Home > Advocacy Programs
Equal Justice Work Fellowship: The East Los Angeles 3-7 Project
Devon Rios is honored that Equal Justice Works has granted her a fellowship and the amazing opportunity to advocate for the special education rights of young children ages 3-7 in the East Los Angeles community. Being born and raised in the East Los Angeles area makes this opportunity all that more exciting for Devon and is a real treat to return home and give back o the community that provided her with such a great foundation. Learn more…
Education Not Incarceration
The goal of the Education Not Incarceration program is to prevent the entry of at-risk youth into the juvenile justice system through appropriate educational services and interventions. Our program also seeks an appropriate education for detained youth so that they may be safely integrated back in to the community, where they can reach their fullest potential and become productive members of society. To meet these objectives, LRLC collaborates with the Departments of Probation, Office of the Public Defender, Juvenile court and community partners. LRLC also provides legal training to families and stakeholders in order to better ensure compliance with students’ educational rights. Learn more…
Foster Youth
The Foster Youth education program’s goal is to improve educational outcomes for foster youth through direct client advocacy, educational evaluations and stakeholder trainings. LRLC also strives to keep foster youth appropriately supported in their community schools to reduce the number “crossing over” into the delinquency system. Foster youth typically face discouraging roadblocks to their public education including illegal placement in the most restrictive school settings, months of school missed as a result of placement changes illegal expulsions and suspensions and the lack of adherence to legally mandated time-lines. LRLC has been instrumental in returning numerous foster youth to public schools and changing public education policy at the state and local level. Learn more…
LAMCE Los Angeles Medical-Legal Collaborative for Education
The unique partnership between LRLC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles provides education advocacy and legal representation to pediatric patients with education needs. Students with medical issues whose learning is compromised have legal rights to secure the necessary accommodations and services that promote their health and well-being as well as academic success. Learn more…
Rainbow Project for LGBT Students
The Rainbow Project focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) students in the K-12 school system. This project ensures that students rights are respected, protected and preserved in schools – regardless of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity – so they can receive a meaningful education and fulfill their potential. Learn more…
“Rez Ed”
The “Rez Ed” program seeks to empower American Indian families as self-sufficient special education advocates for their children. Rez Ed strives to increase a school’s sensitivity towards American Indian children with disabilities and to foster the academic success and self-esteem of these children. Learn more…
T.I.G.E.R. – Training Individuals for Grassroots Education Reform
T.I.G.E.R. is a bi-lingual, multi-disciplinary, hands-on self-advocacy training program for families of children with disabilities. During extensive training by LRLC staff members and other education experts, parents learn self-advocacy, including how to support their students at Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings with school district representatives. Parents also learn about community organizing and taking legislative action. The T.I.G.E.R. program fulfills a crucial community need by creating grassroots solutions for our education crisis. Learn more…
Civil Rights Litigation
Learning Disabilities
Students With Learning Disabilities Need Education Advocacy:
Students with learning disabilities may already be receiving Special Education services, or be eligible for Special Education. This population must be properly served in order to ensure that schools and school districts are identifying these youth where appropriate, appropriately serving these students, and complying with federal and state Special Education law, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and §504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
School Access
All over California and Los Angeles County the vulnerable, poor and disenfranchised fail to receive the education they are entitled to receive by law because of the stigma associated with their race, disability, or legal and court status. There are several systemic barriers to enrollment and physical access for these three particular populations of students, which is why LRLC will seek them out for advocacy. Students whose native language is not English are entitled to accessing the public education, but many receive substandard education. Some students are misidentified as disabled and placed in special education and labeled disabled. Others are identified as English Language Learner when they are struggling with learning because of a undiagnosed learning disability.
Brief Services Clinics
The need for education advocacy in Southern California is tremendous. To address this need Learning Rights provides one-on-one educational diagnostic clinics to evaluate legal education issues facing families and students. Families and students are given the opportunity to attend diagnostic legal clinics to give them the means to resolve their child’s educational issues. During the diagnostic legal clinics parents will meet with a Learning Rights advocate to discuss their child’s education issues. They will be advised by an attorney as to the child’s rights and be given actionable steps to remedy the issues at hand.
