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Diversity and Inclusion Webinar

 Registration is closed for this event

Diversity and Inclusion Webinar: How Legal Aid Programs Can Use Diversity and Inclusion Policies to Improve Staff Engagement, Morale and Services to Clients

An MIE Webinar with Brenda Marrero, Deputy Director of Operations, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia Gina E. Polley, Deputy Chief Counsel, Maryland Legal Aid

MIE will present a webinar on May 2, 2018 from 2:00 to 3:30 addressing Diversity and Inclusion policies  for legal aid programs and how those policies can: strengthen hiring and retention of diverse staff; create an inclusive workplace culture that will improve staff morale, satisfaction, and retention; and, improve services to clients and their communities.

Why are Diversity and Inclusion such hot topics in legal aid? Diversity comes in many forms—among them are generational, racial, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity and orientation, to name a few.  (Click Here to view the MIE Diversity Wheel.) Recognizing the differences amongst your staff, appreciating how those differences make your program stronger and leveraging the unique perspectives that diversity brings to a legal services program are just some reasons why diversity is so important. Is there a way to structure this dialogue so it is effective, inclusive and garners tangible goals and results? At this session you will hear from two legal aid programs about why Diversity and Inclusion are important and how creating a diversity committee can serve as a powerful vehicle for fostering the diversity and inclusion conversation.

Our speakers for this webinar are: Brenda Marrero, Deputy Director of Operations, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia , and Gina E. Polley, Deputy Chief Counsel, Maryland Legal Aid. 

Legal aid programs across the country are working to improve their diversity recruiting and retention, expand their community involvement, and tailor their services to meet the changing needs of  changing communities. This webinar will address a number of these issues, including:

  • The difference between diversity and inclusion as well as the critical need to promote both principles;
  • How to identify, manage, and benefit from  the multiple levels of diversity in your organization;
  • Creating, supporting, and working with Diversity Committees;
  • Effective practices in legal aid that support and enhance diversity and inclusion; and,
  • Why a diverse staff will improve services to clients.
  • Measuring progress and evolving with the changing landscape

     

Brenda Marrero is the Deputy Director of Operations at Community Legal Services, Inc. of Philadelphia.  Brenda oversees all HR and Operations matters including personnel, employee benefits, union relations and negotiations, vendor contract negotiations, supervision of front desk personnel and office managers and facilities management. Brenda also helped form and currently co-chairs CLS’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Brenda is active in the Philadelphia legal community.  She is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, where she is Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Public Interest Section.  She is also active in the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania.  

Brenda was born in Nicaragua and is a native Spanish speaker.   Her family immigrated to the United States in 1979. Brenda completed her undergraduate studies at Mt. St. Mary’s College, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, cum laude.  Brenda graduated from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law in 2001.

Gina E. Polley, Esq. is the Deputy Chief Counsel for Maryland Legal Aid in Baltimore, MD.  As Deputy Chief Counsel, Gina is responsible for overseeing all of the Legal Aid offices throughout the State and ensuring quality representation and delivery of services to the clients. 

Gina has presented at several NLADA conferences on the subject of Diversity and Racial Equity, and co-authored (with Brenda Marrero) an article for the MIE Journal, on Diversity and Inclusion. 

Prior to coming to Maryland, Gina worked at the Legal Aid & Defender Association in Detroit, MI as the Deputy Chief Counsel.  At LADA, Gina helped to create a diversity committee that hosted First Friday Brown Bags to discuss the issues surrounding diversity.  As part of Leadership Detroit, Gina helped to develop Café Talk conversations across various communities on the issues of race and economic disparities.

Gina received her Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law and her Masters degree in Human Resource Management from Villanova University.

 


Eugene R. King is the former director of the Ohio Poverty Law Center and a career legal aid lawyer and manager. He now consults on staff development, executive recruitment and policy advocacy with legal aid programs and nonprofit advocacy groups.  Gene will facilitate this webinar.

 

 

Registration:
$75 for MIE subscribers
$100 for non-subscribers

With your registration for this webinar, you may gather multiple staff to view the presentation around one computer.  Multiple computers and/or multiple offices require separate individual registrations.

**Please Note: You must Register and Pay separately by following this two-step process:

1. REGISTER by clicking on this link:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9047169091110142466

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email from gotowebinar with a link to access the webinar. 

2. PAY by credit card or check:
Click on the button at the top of this page that says  "Register with Go to Webinar Then Pay Here with MIE."  

When
May 2nd, 2018 from  2:00 PM to  3:30 PM
Location
Webinar,
United States
Event Fee(s)
MIE subscriber registration $75.00
Non-subscriber registration $100.00