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Get Right

Venture Field: Community Education

Year of Venture Launch: 2007

Name: Jacob

Role in the Venture: Director

Venture Description: Get Right will work to ameliorate the iniquities that exist in today's legal system. Observing that too often, low-income citizens who are accused of crimes receive sub-par legal representation without any further help, we believe that addressing the topical problem without treating the underlying cause is ineffective. We will bring together legal representation and comprehensive counseling programs to help non-violent first time offenders get a fair trial in addition to the help that they need to be healthy and productive members of society. We will do this with a highly streamlined central organization that will utilize low cost resources.

Venture Origin: I saw two people who I had known from my home town be arrested and charged with similar misdemeanor drug offenses. One, who was wealthy, received only treatment as his sentence, while the other, who was not, found himself spending a month in jail, after which he had a difficult time finding employment to better his situation.

Innovation: We are innovative because we have almost no overhead. We will bring together pro bono legal representation and combine that with low-cost or government subsidized counseling services.

Impact

Impact: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to have a tangible impact.

Engagement with the community: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to have a tangible impact.

Impact and engagement progress since launch: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to have a tangible impact.

Impact and engagement strategy: We will start off as a small organization tending to people of a specific demographic, but hope to eventually grow to be large enough to address the needs of entire communities. We can do this by maintaining a good reputation and building a record of success in our efforts.

Awards: -

Budget

Amount of Youth Venture seed grant: -

Money raised: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to address this question.

Creative ways of raising resources: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to address this question.

Strategy

Expansion plan for next 6 months: For the first six months, we plan to begin helping clients, develop relationships with several law firms and counseling centers, and build a reputation for ourselves.

Plans for sustaining the project: We will ensure our sustainability by continually seeking outside sources of funding, continuing to recruit members to join the organization, and continually strengthening our ties to the community.

Vision for three years from now: Three years from now, we hope to have a cohesive core group of volunteers helping to vet clients, seek out grants, and build relationships with law firms and counseling services. We hope to have a solid reputation among our target communities, and to be respected by peers in the field.

Project impact: Our venture was approved within the past two weeks, so we have not yet had a chance to address this question fully.

Youth Venture movement - what it means and how you can contribute: We believe strongly in the Youth Venture movement because it teaches people to take charge and do something with themselves. While not every organization will succeed and many may come up short of their initial goal, the important thing is that people have taken action with their own lives to address a situation that they found to be problematic. Regardless of how this experience ends up, we know that we will have grown from the attempt, simply by proving to ourselves that we can make a difference in someones life.

Author:
Jacob
United States



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