City Bar Civics Corps Kicks Off — Volunteer Now!

Last week, the New York City Bar Association’s Civic Education Task Force kicked off its Civic Corps project to give lawyers ways to help students learn about civics and become engaged in their communities.  

Before a full Meeting Hall, NYC Schools Chancellor David C. Banks told inspiring accounts of students having transformative experiences through discovering the power of civic engagement – like his students, when he was a principal in the Bronx, who took on a project with such success that it got them an invitation to a bill signing.  

Following the Chancellor’s remarks, Hon. Katharine H. Parker, Co-Chair of the Civic Education Task Force, moderated a panel on the state of civic education across the city and first-hand accounts of the impact of civics programs on students and volunteers. 

Left to right: Abdul Hafiz, Vice President, Muslim Bar Association of New York; Associate, White & Case LLP; Hon. Katharine H. Parker, Magistrate Judge, Southern District of New York, and Co-Chair, Civic Education Task Force; Hon. Vera Scanlon, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York; Khin Mai Aung, New York Executive Director, Generation Citizen; David C. Banks, NYC Schools Chancellor, Keynote Speaker; Wendy Dessy, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Proskauer; Dawn Smalls, Partner, Jenner & Block, and Co-Chair, Civic Education Task Force

Seven renowned civics organizations staffed tables and shared with attendees their opportunities, which ranged from one-day to in-depth commitments. Many attendees signed up to volunteer on the spot. 

The seven organizations: Civics for All, New York City Department of Education; Do Something.Org; Generation Citizen; Justice Resource Center, Inc.; Legal Outreach.Org; Honorable Robert A. Katzmann: Justice for All: Courts and the Community Initiative, The Civic Education Project of the Federal Courts of the Second Circuit; and the New York City Urban Debate League. 

The City Bar Civics Corps wants you! (There are opportunities for non-lawyers too.) To volunteer with one or more of the organizations the City Bar has partnered with, just fill out the Volunteer Form here.  

Photo of Chancellor Banks and group photo: Christian Fernandez, NYC Department of Education