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.

Discovering Justice is proud to be a part of the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition (MCLC), a coalition of more than 50 civic education groups in Massachusetts who work with school districts and teachers to help bring civics into the classroom. MCLC was formed in 2017 and led the campaign to pass the groundbreaking Civics Education Law that prioritized civic education for Massachusetts students.

Since the passage of the law, Discovering Justice and MCLC have worked with Senator Rausch and many other Massachusetts legislators to increase the Commonwealth’s investment in civic education by 67%.

During the Senate debate last month, Senator Rausch spoke passionately from the Senate floor:

“Civic education is both profoundly important and a necessary equalizer. It empowers young people from all backgrounds and all communities to make their voices heard as they advocate for the issues and values that matter most to them. Civics teaches the power of the grassroots and delivers the experience of influencing law and policy even before our students are old enough to vote, so when the time comes for them to start casting their ballots, they know how much it matters to exercise that right and engage in our democracy.”

Christy and Tracy recognize that CDJ meets an underserved need for civics programming in early-childhood classrooms like theirs, with lessons designed to help the Commonwealth’s youngest learners engage with the concepts of justice and fairness and explore school and community issues. 

And their kindergartners are hungry for it! According to Gardner Pilot Academy colleague Gaby Haywood, “Through CDJ, Christy and Tracy provide their students with a strong foundation of the understanding of what is justice and injustice in the world, and their students learn to use the language from the lessons in everyday conversations.”

Tom’s dedication to his students drives his ongoing partnership with Discovering Justice. Teaching students how to advocate for themselves and others, Tom believes, is vitally important – and it starts with our youngest learners in CDJ.

“All students need to be able to recognize what justice is,” he explains, “so they can recognize when it’s not present.”

Derek Doherty, teacher at Boston’s Mildred Ave K-8 School, reports that Hannah’s passion for this work inspires her students: