I Promise Fellowship

Community Legal Aid, in partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools, is seeking candidates to apply for a two-year fellowship starting September 2019.

Legal Aid is a non-profit law firm that believes that all individuals - including those who are impoverished - should have opportunities to control, improve, and enrich their lives and community. Through legal advocacy, we transform the lives of those in poverty by increasing opportunity, fairness, and stability for a stronger community and justice for all.

Legal Aid is the primary provider of free legal services to low-income residents of central northeast Ohio. We concentrate our efforts on legal work that bridges the gap between poverty and justice for those in need.

About the project:

The LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools have partnered to design a brand new school for the public school students in Akron who need it most. A culmination of years of on-the-ground work and research-based interventions through LeBron’s I PROMISE program, the I PROMISE School (IPS) will be more than a 1st through 8th grade academic institution. It will infuse APS’s rigorous curriculum with a STEM, hands-on, problem-based learning focus with LJFF’s ’We Are Family’ philosophy to create a complete wraparound for its students and their families.

Legal Aid’s I PROMISE Fellow will be embedded at the Family Resource Center at the school and will be part of holistic wraparound services provided to students and their families. The fellow will address legal issues that can affect children’s education, including:

• Fixing unhealthy living conditions
• Sealing criminal records for better employability for parents and family members
• Resolving custody issues
• Working with victims of domestic violence to find safety and distance from their abusers
• And more

The I PROMISE Fellow will collaborate with IPS educators, key partners, and others to support families through:

• A direct, collaborative referral process for individual legal counsel and representation
• On-site legal clinics
• Educational outreach on legal issues affecting families

About the role:

Legal Aid, LJFF, and APS are looking for a candidate who will be a trusted and passionate advocate for students and families. The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• A commitment to helping children from underserved populations succeed academically, socially, and civically.
• An ability to build trust with marginalized communities.
• A spirit of collaboration in working with others to overcome clients’ barriers holistically.
• A passion for helping those in need.
• A high regard for Legal Aid’s values of diversity, empathy, justice, leadership, professionalism, respect, and transformation.

Job Description:

• Provides comprehensive, high-quality legal services to eligible clients in a variety of types of civil cases in accordance with organizational policies and the Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Actively engages with the I PROMISE Family, including leading and participating in community events, neighborhood and collaboration meetings, and outreach in the community.
• Creates an effective and efficient office environment to support the provision of high quality legal services.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relations with client groups, community organizations and the state justice community.
• Pursues and maintains personal professional development and contributes to the professional development of others who serve clients and the client community.
• Performs other related duties as required.