BLSA scholarship endowment
The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Alumni Advisory Board recently surpassed its $100,000 fundraising goal. The campaign started after the board learned that the difference in a student of color choosing a peer institution over Emory Law sometimes comes down to only a few thousand dollars in scholarship support to aid with moving costs, living expenses, etc.
In collaboration with BLSA, the BLSA Alumni Advisory Board set out to establish a scholarship fund for entering 1L students to complement the current 2L BLSA scholarship fund that provides support to students who have been instrumental in assisting BLSA with achieving the goals of the organization.
The group raised more than $112,000 from 120 donors, mostly through peer-to-peer outreach to alumni and supporters of BLSA including 25 faculty members.
Coopersmith and Snow make EPIC donations
Jeffery B. Coopersmith 90L and Stefanie H. Snow 91Lrecently made a generous gift to support two Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC) grants for students undertaking public interest internships over the summer. Their gift also establishes an endowed scholarship that will provide much-needed financial support to Emory Law students. They remarked, “Particularly in the current times, we strongly believe that Emory Law students should have options to experience and pursue public interest work, and it is our pleasure to help fund these opportunities.”Volunteer Clinic for Veterans receives grants
Over the last year, the Volunteer Clinic for Veterans received more than $150,000 in support through philanthropic grants. The three grants provided by private foundations will allow the clinic to expand their service of providing pro-bono legal assistance to veterans who face barriers to employment and a meaningful life because of conditions caused by service to our country or because of the character of their service discharge.
Rita Sheffey, assistant dean for public service, said, “We were particularly delighted to receive these grants which enabled us to hire a junior staff attorney and senior paralegal to support existing work and to offer an expanded series of virtual clinics to reach more veterans during the pandemic.”
