York County Bar Foundation

Programs: Grants and scholarships: tackling school truancy - the york county truancy prevention initiative, started by judge john uhler and now a program of united way of york county in partnership with the bar foundation, targets prevention, identification and intervention to get truant students back on track. The initiative, a model for communities across the state, has reduced york county's ranking in statewide truancy statistics from 7th to 33rd in 5 short years. Promoting diversity and supporting students - donation was made to the ycbf chuck n. Patterson internship scholarship fund in honor of judge john s. Kennedy's retirement. Proceeds from the inaugural war of the roses charity softball game was donated to the pennsylvania bar foundation, pennsylvania legal aid network and lancaster bar association foundation. Funds were awarded for the clarence "chuck" n. Patterson diversity internship, richard p. Noll scholarship and william penn high school jrtoc award. Impact grants: the community impact grant recipients for the program year are the york college center for community engagement, diakon, pennsylvania immigration resource center (pirc), county of york regional opiate collaborative, and spiritrust lutheran. York college center for community engagement received funds to support the development of the center for the study of human trafficking and interpersonal violence. The center will increase the capacity of south central pennsylvania to effectively and ethically respond to and prevent human trafficking and other forms of interpersonal violence and exploitation through education, consciousness raising, research, resource sharing, and collaboration. The york county bar foundation granted funds to diakon child, family and community ministries through the henry lenz memorial fund, established to provide support for juveniles in the court system and their families. Diakon youth services provides adjudicated youth with mentoring, coaching and alternatives to detention to improve life skills and decision making. This funding will be used specifically to add a paid work experience to diakon prep which provides a structured evening program for adjudicated teens and focuses on employability skills. Funding was awarded to pennsylvania immigration resource center (pirc) for their community defense project services coordinator. This person will provide legal education, assistance and referrals to immigrant families seeking safety and family unity in york. And finally, funding was granted to spiritrust lutheran to assist the york county court of common pleas with monitoring and verifying compliance with pfa orders. Compliance monitoring strengthens the court-ordered pfa process by ensuring defendants access the services and resources to which they are referred. The program supports the court by tracking satisfactory completion of all special conditions such as drug and alcohol assessment, mental health evaluation, or batterer's intervention services.

pro bono: director of legal services & advocacy was hired as one of the 15 recommendations of the joint ycba/ycbf legal services task force (lsft). In 2017, an expungement clinic was held serving 35 people, 132 modest means and 113 pro bono cases referred to the york county bar were successfully placed with its attorneys. Mid penn legal services received the lion's share of the available assistance, with grants and alternative pro bono service funding to support pro bono services and to preserve their critically needed family-law attorney position in the york office. Pennsylvania immigration resource center received a grant to retain staff and support its operations in providing free legal services to indigent, vulnerable immigrants in the york community. This includes direct representation in york county of immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The ycba/ycbf has been recognized by the pennsylvania bar foundation, pennsylvania legal aid network and central penn business journal for its efforts to address the crisis caused by rising poverty and reduced funding on the ability to meet the legal needs of the underserved. Known as a groundbreaker for its innovative law related programs, it is the only bar association in pa to receive the pa bar foundations' prestigious goffman award four times.

public service: the york county bar association and its charitable arm, the york county bar foundation (ycba/ycbf), aspire to build the organizations' capacity for leadership and service to improve the legal profession, the community they serve and the administration of justice in society. The york county bar is the community's largest private supporter of law-related programs in funding and service. Today, with the help of community partners, the bar is implementing plans to improve access to justice for the underserved by increasing pro bono volunteers and developing more efficient and effective service delivery methods. The bar also sponsors community activity such as mock trials and an essay contest, as well as honoring a liberty bell award recipient in conjunction with its law day celebration. Its legal lines television show, the high school law mentoring and wills for heroes programs emphasize the bar's commitment to public education and community service.