What: Roosevelt Institute THINK 2040 NYC Workshop
Date & Time: Sunday, Oct. 9th, 2011 at 1:30pm
Location: Zuccotti Park
Contact: Brandi (845) 519-8422

On Oct. 9th there will be a very interesting Think 2040 workshop, alongside the OccupyWallStreet movement, in order to better understand the issues concerning our community and our city. Above is a flyer with information detailing the location, time, and contact of the event.

Click Here to view flyer.

This is a very rare event because Google has a list of target schools they work with, but CUNY is not one of them ..yet. As the Google Student Ambassador for CUNY, Lesley Vincent is shifting Google to pay attention to the talented and passionate students at CUNY.

Students can RSVP at this site: bit.ly/GoogleEvents

A team from Google Maps will also be at Lehman College on October 20th to have a Google Maps event. To RSVP go to: j.mp/LehmanMapUp

Click Here to view the flyer.

What is a Google Ambassador?
www.google.com/jobs/students/us/ambassador/

Free public interest legal work for the needy is a much-needed service in our society. While criminal cases afford the people the right to an attorney, civil cases (barring custody cases) don’t. Affordability plays a role in this outcome, as legal fees can add up significantly. So how do you tackle the issue?

The American Bar Association encourages every lawyer, as part of their professional responsibility, to provide legal services to those unable to pay. It reflects a pervasive spirit of benevolence and a healthy respect for the rule of law. Legal firms like Skadden are building a strong tradition of pro bono work by pledging to commit attorney time equivalent to at least 3% of the firm’s billable hours. As of last year, the Skadden contribution was at 8%, roughly 200K hours or $100M of work for the public good!

Lawyers tend to work on related cases routinely and may take a while to shift gears. The pro bono work and legal experience gained, especially for first-year attorneys, afford lawyers the opportunity to try cases they might otherwise wait years to obtain. Some other great benefits include one-on-one mentoring and the chance to see more immediate and direct results of their own efforts. For Skadden Associate Brenna K. DeVaney, it is her passion. Brenna has worked with White-Collar cases, Family Law, and helped create a mechanism for pro bono work at Skadden. You can click here to view the Skadden Pro Bono Report (2010).

It’s important for lawyers to contribute to the legal community to increase equal access to justice and sets a great example for us aspiring lawyers. The Skadden Scholars were inspired by the goodwill and commitment of Skadden, doing good while doing well.

How should aspiring law students jump on the pro bono band wagon?

Additional Resources
Making the Business Case for Pro Bono

The Skadden Scholars visited the firm’s New York office to see what insights Stephen had for us aspiring lawyers. From his days working in the secretive CIA and becoming a federal judge, to being a single parent and finding unexpected mentors, Stephen shared with us a very real and personal story.

Opportunities don’t come often and when they do, you need to be prepared. Stephen believes luck is when your skill and preparation meets an unexpected opportunity. So work hard, learn more and build a reputation for being someone who gets things done. Some other golden nuggets include:

• Set up controls in your life to prioritize effectively and move forward;
• Balancing yourself is unrealistic, so just remember to come back full circle to fulfill what you ignored;
• Most of us aren’t interesting, so find a way to become interesting;
• Write some portion of your life down and share what you’ve learned;
• Learn to engage anyone and have a conversation with people where you never have to say anything about yourself;
• Treat everyone with respect, like they are a client, and help them enhance their life;
• Don’t complain, don’t complain, don’t complain (80% of people don’t care, 20% like your misfortune, and family cares but they’ll be annoyed); and
• Don’t act the fool, because everyone will remember you at your worst.

We cannot do much about the circumstances that we are dealt, but we can control ourselves and what we do. Challenge yourself to learn more, adapt quickly to life’s challenges and focus on finding your happiness. For Stephen his happiness is his daughter.

Do you have any life lessons of your own to share?

The Skadden Scholars visited the Midtown Community Court, where they deal with the arraignment of violations and misdemeanors in Midtown Manhattan. The goal of this court is to help offenders deal with the problems that often underlie criminal behavior rather than handing them a quick go to jail card.

Judge Weinberg believes in the mission of the Midtown Community Court and continues to work tirelessly without a raise for over 15 years! He does not take kindly to abuse of the system and is known for never including time served in the sentence. Low-level offenders may be connected with relevant resources (e.g. substance abuse program, counseling, etc.) deemed appropriate to give them a chance to dig themselves out of the proverbial ditch. This first of its kind “problem-solving court” is now the model for various other courts in the nation.

The low-level offenders are required to give back to the community by completing service projects in the surrounding neighborhoods that the court has jurisdiction over. With the incarceration dilemma plaguing the United States, this seems like an innovative approach that has great potential. The results are phenomenal with a compliance rate of over 75 percent for community service. Although not everyone will benefit from this approach, it’s an improvement from blind justice. Treat others like human beings, give people a chance to redeem themselves, and you elicit more positive reactions and possibly teach them about civility in the process!

The experience was truly memorable. Afterwards, we discussed how subjective criminal charges can really be. Why does a driver who speeds above the legal limit get a slap-on-the-wrist fine while Joe Schmoe who steals a $2.00 juice bottle get thrown in jail and labeled a criminal? It seems logical that speeding has the potential for greater danger, but drivers are afforded special privileges that come with holding a drivers license. While I don’t believe theft of any kind should go unpunished, I do believe the system as it is needs to be looked into further.

What do you think?

Chase Home Lending Hiring Event
Click Here for job descriptions!

When: Thursday, August 11

Walk-ins Welcome: 11am-7pm

Location: 4 Chase MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11245

Job Number 110066389 – Customer Care Manager
Job Number 110064435 – Customer Care Supervisor
Job Number 110064425 – ChaseWorks (Temporary) Customer Care Research Associate
Job Number 110066369 – ChaseWorks (Temporary) Escalated Care Resolution Letter Writer

Apply online to ensure that your application is promptly reviewed by our team of Recruiters.

Chase is hiring for several hundred positions in the Brooklyn, NY area. We are looking for Customer Care Managers, Supervisors, Research Specialists and Letter Writers. These positions are full-time and temporary. If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities please visit the career site at www.chase.com/careers and in the keyword search field, enter the job number.

They are looking to conduct interviews on August 11th!

MY 3 WORDS: JUICE, SALSA, BONDS

Juice – Life is hectic and I’m bombarded by numerous things. Not only do I need to screen what to take up and turn down, but I need to assess whether I am prepared to go all the way or not. Is the juice worth the squeeze? I have various transfer options, project deadlines and personal responsibilities to focus on. What’s the point of starting something if I’m only going to go halfway? The commitment needs to be there from the get go, through thick and thin, otherwise it’s just a waste of time.

Salsa – I know what I want to do professionally, but what about my personal growth? My personal life needs to be center stage as well. Remember the old saying about “all work and no play?” Well, this means I’m not going to lose sight of the fact that living life means stopping to smell the flowers every now and then. I’ll be focusing more attention on myself and my needs. For starters, I will learn to dance Salsa. Trust me, it’s long overdue.

Bonds – To say that I’ve been progressing fairly well in terms of networking is an understatement. However, I am known more for my networking tendencies than my social prowess. Go figure. It’s time I started building deeper relationships. I will start with my family and close friends.

HOW TO SET YOUR OWN THREE WORDS

Kingsborough taught me that guidance is crucial. Interestingly enough, the school logo is a lighthouse on the coast with a far-reaching light. Just as the lighthouse guides a ship through a storm, so should these words guide you. They should help you stay focused on what you want to accomplish throughout the year. The words don’t have to mean anything special. Forget about being witty or clever, just use whatever helps you. In the end, these words should be about you and not anyone else.

I hope this works out for you and feel free to share them here. It’s been a useful trick that will continue to serve me quite well through 2011.

Juice. Salsa. Bonds.

More about voting and this promotion, including the campaign kick-off video, can be found here: http://www.cuny.edu/vote

View the KCC Flyer by clicking here.

Partnering with Cool Roofs, we helped clean the roof of a Bronx Elementary School. We picked up leaves, dust, and even a dead animal or two. Soon after we splashed the roof with cool water to scrub away hard spots. Although we were slated to coat the roof as well, the eco-friendly paint never shipped on time. We had a blast and learned about some hidden talents amongst each other. In hindsight, serving is a unique tool that leaders need to develop.

Did anyone else serve on this Day of Service? What did you learn from your experiences?

Listen.

Two groups were asked to form knots with their hands in a pre-defined way. We were expected to untangle ourselves without letting go of each others’ hands. What did we do as soon as we were told to start figuring out the puzzle? We each vociferated our own opinions together creating a buzz louder than a vuvuzela. No one was listening to anyone else, each trying our own ideas alone and we were stuck in the same spot that we started for a good five minutes. Then someone started to comment on how we were going nowhere. They were right. Soon after we stopped to listen to a few ideas and proceeded to test out each one. The result was that our group untangled ourselves first.

The solution was simple and within a more minutes even the second group untangled themselves as well. Watching their group work out the process helped me see how disoriented all their chattering made them. What worked for them? They reached a point where they also started to listen to each other and tried out each idea together. The end result was that we witnessed how a fundamental leadership tool plays a vital role in moving forward. Next time the vuvuzela starts playing, what will you do to help move the group forward?

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” -Ernest Miller Hemingway

Photo credit http://engagingfaith.blogspot.com/