgia, and Alabama. We have produced reports
on how financial lenders inflate the exchange rate when sending remittances
from the United States to places like Mexico. There is national legislation
aimed at dealing with this problem. We have produced educational brochures
on issues relating to checking accounts and credit cards -- these brochures
are being distributed to community-based organizations, and the Mexican
Consulate in Chicago has ordered 1,000 sets of these brochures. We have
also conducted a bank survey to determine how local banks are dealing
with the immigrant population. Policy and Research Associate Jose Melendez
staffs this program.
State
Judicial Evaluation and Voter Education:
The Council is evaluating the judges seeking retention on the November
2006 ballot, and Chicago Appleseed is designing its www.voteforjudges.org
non-partisan voter education campaign for the November election. Council
staff lawyer Rodney Tonkovic assists with the Council’s evaluations,
while Chicago Appleseed’s Amanda Grant assists with the www.voteforjudges.org
campaign.
No
Child Left Behind Project:
Chicago Appleseed is part of a nationwide collaborative effort looking
at parental involvement provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Holland + Knight lawyers are volunteering their time to interview school
district personnel in five states. Chicago Appleseed staff includes
Nicole Van Cleve, Kim Conte, and Jose Melendez, as well as our volunteer
intern, Abigail Rich. As part of this Appleseed collaborative project,
we have interviewed more than 20 community group representatives and
national experts, as well as a sample of parents in Waukegan, Evanston,
and Bloomington. Based on research and interviews, we are developing
our proposed model of parental involvement and an advocacy plan aimed
at implementing our recommendations.