The Law Center was founded in the late 1960s as one of eight local affiliates of
the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and incorporated in 1974 by
five leaders of the Philadelphia bar. The members of Philadelphia's Legal
community were generous supporters of this fledgling civil rights organization,
sustaining its work to combat police abuse, racial and gender discrimination in
Philadelphia's police force and housing discrimination.
The Law Center gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Philadelphia
law firms continuing this tradition today. The following 46 firms made a donation
to the Law Center in 2009:
| $20,000+ Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check Dechert LLP $10,000 - $19,999 Berger & Montague, P.C. Cozen & O'Connor Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C. Pepper Hamilton LLP $5,000 - $9,999 Bolognese and Associates, LLP Chimicles & Tikellis, LLP Fox Rothschild LLP Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP White & Williams LLP $2,500 - $4,999 Bazelon, Less & Feldman, P.C. Dilworth Paxson LLP DLA Piper US LLP Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC Fine, Kaplan & Black Greenberg Traurig, LLP Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP Swartz Campbell LLC |
$1,000 - $2,499 Boni & Zack LLC Brodsky & Smith, LLC Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Conrad O'Brien Fineman Krekstein & Harris, P.C. Freemann Law Offices Gibbons, P.C. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin McEldrew & Fullam, P.C. Raynes McCarty Reed Smith LLP Tucker Law Group, LLC The Weiser Law Firm $500 - $999 Gay Chacker & Mittin, P.C. Peter Hearn, Esquire Littler Mendelson, P.C. McCausland & McCausland LLC Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC Prickett, Jones & Elliott P.A. Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz Up to $499 Law Office of Paul Boni, P.C. Console Law Offices LLC Manko Gold Katcher & Fox LLP George P. Wood & Associates, P.C. |
The Law Center is grateful for the generous support of the local and national foundations that make an investment in our important work. The Law Center is honored to receive support from the following foundations:
The Berkman Family Foundation awarded a grant of $10,000 to the Law Center to fund the organization's ongoing representation of the plaintiffs of the Medicaid enforcement case Westside Mothers v. Olsezewski. In this case, settled in August 2007, the Law Center represented a class of nearly 1 million Michigan children eligible for medical assistance and succeeded in gaining access to previously unavailable data about the children's access to primary and specialty care.
The Claneil Foundation's grant supports our work to secure a quality education for children in the School District of Philadelphia by enforcing the provisions of the desegregation case settlement agreement negotiated in the summer of 2009.
The Dolfinger McMahon Foundation awarded the Law Center a generous grant for our work to address the needs of students in the Philadelphia School District classified with an Emotional Disturbance disability. The unique needs of this subgroup in the District's disabled population often go unaddressed and can result in the student being punished or even criminalized for disability-related behavior.
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Law Center two grants for 2011-2012. First, the Environmental Justice Small Grant of $25,000 will support the development of a community garden and air monitoring station in the Hunting Park neighborhood of Philadelphia. Second, the CARE (Community Action for a Renewed Environment) Cooperative Agreement Grant of $100,000 will fund our work to build the capacity of the Chester Environmental Partnership (CEP) to catalogue environmental hazards in the community and organize a community-wide effort to address these issues
The Hassel Foundation has awarded the Law Center a generous grant for general operating support. The Foundation's interest is in issues affecting children in the Philadelphia area, and the Law Center used this grant to support its work in conjunction with the School District of Philadelphia to enforce the terms of the Gaskin Settlement that protects the rights of students with disabilities.
The Impact Fund, of Berkeley, CA, awarded the Law Center a $15,000 grant in support of our Federal lawsuit, Blunt et al v. Lower Merion School District. The Impact Fund supports high-impact public interest litigation that will improve the lives of many with systemic change, in line with our own mission here at the Law Center.
The Independence Foundation has awarded the Law Center a 3-year, $30,000 grant to conduct a series of strategic planning policy circles. These planning circles will build on the work done in our 2010 Strategic Plan by engaging young leaders to create businesses plans for each of our six focus areas: education, healthcare, employment, housing, environmental justice and voting rights.
The Inglis Foundation awarded the Law Center's Disability Rights Project an Inglis Award for Continuing Excellence for 2009. The award honors our work to enhance the quality of life and increase opportunities for independence for people with disabilities, and by doing so support the mission of the Foundation.
The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation awarded the Law Center a grant of $7,500 in support of our project to train law students, lawyers and parents of children with disabilities in the School District of Philadelphia about the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
The Philadelphia Bar Foundation has awarded the Law Center a $13,800 grant for 2010-2011 to support the Law Center's operations and infrastructure. We are extremely grateful for the foundation's loyal support.
The Philadelphia Foundation awarded the Law Center a $30,000 grant to allow the organization to redesign and upgrade our website. We are deeply grateful to The Philadelphia Foundation and the individuals who made this grant possible by establishing endowments through the Foundation. This grant was awarded from the William J. McCahan 3rd Fund in Memory of Thomas C. McCahan and Florence M. McCahan. The Law Center's new website will be ready to launch in time for the new year!
The Samuel S. Fels Fund awarded the Law Center a $20,000 grant in support of the Philadelphia Project, a collaborative effort with national law firm Dechert LLP and law students to improve the special education system in the School District of Philadelphia.
The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania awarded the Law Center a
Community
Partners
grant in 2008,
which
is expected to be renewed for two additional years. The Law Center was one of
137 agencies selected to receive funding in a competitive process which drew
2,100 proposals from 546 agencies. The United Way placed no restrictions on the
use of the funds, but provided them because of the Law Center's success in
developing and enlisting public support for public policy changes and increased
public resources that advance the United Way's community level goal of assuring
that children succeed in school and graduate from high school.
The William Penn Foundation has renewed its support of our work in monitoring and enforcing the provisions of the Philadelphia School Desegregation Case Settlement Agreement approved in the summer of 2009 by the Honorable Doris A. Smith-Ribner.
CY PRES AWARDS
A "cy pres" award is the remainder in a monetary settlement after all plaintiffs
in a class action lawsuit receive their awards. Cy pres awards are traditionally
given to nonprofit organizations whose mission relates to the purpose of the
lawsuit.
On January 30, 2008 The Law Center received a "cy pres" award from the Law Firm
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, the funds for which came from various cases in which
the firm had been involved. We thank our board member Nicholas Chimicles who
recommended the Law Center for this award.
On November 7, 2007, the Law Center was granted a "cy pres" award from the law
firm Barrack Rodos & Bacine. We are grateful to our former board member Jeffrey
Golan, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit, for designating the Law
Center for this award.
