Laurie Parise

2006

Laurie Parise

Youth Represent

New York, New York, United States

Legal Advocacy

The Bold Idea:

Youth Represent will be the first organization of its kind in New York City to provide legal representation, reentry advocacy, and social services to youth under the age of 24 who are or have been involved in the juvenile or criminal justice system. By utilizing a holistic approach, Youth Represent will advocate for young people in both criminal and family court, as well as offer a broad range of services during and after a case is concluded. The organization’s true innovation will be its focus on reentry during all stages of representation, which will ensure the likelihood of a young person’s successful integration back into his or her community. The need for Youth Represent is clear. Last year, in NYC alone, 5,252 youth under the age of 16 were admitted to detention and another 11,365 youth between the ages of 16 and 18 were tried and sentenced as adults. As a result, there is now a staggering number of young people in NYC, mostly poor young men of color, who will suffer the same barriers to reentry as adults. With few marketable skills and a record of conviction, their chances to participate meaningfully in their communities will be severely diminished, and the likelihood of recidivism greatly enhanced.

Biography:

Laurie’s commitment to work with disenfranchised populations began in 1991 when she took a job at the Rainforest Foundation after graduating with a BA from Columbia University. After eleven years with the organization, the last five as its Executive Director, Laurie decided to go to law school to develop new skills in order to promote social justice in other segments of society. Upon her graduation from Brooklyn Law School, she was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to create and implement a youth reentry project at the Legal Action Center. Last year, in honor of her work with young people, Martindale Hubbell/Lexis Nexis awarded her with its first legal fellowship.

Moment of Obligation: Why did you want to create your new organization?
My moment of obligation came when I was speaking to a room full of young people with conviction histories on how to lessen the barriers they might face when seeking employment. When the questions started I realized that these young people had countless pressing legal issues that I could not address. For example, one young person needed to know whether his guilty plea would subject him to deportation, another had to clear up a warrant for violating parole. The questions kept on coming and all I could say was I did not practice that kind of law but could refer them to lawyers that did. Then a young man living in a shelter excitedly told the group that he planned to apply for public housing so he could have a place of his own. I then had to tell him that his misdemeanor would bar him from public housing for four years—but he had a right to a hearing. He asked me to represent him in a hearing and I had to say "no"—after all I did not practice that kind of law. At that moment I realized that the last thing these young people needed was a lawyer who specialized in one area. What they needed instead was an advocate who could provide holistic representation and support on the myriad challenges they will likely face as they began their uphill journey from the court room back to their community. In that split second I knew that I wanted not only to be that kind of advocate but I also wanted to create an organization to ensure that young people get the continuity of services they need and deserve for successful reintegration.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to take on deeply entrenched social problems?
For me, working on a small scale project is often the catalyst that leads to thinking big. I tend to immerse myself in learning about one very specific social problem and once I acquire a depth of knowledge about that particular issue, I begin to look for solutions to the broader concerns that might contribute to the narrower social problem. For example, the idea for Youth Represent grew out of a small project I created that addressed the legal and practical barriers young people with conviction histories face when they seek employment. It was only when I became very familiar with that specific issue that I was able to recognize that employment barriers were only one in a host of challenges that court-involved youth face when they reenter society after a conviction. The knowledge gained on the smaller problem led me to the bigger idea of creating an agency that would address the many other issues young people with conviction histories face.

New and Untested: Describe what’s innovative about your new work.
Utilizing a holistic approach, Youth Represent will provide criminal delinquency and civil representation to youth under the age of 24 who are or have been involved in either the criminal or juvenile justice systems. Youth Represent’s true innovation will be in its focus on reentry during all stages of representation. For example, Youth Represent lawyers will encourage collaboration between all in the court room to find innovative ways to lessen the significant roadblock that may impede successful reintegration before a final determination is made in a case. Social workers and workforce development providers will also work to ensure successful reintegration back into their communities. Currently there is no single juvenile justice organization in NYC that offers multiple legal and support services to court-involved youth during after a case is concluded even though research shows that when adolescents have continuous and long standing support they commit fewer crimes.

Seeing Possibilities: What do you believe are the most important qualities to do social change work?
Bold ideas are great but they are often difficult to implement because of the many competing interests and different thoughts on how best to tackle an entrenched social problem. Implementing a bold idea in small shifts over time is often the best way to build trust, consensus, and collaboration among diverse stakeholders working on a particular issue. Therefore, the need for patience is critical if you want to change the status quo and gain the invaluable community support necessary to implement your idea.

Which musical artists/albums get you going?
My father was a professional piano player and my mother was a singer, so I grew up surrounded by the music of Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and still love their music to this day. But, when I really need a jump start—Motown, the Stones and Springsteen help to motivate.

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?
Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, anything by John Steinbeck.

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?
I am not a technology person. If I can’t find the information in a book I will use the internet for research and for email.

Any last words, thoughts or advice to other social change leaders?
"... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." --Ralph Waldo Emerson