The Law Belongs to Everyone

Defying Legal Gravity & Fordham Law School Center on Race, Law, and Justice are proud to announce the second annual Youth Legal Empowerment Convening — The Law Belongs to Everyone — an event bringing together youth leaders, legal advocates, organizers, educators, and community stakeholders to explore practical strategies for building community-rooted justice and collective legal power.

At a moment when democracy feels increasingly fragile, authoritarianism and fascist movements are rising across the globe, and trust in public institutions continues to erode, the question of who understands the law, and who gets to use it, has never been more urgent. Too often, legal knowledge remains concentrated in the hands of a privileged few while everyday people are left navigating systems that profoundly shape their lives without access to the tools needed to understand, challenge, or transform them.

This convening is rooted in a different vision: one where legal knowledge is treated as a public resource, where young people are equipped not only to navigate systems of power but to question them, reshape them, and imagine new possibilities for justice.

This one-day gathering will feature five workshops led by DLG’s current Legal Empowerment Fellows focused on civil rights law, constitutional law, criminal law, family law, and immigration law. These workshops are designed not only to introduce participants to critical legal concepts and pressing issues within each area of law, but also to create space for young people to learn in community with one another while developing practical tools, strategies, and knowledge they can carry back into their everyday lives and communities. The convening will also include a legal first aid coure by Legal Link and breakout sessions hosted by partners advancing youth leadership and community-based justice work across New York City.

This conference is about reclaiming legal power, democratizing the law, and building the collective capacity necessary to defend communities in a time of deep political uncertainty.

DLG & CRLJ are proud to help lead this growing movement toward a future where the law truly belongs to everyone.

Info: Welcome remarks by event hosts: DLG's Co-Founders, Craig Shepherd & Diana Imbert-Hodges.

Info: (5) Breakout workshops facilitated by DLG's current cohort of Legal Empowerment Fellows:
Civil Rights; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law; Family Law; Immigration Law

Info: Legal First Aid Training by Legal Link (Kate Crowley-Richardson & Alex Mendoza) and discussion by DLG alumni.

Info: (5) Breakout workshops facilitated by community-based partners and DLG Alumni:
More Than a Stat; NYC Votes; Schools Consent Project; Urban Word; YA-YA Network

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Diana Imbert, Craig Shepherd