EJA News

EJA News

Equal Justice America to award a two-year $130,000 Civil Rights & Racial Justice Fellowship at the Legal Aid Justice Center

December 08, 2022

The Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center works to end the criminalization of poverty in Virginia by exposing and addressing criminal legal system policies that target people because of poverty and race.

The EJA Civil Rights and Racial Justice Fellowship will begin in Fall 2023.

The Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center works to end the criminalization of poverty in Virginia by exposing and addressing criminal legal system policies that target people because of poverty and race.

The EJA Civil Rights and Racial Justice Fellowship will begin in Fall 2023.

The Legal Aid Justice Center looks forward to welcoming EJA’s Civil Rights and Racial Justice Fellow

"At Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), we practice integrated advocacy to challenge injustice and poverty. Civil Rights and Racial Justice (CRRJ) Program’s strategies include impact litigation, community organizing, policy work and communications to shift the narrative around prosecution and policy. Our incoming EJA Fellow will receive training in all our advocacy strategies and boost our ability to do the work we do in partnership with low-income Virginians to create a more just Commonwealth."
Angela Ciolfi
Executive Director, Legal Aid Justice Center
"Working at the intersection of race and poverty, CRRJ at LAJC challenges the practices and exposes the enmeshed penalties within Virginia’s criminal legal system that create or exacerbate poverty in the lives of low-income people and people of color. We are grateful for EJA’s support in funding a two-year fellowship in advancing our work on behalf of Virginians made vulnerable by disinvestment and the criminalization of poverty."
Anna Kurien
Legal Director, Civil Rights and Racial Justice Program
Legal Aid Justice Center
"EJA’s commitment to CRRJ intervening in the criminalization of poverty in Virginia is deeply appreciated and we look forward to our partnership together."
Harold Folley
Senior Supervising Organizer, Civil Rights and Racial Justice Program
Legal Aid Justice Center
"The Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program at LAJC prioritizes the needs of community members directly impacted by the criminal legal system. We continue to explore the ways we can serve as a medium that communities can use to reach decision makers, focusing on pretrial justice, criminal fines and fees, prison conditions, expungement, and mental health. We are excited for the EJA Fellow, who will learn a different sort of lawyering that truly serves the people."
Teresa Hepler
Attorney, Civil Rights and Racial Justice Program
Legal Aid Justice Center