Michael Barber, Danielle Jacobs, and SJ Morrison are law students in Pittsburgh, PA. However, they don’t all attend the same school. Michael and Danielle are students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and SJ is a student at the Duquesne University School of Law. Together, these three students are collaborating with attorneys in the Pittsburgh Area to establish a new chapter of CARE to span the Western District of Pennsylvania.
These students are collaborating with their law school administrations to establish infrastructure within their schools to recruit and train student volunteers. The purpose of creating these micro-CARE platforms at the schools is to provide students with volunteer opportunities for years to come. Recruiting student volunteers will help create a sustainable chapter. In addition to volunteer opportunities, students will have the chance to network with local insolvency attorneys and judges through the CARE chapter. The goal is to assign one attorney/judge with one student to present together. This is very exciting because through this new chapter, these students are able to build a bridge between both law schools.
In addition to establishing an affiliation between the CARE chapter and both law schools, another goal is to also create a partnership between several local bankruptcy related organizations and CARE. In fact, Michael, Danielle, and SJ are currently working with the local International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (“IWIRC”) group to host a panel of bankruptcy attorneys to present at a virtual event between both law schools. During this panel, these students will promote the new CARE chapter and therefore, begin the process of recruiting student volunteers.
Finally, these students have big plans for the future of the new CARE chapter. Right now, plans are in place to present The Road to Financial Independence at a local high school via Zoom in November. Tapping into their network, these students will expand into other schools in the Pittsburgh Area. After that, Michael, Danielle, and SJ hope to further spread the knowledge of CARE to non-profits and even jails in the Western District of Pennsylvania.