Legal Council for Health Justice

Legal Council is pleased to share that our community of staff and board members is growing. Last month we welcomed to our staff our new Director of Finance, Daniel Washington. At the June board meeting, we were thrilled to have Dennis E. Barrett join us as our 18th board member. Join us in welcoming Daniel and Dennis to the Legal Council community.

Get ready to kick off your sandals and dive into summer fun--tickets are now available for Legal Council's 2024 Summer Soirée! Through July 17, grab your ticket to Legal Council's annual summer bash for an Early Bird rate of $125. After July 17, tickets will be sold at the regular price of $150 (so don't wait)! With an open bar, delicious food, an auction and raffle, and the chance to celebrate the strides we have made towards achieving health justice, you don't want to miss this event. Visit https://lnkd.in/gCqvHTEi to get your ticket!

We are excited to share that three of our colleagues have been promoted to senior-level positions in the organization! Debbie Nall (she/her), Barb Cohen (she/her), and Amy Marinacci (she/her) have all made meaningful contributions with their substantive expertise, passion for health justice, and leadership in a range of agency activities. Their new titles reflect their expertise and leadership. Join us in congratulating Debbie, Barb and Amy--and thanks for all your incredible work! Deborah Nall Barbara Cohen Amy Marinacci

We are just ONE week away from Legal Council's first Trivia Night! Put together a team of six or sign up on your own to join a community team, and enjoy a night of food, drinks, and friendly competition. As always, all proceeds go towards our mission. Don't miss your chance to show what you know--grab your tickets today! bit.ly/LCHJTRIVIA24

We are thrilled to announce that three of our colleagues have been selected to be fellows at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law's 2024 Racial Justice Institute! Kenya Burnett, Nooreen Reza, and Liesl Pereira are 3 of 25 anti-poverty advocates chosen to advance racial equity in our community.

How well do you know your stuff? Join Legal Council for Trivia Night and find out! On May 9, join us at the BMO Tower Terrace for fun-filled evening of food, drinks, and trivia. Our friends at Whaddayaknow? Free Pub Trivia will be running the (friendly!) competition--put together a team of six or sign up on your own to join a community team! Grab your tickets today! All funds go towards our mission. https://lnkd.in/gKPMUnqS

We're #hiring a full-time Finance Director at Legal Council to join our administrative team. The Finance Director will be responsible for designing, updating, and integrating policies and procedures to ensure effective financial management, mitigate risk, and align finance and operations with Legal Council's overall mission. Interested? Head over to our website (https://lnkd.in/dDyQbGD) to read the full job description and apply today--we'd love for you to join our team!

Legal Council's Kenya Burnett (she/her), Legal Director of our AIDS Legal Council (ALC) program, was a featured speaker at Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association seminar on Centering Racial Justice in Legal Aid on March 14. The seminar focused on why race should be a central consideration to administering legal aid, and included a discussion of the historical context of segregations of communities in Chicago that have led to a concentration of poverty. At the seminar, Kenya provided key updates on the Illinois Legal Aid Racial Justice & Diversity Collaborative. This new Collaborative will build a statewide platform to support legal aid organizations as they address internal racial diversity, equity, inclusion; increase capacity to work with the community; and individually and collectively bring a racial equity lens to their external advocacy. Legal Council thanks Kenya for all that she does to promote racial justice in legal aid work across the state!

We are honored to be among the incredible Chicago-based organizations that received awards from MacKenzie Scott's Yield Giving With this transformative award, we will take a breath, carefully assess our strategic priorities—including expanding our programs in under-resourced Black and Brown communities and providing gender-affirming care for trans individuals—and we will invest wisely in organizational infrastructure to support our clients, staff, and broader community going forward.

Today, MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving and Lever for Change announced that Legal Council received $2 million as one of the Yield Giving Open Call’s awardees working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States! This unrestricted award supports our work to ensure that individuals of all ages who are living with disabilities and chronic health issues can access quality affordable medical care and stable housing, receive social and educational supports, and obtain the income and benefits that they need to thrive. Legal Council was selected from among 6,353 applications from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico after a process of multiple levels of review, feedback, and diligence involving peer applicants and an external Evaluation Panel recruited for experience relevant to this cause.  #YieldGiving #socialimpact #healthjustice #opencall