AWARDS

Each year we award an Emerging Leader and Partner in Justice. We're excited to announce this year's recipients below...

Partner in Justice Awardee

Lawndale Christian Legal Center's Partner in Justice Award is presented to extraordinary individuals who demonstrate commitment and passion to pursuing justice, equity, and opportunity for young people. These remarkable individuals understand the collective responsibility we all share to live in ways that shape our society to be more open, equitable, and accessible for all of our youth. Our Partners in Justice lean into the moral arc of the universe described by Dr. King to ensure that it bends toward justice.

Congratulations to:

Robin Steinberg

Robin Steinberg is a leader for criminal justice reform and the founder of The Bail Project, a national nonprofit organization that pays bail for thousands of low-income people every year and aims to end cash bail, a leading driver of mass incarceration in the U.S. For over three decades, Robin fought in the trenches of the criminal justice system as a public defender, serving communities of color and building three high-impact organizations designed to take on systemic injustices: The Bronx Defenders and The Bronx Freedom Fund in New York City, and Still She Rises in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her newest initiative, The Bail Project has local teams in over 30 cities and has secured freedom for over twenty thousand people since 2018. Steinberg’s first book, The Courage of Compassion, is forthcoming in April 2023 from Optimism Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Congratulations to:

Guillermo Diaz and Family

Emerging Leader Award

This award goes to a current or previous Lawndale Christian Legal Center client who has demonstrated exceptional progress in self-development. Our Annual Emerging Leader Award is given to an LCLC youth who models leadership, courage, and success. Every year, we are challenged to select one youth out of many that are leading by example and striving to improve not only their life, but our community as well.

Congratulations to:

Ed Daniels, Jr

Day Porter, City of Sacramento, CA & Former LCLC Client

Edward Daniels, Jr, born and raised on the west side of Chicago, is 31 years old and currently resides in California. He has loved and lived a life of giving back and being a strong individual in his community. Growing up believing that he was going to be a football star was cut short by a career ending injury and lead him down a path of failure but followed by progressive success. He currently has a side business where he cleans gutters, handles minor roofing repairs along with anything that requires some sweat and hard work! He also cuts hair on the side and uses that as a way to give back to the youth and ones who can’t afford a crisp hair cut. For his day job he works as a day porter for various locations in California, where he utilizes his maintenance and hard working skills. His goal is to use everything that he has learned and continues to learn, and bring that back to Chicago, teaching the youth and young adults that there is more to the world than North Lawndale, Little Village or Pilsen. There are opportunities; we just have to snatch them an own them as our own.