News Archives - Discovering Justice

Category: News

21 MayNews

Reflections from Executive Director Rana Kannan After First Year

It has been a full year since I joined Discovering Justice as Executive Director, and with May also being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I can’t help but feel reflective.

I’ve always considered it a blessing to be able to relate to the students I serve; I feel that in this role, just like I did when I was a teacher and school administrator. DJ is doing incredibly important work that supports students and teachers, provides deep mentoring and learning opportunities, and helps show students what is possible. We expand the minds of our students and possibilities for their families.

As a woman leader, as a daughter of immigrants, and as an Asian American, it’s been amazing to meet and work with people from such diverse backgrounds, and to experience the shared sentiment that diversity really strengthens our community, rather than fracturing it. One thing that has been very clear in my first year at DJ is how supportive the legal community in Massachusetts is of historically marginalized groups.

I believe that meaningful public engagement with our judicial system is necessary for a healthy democracy, and I also deeply relate to the experience of navigating complex legal systems without fully understanding your rights or how to advocate for yourself and your family, especially when language or knowledge barriers exist. English was not the primary language spoken in my house growing up, and I vividly remember my father going through his naturalization process when I was a young adult. As the first person in my family to attend college, those experiences shaped my understanding of how intimidating and inaccessible these systems can feel for many families.

I feel so lucky that I get to work alongside our incredible staff, board, donors, and volunteers to ensure that students across the state have opportunities to learn critical skills in the classroom or at the courthouse that will serve them, their families, and communities for years to come.

I am excited for year two. Discovering Justice is ready, and so am I.

12 MayNews

25th Anniversary Gala Raising Over Half a Million

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Tuesday, May 5th, Discovering Justice celebrated its 25th Anniversary Gala, bringing together supporters, partners, and community leaders for an evening celebrating the organization’s impact and future. The event presented founding board member Jack Regan with the Champion of Justice Award, and presented the Torchbearer Award to Chelsea Public Schools in recognition of its implementation of the Children Discovering Justice curriculum.

Attendees heard powerful stories illustrating how Discovering Justice programs foster critical thinking, civic engagement, and a deeper understanding of the rule of law. The event brought together over 300 supporters and raised over $500,000 to support Discovering Justice’s mission to provide high-quality, hands-on civics education for students across Massachusetts.

A special thank you to our Guardian of Justice sponsors Wilmerhale, Goodwin, and Ropes & Gray.

“The energy in the room was extraordinary,” said Rana Suh Kannan, Executive Director of Discovering Justice. “This community’s generosity ensures that students across the Commonwealth have access to meaningful civics education at a time when it is more important than ever.”

The evening’s highlight was the commemorative 25th Anniversary video unveiled that evening. For those who could not join us the video is below.

Thank you to everyone who made the 25th Anniversary Gala one to remember.

10 FebNews

Juris Education Features Discovering Justice

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Read Discovering Justice’s interview with Juris Education, a leading law school admissions consulting edtech startup.

21 NovNews

Discovering Justice Celebrates 25 Years

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Discovering Justice is excited to launch a 25th Anniversary campaign. The organization was incorporated in 2001 to work alongside the Commonwealth’s legal community and engage thousands of students through its in-school, out-of-school, and courthouse programs. Today, we continue to envision and work towards a future where everyone in our community is well-equipped with the knowledge, skills, and desire to build and sustain an equitable democracy.

As we celebrate 25 years of impact, we are looking to reignite the same energy that fueled our founding, and raise $1.75M to ensure our continued capacity to provide high-quality civic education for years to come.

Caption: Students discussing what is a rule as part of our Children of Discovering Justice Curriculum.

Throughout the year, Discovering Justice will be hosting events, digital fundraisers, and other opportunities for engagement, culminating with our annual Gala. Through these efforts, we are strengthening our capacity to ensure students, teachers, and the broader community continue to have high-quality civic education opportunities.

Now, in a time of polarized public discourse, decreased electoral engagement among young adults, and newly-identified civics education gaps, our work is all the more essential: we are pursuing a democracy where all individuals have the skills and knowledge to meaningfully engage. For our democracy to function, we need engaged and informed citizens – and we know it’s not enough to start that work in 8th grade. We provide students in grades K-12 opportunities to learn and practice their advocacy skills.

Every gift honors the legacy of this work and will fuel a future where students across Massachusetts continue to have opportunities for deep learning about our justice system. Your involvement today will give you a seat at the table as we shape our vision for the next 25 years.

To learn more about what you can do to support our work, please reach out to our Development Director, Sara Gill, at Sgill@discoveringjustice.org.

09 JulNews

2025 Gala Recap: Honoring Joshua Levy & Welcoming Rana Kannan

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2025 Gala Recap: Honoring Joshua Levy & Welcoming Rana Kannan

Discovering Justice is grateful to the community of corporate sponsors, foundations, individual donors, and school districts who make our work possible—and who came together to celebrate civic education and youth empowerment at our 2025 Annual Gala.

We were honored to welcome Ropes & Gray as our Presenting Sponsor, whose leadership and support helped make the evening a tremendous success.

This year’s Gala marked a new chapter for Discovering Justice as we introduced Rana Kannan, our incoming Executive Director. Rana brings a bold vision and deep experience in the education space that will help propel us into our next chapter.

We were also proud to honor Joshua S. Levy, former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, with our Champion of Justice Award. Josh’s decades-long service as a mentor to students and Trustee has shaped the heart of this organization and inspired the next generation of changemakers.

The strength of this event would not have been possible without the tireless work of our 2025 Gala Committee:Lo Stark, Lenore Lobel, Louis Lobel, Michael Anderson, Sarah Walters (Gala Chair), Jennifer Brown, and Becca Solomont. Their creativity, dedication, and leadership helped bring our mission to life in powerful ways.

We also extend a heartfelt thank you to Goodwin Procter LLP and WilmerHale, our 2025 Guardian of Justice, whose continued volunteerism and philanthropic partnership have helped bring justice education into classrooms and courtrooms across the Commonwealth.

Together, we continue to show what’s possible when a community invests in democracy and the potential of its youngest citizens.

Thank you to everyone who made Gala 2025 unforgettable.

02 JulGalaNews

Goodwin Procter: Partner for Justice

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Goodwin Procter: 2024 Partner for Justice Awardee

Discovering Justice is fortunate to have corporate, philanthropic foundations, individual donors, and school district supporters who all come together with the resources we need to do our work.

Goodwin Procter is one such partner. Goodwin’s generous and consistent financial support of Discovering Justice’s work has provided us with the capacity to grow from an idea to one of the foremost civic education groups in the Commonwealth.

For the passion, perspective, and energy Goodwin brings to our partnership, Discovering Justice was proud to present Goodwin Procter with our 2024 Partner for Justice Award at our Annual Gala 2024: Partners for Justice on June 26th.

For more than over 20 years, Goodwin’s attorneys and staff have volunteered their time and expertise to our programs, most notably as Legal Mentors in our Mock Trial and Mock Appeal teams in Boston. This spring, Goodwin attorneys mentored middle school teams from St. John’s Parochial School in Boston and North Middle School in Brockton.

And Goodwin’s leadership has been vital to Discovering Justice’s direction and growth. We’re proud to name Goodwin’s Deborah Birnbach as former Chair of Discovering Justice’s Board of Trustees, and Marieljane Bastien and Louis Lobel as current Board Members.

Accepting Goodwin’s award last week, Birnbach and Lobel commended the work of Discovering Justice as essential to building future leaders, noting that our programs help prepare the young people not only of Boston but across the Commonwealth to explore the justice system firsthand and start to become active, engaged participants in our democracy and affirming that “Goodwin is proud to support that work.”

Our partnership with Goodwin proves that when we come together and all bring what we can to the table, we can all reach further, aim higher, and help build a stronger future for our students. Thank you, Goodwin Procter!