For the Children
HBA Volunteers Serve Community’s Youth

By TARA SHOCKLEY

A 1995 forum hosted by the Houston Bar Association asked community leaders to reach consensus on the most important mission of our community. Their conclusion? The nurturing and education of children.
In response, HBA leaders committed the association’s resources to developing new programs that would educate and serve the children and young people of Harris County, as well as expanding existing projects such as the Juvenile Justice Mock Trial Program. The past decade has seen the establishment of a number of new programs that give HBA members the opportunity to work with children and teens of all ages. During the 2003-2004 bar year, HBA President Michael Connelly named children’s programs as a special focus of his administration. Under his leadership, the HBA created several new programs to educate and serve young people, as well as parents and educators.
Volunteers are key to all of the HBA’s efforts for children. If you are interested in participating in any of the programs described in this article, please contact the Houston Bar Association office at 713-759-1133 or visit the Web site, www.hba.org, for more information.

KidZone
The HBA in March launched a new section on its Web site that provides information and resources for children, teens, parents and teachers. The “KidZone” section is accessed by clicking on an icon on the home page of the HBA Web site, www.hba.org This takes the viewer to information on legal education and safety, as well as links to other helpful re-sources.
Under “Safety Tips,” viewers will find in-formation on abduction prevention, Internet safety, substance abuse and peer mediation. A “Legal Education” section includes information on juvenile law, curfew laws, the Texas court structure, law as a career and a legal dictionary. The section also includes suggested law-related lesson plans for teachers. A “Helpful Links” section will give the HBA the opportunity to continue to add relevant links and information.
“We are very pleased to add this resource to our Web site,” said Connelly. “We hope our members will give us their input and ideas for this section.

The Story of Brown
HBA members visited over 250 elementary, middle and high school classrooms for presentations on the significance of the 50th anniversary on May 17th of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended the “separate but equal” doctrine in our education system.
Attorneys visited 92 classes in 39 elementary schools, where they read an illustrated story of Linda Brown, the seven-year-old whose hazardous daily journey to a segregated school outside her Topeka neighborhood prompted the lawsuit. The volunteers and children discussed why the story is important and how it has impacted their lives. In 159 middle and high schools, attorneys and students discussed the significance of Brown and its role in education today. Issues of equality, civility and fairness were stressed at all grade levels. The presentations reached more than 9,900 children and teens in Harris County. The HBA plans to continue presentations in additional schools during the 2004-2005 school year.

Law Week Poster and Essay Contests
The HBA Law Week Committee each year sponsors a poster contest in elementary schools and an essay contest in middle schools and high schools on the current year’s Law Week theme, established by the American Bar Association (ABA). This year’s theme was “To Win Equality by Law: Brown v. Board at 50.” All schools in the 24 school districts in Harris County are invited to participate. Students submitted 276 essays, judged by members of the Law Week Committee and the Harris County judiciary, and 188 posters, judged by local artist Kermit Eisenhut. The winning essay by Kathleen Kwie, a senior at DeBakey High School for Health Professions, is reprinted on page 47 of this issue.
The HBA submitted its top three winning posters to the State Bar of Texas Law Day Poster Contest, and all three took honors. The students and their teachers receive cash awards donated by Blake A. Pratz and Christopher L. Myers of The Pratz/Myers Group at Smith Barney, and they receive cash prizes from the State Bar if they win at that level, as well. The posters are displayed each year at the Houston Young Lawyers Association Law Day Luncheon, then featured in permanent art display cases the HBA has installed in the Family Law Center and Civil Courts Building.

The Voir Dire Program
High school seniors in government, history and street law classes learn about jury selection by participating in the voir dire process, conducted by volunteer judges and attorneys in real courtrooms. Students from schools throughout Harris County participate in the program, which is usually conducted as part of Law Week activities. The Voir Dire Program focuses on educating high school seniors as they reach the age where they will join the potential jury pool.
Each participating judge selects a prosecutor and a defense attorney to lead the students through voir dire for a fictional case. The judges talk to the students about the importance of jury service and explain the questioning process. Once the voir dire is complete, the attorneys choose a jury and explain why they selected those students. The Voir Dire Program reaches several hundred students each year.

Dialogue on Freedom
What freedoms are you willing to give up for a safe, secure nation? Federal judges from the Southern District of Texas, along with attorneys, volunteer to discuss topics such as this with high school government classes through the HBA’s “Dialogue on Freedom” Program. Created by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and the ABA, the program brings lawyers, judges and students together to focus on the democratic principles on which the United States is built. Through the use of hypothetical situations in an imaginary country, the program encourages interaction on diverse ethnic backgrounds, cultural identifications and political perspectives on the Constitution and the legal system.
The program is conducted in both Houston and in South Texas, by the federal judges in Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville. First conducted as a pilot Law Week program in 2003, “Dialogue on Freedom” has now become an ongoing program that is conducted during Law Week, as well as other times during the year to coincide with students’ study of the U.S. Constitution.

A Great IDEA
For more than a decade the Houston Bar Association and the Harris County Medical Society have partnered to teach fifth graders about the legal and medical consequences of drugs, alcohol and tobacco through the Interprofessional Drug Education Alliance, or IDEA, Program. Volun-teer teams composed of a lawyer and a physician visit elementary school classes in the fall and the spring for interactive presentations that teach students how substance abuse affects their growing bodies, their minds and their futures. The program reaches 1,300 students each session and is available to all school districts in Harris County.
The volunteers use visuals such as news stories, damaged organs in formaldehyde, and jail coveralls and handcuffs to portray the reality of their message. The physicians show how drugs affect a student’s ability to study and play sports, while the lawyers show what happens if a juvenile is caught with drugs in a school locker and how it can affect their ability to get a driver’s license.
“We chose fifth graders for this program because they are at a cross-road in their young lives,” said Connelly. “They will soon enter middle school, where they will be exposed to much greater peer pressure, and we hope to help them make wise choices.”

Adopt-A-School Program
Since 1992, the HBA has partnered with B.C. Elmore Middle School in the North Forest Independent School District to improve the learning environment for students and faculty at this disadvantaged school. The Adopt-A-School Committee meets with faculty and administrators each year to determine and help meet the school’s needs. Volunteer lawyers serve as tutors in reading and math. Students are treated to field trips, musical performances, career days and special speakers on a variety of topics. The HBA produces a quarterly newsletter, The Tiger Times, that keeps students informed about HBA/B.C. Elmore activities and showcases student art work and writing. Students also participate in many other HBA volunteer-driven programs, including the IDEA Program and the Juvenile Justice Mock Trial Program.
A Reading Incentive Program allows students to earn the right to attend pizza parties by reading books and turning in written reports. At the parties, HBA members join the students for lunch and talk to them about the importance of reading and how it can affect their lives. The HBA also provides new books for the school’s library and books that the students can take home and keep several times a year.
The Adopt-A-School Committee oversees this ongoing program that involves dozens of HBA volunteers.

Juvenile Justice Mock Trial Program
One of the oldest community outreach programs of the HBA, the Juvenile Justice Mock Trial Program will celebrate its 30th anniversary in the fall. The program has reached nearly 30,000 eighth grade students in schools throughout Harris County, giving them a positive look at the legal system. HBA Executive Director Kay Sim, along with HBA volunteers, established the program in 1975. Now, HBA staff work with law students from the University of Houston Law Center, South Texas College of Law and Thurgood Marshall School of Law, visiting classrooms for a five-week unit that provides “hands-on” trial preparation. At the end of the classroom session, the students and teachers travel to the Harris County courthouse complex, where they enact their mock trials in real courtrooms, assuming the roles of judge, prosecutors, defense attorneys, witnesses, defendant and court personnel.
“The judges of Harris Coun-ty have helped us make the Mock Trial Program a great success by giving up their courtrooms on Friday mornings, four times each year,” said Sim. “We could not have an effective program without their assistance.”
The judges in the courts let the student judges wear their robes, and many take a few moments to speak with students before or after the trials. Parents are encouraged to attend to see the results of their children’s hard work in class. Many schools videotape the trials so they can review and discuss them in class.
Because of the program’s longevity, students who participated in the Mock Trial Program as eighth graders have even returned to work in the program as law students.

Children’s Clothing and Diaper Drive
The HBA’s Campaign for the Homeless Committee each spring sponsors a Children’s Clothing and Diaper Drive that collects gently-used items for Houston’s homeless shelters and agencies that serve children of all ages. Disposable diapers are a critical need at all facilities, so the drive accepts unopened packages of diapers in all sizes, as well as cash donations to purchase new diapers.
In January, the HBA president writes to all law firms with five or more attorneys, general counsels at Houston corporations, and the judiciary to encourage them to appoint a coordinator and participate in the drive, held during the month of April. Volunteers from the Campaign for the Homeless Committee arrange to pick up donations and deliver them to the HBA office, although some offices choose to deliver donations themselves. Committee members and volunteers then sort the donated items by size and age-appropriateness and box them for pickup by shelters and agencies.
This year’s drive was a record-breaking event, with 110 individual, firm and court donors; 6,816 items donated; and $2,595 dollars donated to purchase disposable diapers - the highest numbers in the history of the drive.
The Campaign for the Homeless Committee also conducts a Coat and Warm Clothing Drive each fall that includes stocking a coat closet for needy students at B.C. Elmore Middle School, the HBA’s adopted school.

Lawyers For Literacy Book Drive
The HBA’s Lawyers for Literacy Committee each year conducts a Fall Book Drive that benefits local homeless shelters. As part of that drive, a special emphasis is placed on books for children and young readers. This year’s drive netted over 6,200 books for children of all ages. In addition, HBA members donated $1,831 in cash to purchase new books for the HBA’s adopted school, B.C. Elmore Middle School.
Organizations that receive children’s books from the drive also include Beulah Land Community Church, Boys and Girls Harbor, Casa de Esperanza, Children’s Protective Services, Chimney Rock Emergency Services, Community Family Centers, Harris County Domestic Relations Office, Project Row House, Star of Hope, Youth Read of Houston and Youth With A Mission.

Speakers Bureau
The Speakers Bureau, established in 1952, is the longest-running community service program of the Houston Bar Association. Through the bureau, attorneys volunteer to speak to schools, service clubs, and other civic and community organizations. However, schools are the primary focus of the committee, with “most requested topics” including law as a career, juvenile law, constitutional law and other education-related topics.
Brochures about the Speakers Bureau are sent to schools and other organizations each year. To schedule a speaker, the organization calls the HBA office at least three weeks in advance of an event, and HBA staff will match the event with a volunteer from a pool of more than 100 attorneys listed on the Speakers Bureau. Volunteers speak to 50-60 classrooms each year.

Special Olympics
Through the HBA Special Olympics Committee, volunteers donate an average of 1,400 hours each year to staff events for Special Olympics Texas. Volunteers serve as scorekeepers, timekeepers and referees; assist with event setup; recruit volunteers; and hand out awards. In 2003, the HBA was honored by both the Greater Houston Area Special Olympics and Special Olympics Texas for “Outstanding Service from a Civic or Service Organization.” The committee has been active since 1989.

Lawyers In Public Schools
Lawyers in Public Schools (LIPS) is a partnership between the HBA and local school districts that places volunteer lawyers as substitute teachers in classrooms, enabling teachers to attend educational training without the district having to pay for substitutes. Not only does the program save the district money that can be redirected to enrich learning, it also provides positive role models for students, gives attorneys a realistic look at classroom education, and exposes students to the law.

We Care Cards
Since 1990, the HBA and United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast have teamed up to produce pocket-sized cards for teens in crisis. Over 115,000 cards are distributed to teens in more than a dozen school districts. The cards remind young people that they are not alone and encourage them to call one of the help lines listed on the back of each card. There are numbers for help with drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse and neglect, counseling, runaways, suicide and depression. Earth Color Printing, printers of The Houston Lawyer and the Houston Bar Bulletin, donate the card stock, while Business Extension Bureau, the HBA’s mass mailing company, donates the printing.

Tara Shockley is the communications director of the Houston Bar Association

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