Nationwide impact: UCLA Law community comes together for the Public Service Challenge
People from across the UCLA School of Law community joined in a wide array of pro bono efforts during the first week of November for the law school’s annual Public Service Challenge. “The event is a highlight of the academic year and a treasured annual tradition for a great many of our students, staff, and faculty members,” says Erin Han, who runs the Judge Rand Schrader Pro Bono Program, which oversees the challenge. This year, projects ranged from monitoring the midterm elections to helping the unhoused. Here are some highlights.
Election monitoring to protect the Native American vote nationwide
With sponsorship from the Native American Rights Fund, 44 students, staff, and faculty members signed up to travel to South Dakota, New Mexico, and Nevada to assist with poll monitoring in areas where the Native American vote has historically been suppressed. Students navigated complex travel arrangements through small regional airports and long drives to remote areas of their assigned states where their services were most needed.
Supporting the democratic process in California
Closer to home, participants served as poll workers at voting sites near the UCLA campus, ensuring a smooth election process for voters through an ongoing partnership with L.A. County. Others served as on-site election monitors at polling locations or on legal call centers through AJSOCAL, Common Cause, the California Election Protection Alliance, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, the L.A. County Federation of Labor, Lawyers for Good Government, and the Southeast Asian Network. They helped ensure that all voters received equal and legal access to cast their vote regardless of age, disability, or native language.
Nutrition
Many volunteers served in food pantries such as the Westside Food Bank, sorting food donations for those experiencing food insecurity or staffing their annual Hunger Walk fundraiser. Others served alongside staff from the Williams Institute at Project Angel Food, preparing close to 5,000 meals for people with health conditions that require specialized meal preparation or ingredient consideration. Another group baked and delivered lasagnas to neighbors in need through Lasagna Love. Elsewhere, the Veterans Law Society supported local veterans through an organized gardening project at the Veteran’s Garden at the West Los Angeles VA.
Health
The Human Resources department kept up its annual tradition of organizing a blood drive on campus. And the Center for Reproductive Health Law and Policy teamed up with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Planned Parenthood to provide legal services to a client attending a civil rights appeal. This was through an ongoing medical legal partnership and Black health initiative.
Environment
The Environmental Law Society organized habitat restoration and wildlife reclamation projects through the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and TreePeople. Other students served at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and cleared trails for the Sierra Club. Students also participated in an environmental voter drive on Election Day, which was organized by the Emmett Institute.
“Students earned pro bono hours for many things: assisting local student groups and teams, answering texts on a crisis helpline, fostering kittens in their homes, and even serving as a licensed acupuncturist to the elderly free of charge,” Han says. “For many, their challenge project was simply the continuation of something that they do to give back on a regular basis, normally without receiving any sort of official pro bono credit because this work isn't law related. Our community shows up week after week, month after month to make a difference.”