The Alameda County Bar Association is pleased to announce that civil rights champion and MacArthur Fellowship winner Lateefah Simon has agreed to give keynote remarks at the Alameda County Bar Association’s 2015 Installation and Distinguished Service Awards Reception on January 15, 2015.
Ms. Simon has received awards for her efforts to reform the criminal justice system including the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, inclusion in O Magazine’s first ever “Power List,” and is currently nominated for the San Francisco Chronicle’s inaugural Visionary of the Year award. Ms. Simon is quoted in a recent profile published by the Chronicle on January 5, 2015 by Carolyn Jones:
Everyone’s talking about social justice. What is it? What does it look like? Well, it looks like less crime, less poverty, good schools, jobs we love. … It looks like peace… I think everyone wants the same things. It’s really pretty basic.
Lateefah Simon is the director of the Rosenberg Foundation’s California’s Future program, which seeks to change the odds for women and children in the state. A longtime advocate for low-income young women and girls and for juvenile and criminal justice reform, at the age of 19, Ms. Simon was appointed executive director of the Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD) in San Francisco, the youngest ED in the organization’s history.
After an 11-year tenure as executive director, Ms. Simon led the creation of San Francisco’s first reentry services division under the leadership of District Attorney Kamala D. Harris. As division director, Ms. Simon led a strategic citywide public/private partnership effort aimed at providing concrete pathways to prevent young adults charged with low-level felony drug sales from returning to a life of crime, including the Back on Track program. Back on Track has reduced the recidivism rate for the population it serves to less than 10% and was recognized by Attorney General Eric Holder as a national model.
In 2009, Ms. Simon was appointed executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Under her leadership, the organization revamped and streamlined its 40-year-old infrastructure and implemented successful community based initiatives, including the Second Chance Legal Services Clinic.
Looking for more information on Lateefah Simon? Read the full Chronicle profile here.
Be sure to purchase your ticket today to hear this social justice visionary speak at the ACBA Installation and Distinguished Service Awards Reception. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased individually or as a group of ten. For tickets and more information on the Distinguished Service Award recipients, please visit acbanet.org/Calendar or contact Whitney Ward at (510) 302-2209 or whitney@acbanet.org.