Urban Justice Center
Shandanette Chase currently serves as the Supervising Attorney for the Mental Health Project at the Urban Justice Center, focusing on representing Social Security disability claimants with mental health concerns while also supervising staff and enhancing community partnerships. Previously, Shandanette held various roles within Legal Services NYC, including Senior Staff Attorney and Specialist in the Disability Advocacy Project, where responsibilities involved representing clients in disability claims and advocating for social security matters. Additional experience includes working as a Law and Research Fellow at Elephant Circle, co-founding the D.C. Doulas for Choice Collective, and engaging in several legal and research roles relating to health care and maternity rights. Shandanette holds a Juris Doctor degree from The George Washington University Law School, a Master of Public Health, and has obtained certifications in International Human Rights Law and lactation education, further solidifying a commitment to maternal and child health advocacy.
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Urban Justice Center
True pioneers often set out with limited resources, no clear path and no instructions. Nonetheless, they move boldly forward. In 1984, Douglas Lasdon launched the Urban Justice Center (UJC) in much the same way, from a burned out building in East Harlem, with almost no funding. He took his legal expertise to soup kitchens, jails, and shelters (places others would not go) and set up free legal clinics. Forty years later, in spite of social opposition and division, UJC remains a champion of change. Today, UJC is composed of many longstanding Anchor Projects, who serve tens of thousands of people a year, on critical issues ranging from homelessness, to discrimination, to seeking asylum, to escaping intimate partner violence. Each Project is led by experts in the field, who devise their own strategy for making change, often combining free direct legal services to those in need with impact litigation, social services, community organizing, legislative advocacy, “know your rights” trainings, and more. As well, through our Social Justice Accelerator, we incubate groundbreaking new projects that are fighting new wrongs or bringing new approaches to longstanding issues. By providing them with material support, guidance, and a community of fellow advocates with hundreds of cumulative hours of experience, we help them leap over the early, difficult stages of nonprofits growth, and get directly to affecting change in their issue area. This two-pronged approach allows us to meet the ongoing advocacy needs of our clients, while allowing us to stay nimble and meet new and emerging social justice issues. To find out more, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram; check out our website (www.urbanjustice.org); or sign up for our Justice Elerts newsletter (https://www.urbanjustice.org/newsletter/).