YAF at the Mass Bar Association's Eighth Annual Juvenile & Child Welfare Conference: Brown at 70
- admin50981
- Apr 15
- 2 min read
We are proud to share that several of our attorneys had active roles in the Mass Bar Association's Eighth Annual Juvenile & Child Welfare Conference: Brown at 70.
Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel, Youth Advocacy Division (YAD) and Board Chair of YAF, gave an inspiring Keynote speech to open the conference and participated on the "Emerging Adults" panel. In the spirit of the conference's theme, during her keynote, she reminded the audience that while Massachusetts is often lauded as a state with excellent schools, segregation and the opportunity gap between white and black and brown students is large. For example, 63% of MA public schools are racially segregated affecting over 500,000 students, 90% of which are Black or Latino. In MA schools where 90% or more of the student body is non-white, the average graduation rate is 72%, compared to 93% in predominantly white schools. She reminded us that we are not fulfilling Brown's promise and charged us to show up for youth in Massachusetts who are being pushed out of school and into the school-to-prison pipeline -- the very work of the EdLaw Project and YAF. You can read her full remarks by downloading the file below.
The EdLaw Project's Director and YAF Board President was recognized at the conference and presented with the Massachusetts Bar Association's Annual Juvenile and Child Welfare Award. We are so proud of Marlies and the work she has done over the past 20+ years to build the EdLaw Project to the organization it is today. Senior Counsel, Tim Sindelar, of the EdLaw Project introduced Marlies as she received her well-deserved award.
Finally, Tim Sindelar, also participated in the "Emerging Adults Panel" during which he discussed the Class Action lawsuit that EdLaw in conjunction with MHLAC and Latham Watkins brought against the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for the lack of special education services in MA Houses of Correction. During this same panel, Duci talked about YAD's emerging adult pilot office focused on people ages 18 to 25 funded by Columbia University's Emerging Adult Justice Project.
