Support Children in Louisiana's Legal System!

At the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights, I have the privilege of working on the Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP) Team.

Unfortunately, Louisiana is a state that leads the nation in sentencing children to die in prison. This fact is exacerbated by the disproportionate impact on Black children. Our work is two fold. First, our job is to fight to make sure that children are no longer sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Second, we represent adults who were sentenced to life without parole as children in re sentencing so that they may have a meaningful opportunity for release.

In our mitigation work, we meet with the client's family, friends, and community to present a holistic view of who the individual is so that he/she is not solely defined by a police report and the media. We meet with our incarcerated clients regularly to keep them encouraged, build trust, and allow them to actively participate in their defense. We negotiate with prosecutors statewide to limit and hopefully eradicate the practice of sentencing children to die in prison. Our work involves an understanding of culture, community, child development, race, policy, and zealous advocacy.

Sometimes what stands between our clients and success are barriers, seemingly small, but insurmountable to a family that's struggling to get by

For JLWOP team, a donation to the LCCR Small Favors Fund goes to purchase:

• a state ID to enroll in a job training program
• new clothes after being released from prison
• books for incarcerated clients
• Chromebooks to assist with schooling

No client should sink deeper into the justice system because they cannot afford the small costs that matter so much to their success.

That's why this holiday season, I'm rallying to raise money for LCCR's Small Favors Fund -- a reserve used to help our children and juvenile lifers cover the small costs that stand in the way of opportunity.

Together, let's rally to remove obstacles to our kids' success... and change lives for the better. MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY!