Bba group mentoring program

Boston high school debaters are amazing, dedicated kids. They get up at 5 AM every school day, often taking multiple buses and trains to be in class by AM.

Then they repeat that journey home to care for little brothers and sisters. Sometimes their families have lived in Boston for generations. Sometimes they are refugees from places like Somalia or Syria or Guatemala and act as interpreters for their parents.

They are intelligent. Often highly intelligent. Your time will be well spent. Many of them have a hard time pronouncing certain written words.

You know how to do this cold. Pass it on. Do you really think the teachers who are coaches can do this all by themselves? They start work at 6 AM. They work 11 hour days. Over college-educated adults are needed to judge each debate round of kids at a single tournament. Coaches are pressed into emergency service as judges, taking them away from their teams. Some tournament weekends they have competing family needs.

These teacher-coaches need backup! Let it go to your head! Teaching a pack of high school boys, at their request, how to tie their own ties: Be.

We missed you!!! You will never get lost driving around Eastie or Brighton or Dorchester again. Your parents came to your games in high school, right? Who will celebrate their triumphs? Who will just be there as they experience defeat and figure out how to come back? A teenager who has just lost a debate round and asks for your advice really, really wants to hear it.

Where do you think the next generation of DAs, public defenders, judges, transactional lawyers, entrepreneurs, governors and presidents are going to come from? Are you bothered by the increasing income and opportunity gap in America?

Urban education is the civil rights issue of our time. Participation in the Boston Debate League is transformational. The shy kids talk. The class talkers listen. Reading and thinking skills grow. Work and preparation habits put down roots. It becomes cool to be smart and persuasive.

College doors open. Go ahead — get in touch with your inner miracle worker! He is looking forward to the BDL season. These are events organized by the military to support servicemen and servicewomen preparing for or returning from deployment. It was a rainy day in May and I was running a few minutes late.

As I pulled up to the Burlington Marriott I was amazed by the sheer number of military personnel in full fatigue. As I searched for the other volunteers, I zigzagged my way through a crowd consisting mostly of men who towered over me. I have no previous experience with the military, I have no friends or family who have ever served, and to say I was intimidated is an understatement.

While one volunteer manned our table, I was sent with a Retired Colonel and the other volunteer to a small board room to talk one on one with returning soldiers about their legal issues. I fielded the family law questions since that is the area of law I used to practice. For over two hours I spoke to men who needed help and advice on their family law issues.

One soldier I spoke with had his 6 year old son with him. He wanted to discuss filing for divorce; his wife had left him and the children while he was deployed. The soldier reassured his son and encouraged him to sit at the table and draw while he talked with me. As soon as the father walked away, the son ran after him and climbed into his lap.

It was obvious how much this little boy was hurting. His father left on deployment and is back but then his mother left and he had to move out of his home. I was able to provide the father with some basic information and hopefully provide him with some guidance.

In those few moments with this father and son, the sacrifices these men and women are making and the toll it is taking on their families became so clear. I heard story after story that day that broke my heart. Volunteering at the Yellow Ribbon Event was fully outside of my comfort zone.

It was a new population I had never worked with coming back from an experience I had no connection to. This was an experience I will never forget, and I will definitely volunteer for another Yellow Ribbon Event. If you are interested in learning more about Yellow Ribbon Events or any of our other programs, please contact me at sshah bostonbar.

For example, there might be a startup incubator with an open workspace where you can get some work done and still meet some new people in the industry, or else a weekly brainstorming meeting among creative minds at the downtown library. Keep your eyes peeled, and attend whatever you can. Small Business Development Centers SBDCs are independent organizations that provide resources, expertise, and advice to emerging entrepreneurs in major cities across the country. Drawing Small Business Administration federal funds, state and local government funds and resources form the private sector, you should be able to find free consultation at an SBDC near you.

SCORE is an organization dedicated to helping individuals start, run and grow their own businesses. There are currently more than Through SCORE, you can request a free face-to-face meeting with a mentor to discuss your business idea — and you may be able to form a more lasting partnership.

Related: support groups for small business owners. Are there any industry expos coming up in your surrounding area? Conferences or speaking events regarding your industry? If so, these are perfect places to find someone more experienced than you — and you can learn more about your industry during the search. Obviously, your direct competitors will be reluctant to give you practical advice on how to succeed.

Instead, seek out your indirect competitors, such as companies in the same industry targeting a different segment of the market, or companies across the country with no bearing on your local relationships.

If these companies have been in business longer than you have, their leadership will have the considerable wisdom to dispense. Application or these payments are made directly through the national grant administrator. More information is click here. Brooks Legal Services Award. Lynn has been devoted her career to helping those unable to afford private counsel in civil cases.

Beyond her direct service work, Lynn has been a fixture at the BBA. This committee worked to determine how the BBA could help soldiers who are being overwhelmed with legal issues in light of their ongoing military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has been the driving force behind aligning resources in the community to provide these soldiers and their families with the best legal resources available.

But Lynn is more than just the co-chair of this committee. She is the glue and the inspiration that has us all coming back month after month to ensure that we are providing the services that these men and women deserve. Lynn Girton leaves her mark on everything that she does.

The soldiers and veterans in Greater Boston are better off today not only because of the work Lynn does, but because of the work she inspires others to do. Over the years it has grown and now the LRS staff screens over , calls per year connecting members of the community to lawyers and legal resources for advice, representation and information on legal issues. In order to become approved by the American Bar Association, the BBA LRS complies with standards established by the ABA, including the creation of objective experience requirements for the attorneys on each practice area panel.

Furthermore, LRS staff conducts daily quality assurance calls with callers about the referrals made, and each month all of the attorneys on the panel are individually verified that they are in good standing with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. The BBA LRS receives requests from over organizations, including courts, libraries, and hospitals to receive marketing materials.

A few times per year, the LRS sends brochures in English and Spanish that highlight our referral process, as well as bilingual tear sheets that have our contact information. These organizations share our information with their patrons that they cannot assist.

The LRS receives many calls from people who found our contact information at a library, or other non-profit organization. Our attorneys can do well by doing good. A patron held the door open for the client, but the large door struck her as it was closing, resulting in substantial injuries and other health complications.

The firm found that the door did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements or Massachusetts disability guidelines. Throughout the year, the LRS staff attends approximately one community and outreach event per month, connecting with many neighborhoods and populations in the Greater Boston area. LRS staff speak to hundreds of people who wanted to learn more about the service and how they can get in touch with an attorney.

Despite being understaffed, the court has gone to great lengths to provide information about the new law to the public and the bar, including making a procedural guide, forms, checklists, training materials and practice tips available on its website. In turn, the trusts and estates bar, led by the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association , has made significant contributions of time and expertise to help ease the transition to the MUPC.

In addition to sponsoring numerous CLE programs on the new law, they spearheaded an effort to establish MUPC resource desks staffed by bar association volunteers. These resource desks have been set up in the probate registries in seven counties across the state and are typically in session for two to four hours each week.

Resource desk volunteers have also helped open a dialogue between the court staff and the bar, discussing issues and questions that have arisen for both groups during the first months that the MUPC has been in effect.

June Duchesne, Co-Chair. Richard Moore, Co-Chair. Lindy Aldrich. Adam Foss. Christopher Kauders.