May
31 – June 1, 2001 – Washington DC
Last year, LSC and NLADA committed to focusing on gender, race and other
urgent issues of diversity, with a goal of developing recommendations to the
national partners and the field for work that needs to be done in these
important areas. In furtherance of this goal, LSC and NLADA are holding a
series of national conversations to discuss diversity in the legal services
community. The first of the
national conversations will take place at the 2001 Equal Justice Conference,
focusing on gender issues. In May, LSC and NLADA will hold a meeting to discuss a broader range of
diversity issues, including gender, race ethnicity, disability and sexual
orientation and identity. The event
will take place in Washington DC on May 31 and June 1, 2001.
So
that the dialogue will reflect the variety of issues and individuals in the
legal services community, NLADA and LSC will select participants to reflect both
the leadership and emerging leadership of the field.
Further, we expect that participants will broadly mirror the full
population of our national community. As
with the March gender meeting, the conference in May will be small, to foster
candid conversations on critical concerns.
A subcommittee of representatives from LSC and NLADA will have input into
the number of participants and selection of attendees to ensure a productive and
results-oriented conference. The
March and May meetings are convened and designed so that the field and its
partners can help shape the development of a series of practical steps and
strategies the legal services community can undertake to address critical
considerations of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and
other aspects of diversity. Although
the issues to be examined have been raised over the years by members of our
community, we have not yet produced on a national level a concrete agenda or
blueprint for change. That is the
hope for the upcoming diversity conversations. The
upcoming Diversity in the Legal Services Community Conference will span two days
to accommodate the breadth of the issues and the depth of the conversations we
envision. Of concern to NLADA and
LSC are the effects of diversity on program staff, priorities and cultivation of
a new generation of leaders. At
some point in the national dialogue, we will also examine how these topics
affect clients, both in accessing justice and in the way client representation
is structured in the field. The
discussions will be facilitated by experts, who will help design an agenda for
the event. Prior to the conference,
we will talk about the topics with attendees and others who may not be able to
participate. In this way, we will
seek to have a wide spectrum of opinions to guide the sessions. Information
on how to apply for participation in the May conference will be available by
mid-April. We hope that the legal
services programs in your state will discuss who will be the most appropriate
representatives for the meeting from your state. We look forward to vibrant discussions on these topics along
with some specific ideas for implementing change where needed. Contact Information |