Brian L. Blalock JD ’07, 2015 Miles L. Rubin Public Interest Award Recipient
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Join us for a talk with the 2015 Rubin Award recipient Brian L. Blalock, founder of Bay Area Legal Aid’s Youth Justice Project.
Brian works tirelessly on behalf of foster care youth, delinquency-involved youth, homeless youth, sexually exploited minors, and youth with mental health impairments. He advocates for this population by providing wrap-around civil legal services – including public benefits, health access, housing, and education services – directly and through collaborations with the Courts, Probation, School Districts, County Social Services, Behavioral Health, and community partners. Brian’s work fills a critical gap: he leads the only legal services project directly representing youth with foster care benefits issues in the Bay Area and the only legal program in Alameda County utilizing a multi-pronged approach to stabilize youth in their homes, giving them the chance to succeed outside juvenile hall.
A former middle-school teacher in the poorest congressional district (Bronx, NY), and co-founder of the YPACT Youth Leadership Program in Massachusetts, Brian trains judges, dependency attorneys, probation, and PDs throughout California on implementation of AB12 (new law extending foster care benefits eligibility). Brian started his YJP through a Skadden Fellowship. Brian’s work at BayLegal is now supported by Bingham McCutchen, LLP.