Building the Movement2018 Summer Programs Recap

The following programs are coming up through January 2019. Click the prorgam's title to visit its page on the Gideon's Promise website.

Law School Partnership Project (LSPP)Application Deadline: October 20, 2018

Summer Law Clerk (SLC)Application Deadline: November 2, 2018Click here to read the SLC brochure.

Trainer Development Conference (TDC)When? January 16-20, 2019 (both tracks)Where? Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel, One Hartsfield Center Pkwy, Atlanta, GA 30354 Click here to read the TDC brochure.

Leadership SummitWhen? January 18-20, 2019Where? Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel, One Hartsfield Center Pkwy, Atlanta, GA 30354Click here to read the Leadership Summit brochure.

Returning Lawyer Session (Class of 2016 Graduation)When? January 18-20, 2019 Where? Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel, One Hartsfield Center Pkwy, Atlanta, GA 30354

Defending the Promise: Winter Training Conference 2019

The Summer Session for returning lawyers and the Leadership Summit, were held in conjunction, July 27-29, 2018 on the campus of Morehouse College. Returning Lawyers in the Summer Session represented the CORE 101 Classes of 2016 and 2017, both of whom are still in their 3-year commitment to the program, as well as previously graduated classes. Alumni from the CORE 101 program also attended as the initial wave of new class mentors. During the 2018 Summer Session, Gideon’s Promise initiated its Mentorship Program as one of the first aspects of the Alumni Program, a path for Gideon’s Promise CORE 101 graduates to remain engaged with our community throughout their public defense careers.

(left) Class of 2018 listen as they introduce themselves to one another; (center) Dr. Sharon Davis-Williams, Director of Strategic Planning and Operations, shares her story with the Class of 2018; (right) David Singleton, Executive Director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center introduces his client Tyra Patterson before the 2018 Summer Session audience

seeking to make it fair.

October 30, 2018Vol. 1, 4th Edition

Continued on Page 3(above) Three members of the Class of 2017 meet Tyra Patterson after her speech at the 2018 Summer Session.

Upcoming Programs & Deadlines

The end of July and the beginning of August create an important time for Gideon’s Promise. As the Summer season in the American South offers a last hurrah via heatwave, Gideon’s Promise welcomes the public defenders whose fiery passion for equal justice ignite change in jurisdictions across the country. From July 27 through August 11, 2018, in Atlanta, GA, Gideon’s Promise hosted 3 major programs and debuted a new alumni initiative, all are part of our program pipeline for systemic public defense reform.

Members of the Leadership Summit met to collaborate on the status of advancing equal justice in their areas, as well as sharing skills and best practices. Gideon’s Promise interviewed Chief Public Defender Aylia McKee, from the newly established Office of the Public Defender in Montgomery County, AL, about the ways in which the Gideon’s Promise model, mission and community influenced how she founded her office. Chief McKee said this about the impact Gideon's Promise had on her office, “Even as I was developing the office, Gideon's Promise and the partner offices, the other chiefs, all made themselves available. We were able to pick up the model of client-centeredness, holistic representation, and build that into the framework of what we wanted for the public defender’s office in Montgomery [Alabama].”

Sponsors for A Night to Celebrate 2018 included the following:

In the Community >>>

Executive Speaking EventsIf you have visited the Gideon’s Promise social media channels in the last few months, you will have noticed that the organization’s executives, president Jonathan Rapping, and Executive Director, Ilham Askia, were busy travelling for speaking engagements all over America.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018, the Manhattan Penthouse on 5th Avenue was sold out and packed with colleagues, family and friends of Barry H. Berke and Isabelle Kirshner, two outstanding New York attorneys with a passion for equal justice. Ret. Judge John Gleeson complemented the evening with his wealth of knowledge, history with the honorees and sense of humor.

See what we're up to, watch our latest video.runner/defenderintraining

Annual Awards Dinner >>>

A Night to Celebrate 2018

Click here for more images.

Gideon’s Promise alumna and apprentice faculty member, Chantá Parker (pictured below), gave her reflections of the CORE 101 Program and community, saying, “This job is so hard that once a week, I think about quitting. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and once a week, I think about quitting. But if I can’t do it, who can do it? And it makes a difference when I do this work with the love and the training that I got from Rap [Jonathan Rapping, president of Gideon’s Promise]. …because of the 500 plus attorneys who are a part of this community, it’s literally why I stay.” A Night to Celebrate honored attorneys who fight for their clients on a daily basis and uplifted the voices of public defenders on the frontlines for equal justice in America.

Ilham Askia (above, center) speaking on a mental health panel at the "Black Men Xcel Summit" on Sept. 1, 2018

Gideon’s Promise appreciates our steering committee, volunteers, and our generous supporters for making A Night to Celebrate an event to remember.

(L-R, above) Ian Yankwitt, President of Tortoise Investment Management; David Patton, Executive Director of the Federal Defenders of New York and Gideon's Promise Board of Directors member; Barry H. Berke, partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP; Ilham Askia, Executive Director at Gideon's Promise; Isabelle A. Kirshner, partner at Clayman & Rosenberg LLP; and Jonathan Rapping, President of Gideon's Promise.

Honoring Barry H. Berke & Isabelle Kirshner

Gideon's Promise has two BIG events coming to Washington, D.C. on Nov. 30th & Dec. 1st!Email Christopher Pearson at Christopher@gideonspromise.org for more information.

Ilham Askia (above,center) with Spelman College students and Dr. Cynthia Spence (center right) after discussing "Locking Up Our Own" on Sept. 28, 2018

(L-R): Cadeem Gibbs, activist formerly incarcerated at Rikers; Attorney Serena Nunn, Gideon's Promise Class of 2013 alumna; Atteeyah Hollie, staff attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights & Gideon's Promise Alumni Faculty member; and Ilham Askia, moderating the panel discussion after screening "Rikers: An American Jail" documentary on Wed, Sept. 26, 2018

• Ilham Askia spoke on a mental health support panel during the “Black Men Xcel Summit” in Palm Springs, FL on Sat, Sept. 1• Jonathan Rapping joined a panel discussion at the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) symposium, “Decriminalizing Poverty,” with panelists from Casa Atlanta, Civil

Rights Corps, Essie Justice Group, Fair & Justice Prosecution, the SCHR and Southerners on New Ground (SONG), moderated by Jose Duffy Rice of The Appeal on Tues,Sept. 11

• Ilham Askia spoke to students at the George Washington University School of Law, a Gideon's Promise LSPP partner law school on Thurs, Sept. 20• Jonathan Rapping & Dr. Sharon Davis-Williams joined a panel discussion on "Prosecutors & Defenders: Does the Adversarial Process Produce Justice?" at the SMART on

Crime Innovations Conference at the John Jay College for Criminal Justice in New York City, NY, with panelists: Judge Bernice Donald, U.s. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit;Adam Foss of Prosecutor Impact; Professor John Pfaff of Fordham University; and Jeffrey Robinson, Deputy Legal Director of the National ACLU on Tues, Sept. 25;Watch on YouTube HERE

• Ilham Askia enlightened students at two events on the Historically Black College campus of Spelman College:o “Unshackled Narratives: The Impact of Incarceration,” parts 1 & 2 on Wed, Sept. 26 & Sat, Sept. 29, respectivelyo Book discussion of Pulitzer Prize-winning “Locking Up Our Own” by James Forman, Jr. on Fri, Sept. 28

Summer Programs Review

Participant Spotlight >>> Special Edition

Cont’d The 2018 Gideon’s Promise summer programs moved to Atlanta, GA.

(above) The Class of 2018

Joining our public defender-driven collective movement for equal justice were 55 new public defenders in the CORE 101 Class of 2018. These brilliant, compassionate and talented young people come from all walks of life and represent people from communities with which they can empathize. Their empathy for the clients and communities they serve will empower them to stand up to the mass incarceration machine every day because each Gideon's Promise-trained public defender knows that they make a real difference in their clients’ lives and in the lives of their clients’ families and communities. Gideon’s Promise empowers public defenders at every level to never give up on the goal of equal justice.

The Gideon's Promise CORE Class of 2018 practice in 14 states: California, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Ravi Marfatia, who practices in Norristown, PA, said this about the 2018 Summer Institute, “It was an amazing experience. I met tons of different people that have different life experiences that come from different areas, but we all have a collective vision - to be better attorneys, to be better for our clients.” See more soundbites from the 2018 Summer Institute and its impact on the participants on our social media channels. Gideon’s Promise is proud to have trained hundreds of passionate public defenders to ignite change in their jurisdictions for a collective realization of equal justice in America.

(right) Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley DeBug, community organizer, and Gideon's Promise faculty

member, was named a 2018 MacArthur Genius Fellow.

Read the MacArthur Foundation's biography of Raj and his work online: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1014/

runner/defenderintraining

Gideon’s Promise congratulates faculty member Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug (SV De-Bug), on being named a 2018 MacArthur Genius Fellow. SV De-Bug is a community-lead criminal justice organization that incorporates participatory defense in its effort to protect local loved ones accused of crimes. Gideon's Promise is proud to have Raj among our faculty members, teaching the participatory defense model to our public defense professionals as another tool for advancing equal justice in America’s most challenging jurisdictions.

Jonathan Rapping, president of Gideon's Promise and 2014 MacArthur Genius Fellow, said, “All of us at Gideon’s Promise are so proud to learn that Raj Jayadev was named a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. Raj, and the SV De-Bug team, has been a wonderful partner and ally to our movement of public defenders. Through his participatory defense model he has helped amplify the idea that public defenders, working in partnership with impacted communities, must be at the center of any justice reform strategy. We are honored to work with SV Debug in the fight for equal justice.”

2018 Law School Partnership Project (LSPP)Gideon’s Promise ushers talented young lawyers into public defense

careers through our Law School Partnership Project. Graduating 3Ls from participating law schools were invited to apply online by Oct. 20, 2018.

The 2019 LSPP Partner Law Schools are:American University Washington College of Law; Boston University School of Law; Columbia Law School; Cornell Law School; Georgetown Law; Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University; Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law; Stanford Law School; The George Washington University Law School; The New York University School of Law; The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law; The University of California, Irvine, School of Law; The University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law; The University of Chicago Law School; The University of Michigan Law School;The University of Texas School of Law; University of Pennsylvania Law School; and Vanderbilt University Law School.

The Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs in the Gideon’s Promise Leadership Summit guide their offices towards igniting change in their jurisdictions by infusing their offices with Gideon’s Promise values, such as client-centered work, systemic transformation and inspiring change, in jurisdictions where change is needed in the broken justice system. Gideon’s Promise is proud to have management teams at our partner public defender offices on-board and leading the charge for equal justice in their offices, individually, and in our nation, collectively. A collective call for equal justice will be heard, all by the leadreship that comes from this group.

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(left) August 7: The Class of 2018 and the Gideon's Promise community in Atlanta, GA attended an Atlanta Dream WNBA game vs. the Las Vegas Aces where Ilham Askia, executive director of Gideon's Promise was honored as an "Inspiring Woman."

Coming soon >>>

To Submit Stories From the Field or Office Updates: Email the Public Relations Assistant, Kiana Jackson at kiana@gideonspromise.org.

final thoughts...

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seeking to make it fair.

101 Marietta St. NW, Suite 250, Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 525-4505 www.gideonspromise.org

Special Thanks to the Following

Equal Justice Works: Saturday, October 27, 2018Keeping Families Together Campaign: November - December 2018SLC Application Deadline: Friday, November 2, 2018GA Gives Day on Giving Tuesday: November 27, 2018Sip ‘n’ Socialize: Friday, November 30, 2018 Trainer Development Conference: January 16-20, 2019Leadership Summit: January 18-20, 2019 Gideon's Promise Week: March 11-15, 2019 Igniting Change: Friday, March 15, 2019

The William Josef Foundation, Inc.

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“Mentoring supports new lawyers because our job is hard. I mean, there’s a lot of pressures, and when you’re starting out, there’s some guidance, and Gideon's [Promise] gives you guidance, but you’re always running into different things. And having that support there of somebody that’s kind of been through some of those same things, it really helps you be able to get to the next step,” Charis Link, a mentor (Class of 2014 alum) mentioned.

Inaugural Mentorship Group 2018

This summer, Gideon’s Promise initiated our Mentorship Program as our first major component of the Alumni Program. The Mentorship Program keeps CORE 101 graduates active as alumni by pairing them with an incoming CORE 101 participant for the 3-years they will be in the CORE program. Each pair is hand-selected based on the knowledge, location, experience and personalities of each mentor and mentee. Public defense work is challenging work, and having a mentor to call when things get tough is a critical part of sustaining new public defenders in the work. New public defenders working in the most challenging areas of the country for equal justice, have Gideon’s Promise-trained backup to call for guidance and encouragement that only a seasoned, client-centered Gideon’s Promise graduate can provide.The program serves to keep alumni engaged with the community and ensure the cohesive nature of the Gideon’s Promise community stays intact far beyond a participant’s graduation. Here is what some of the 2018 mentors and mentees had to say about the ways in which mentorship can help new public defenders; “I think that I often find myself with a problem that seems really big and complicated, and I just don’t know where to start. It will be great to have a person that can help deconstruct that problem into smaller pieces, so it’s easier to manage. I think that’s an invaluable resource,” John Allicock, a Class of 2018 mentee said.

Mentors, Movements & Culture Change

Gideon’s Promise knows that the realization of equal justice that we strive for is a long-term goal that we work toward daily; The Gideon's Promise Programs pipeline is designed to be a sustainable, cohesive community of values-based, client-centered public defense professionals who uplift one another in this ongoing fight for equal justice in America.

The newly added Gideon’s Promise Mentorship Program amplifies our movement by keeping the seasoned Alumni of the program engaged with the community through serving as a mentor for the incoming class. Mentorship within the Gideon’s Promise community speaks to our organizational values, like cultural and systemic transformationand inspiring change. Mentors are reminded of why they do their work by helping mentees solve problems and feel confident about demanding justice for clients in spaces where they might be alone in that fight. The Gideon’s Promise Mentorship Program, like our entire programmatic platform, serves to empower and engage the public defense professionals on the front line of the fight for equal justice, giving them a supportive and empathetic community within the critical work they do daily.

Supporting Gideon's Promise supports our public defender-driven movement for equal justice in America.