10 Years of HOPE
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In just 10 years, HOPE has evolved into UM Law’s Resource Center connecting students, faculty, staff and alumni to skills-training, service and advocacy opportunities. What started as a small community service project has grown to include over 25 programs, such as the Public Interest Lecture Series, Leadership Board (over fifty students strong) and our HOPE Fellows Program, which supports doing progressive and critical work to promote access to justice in our backyards and around the world. In record-numbers, we are sending our students, faculty and alumni across the street and around the globe to make a difference in the lives of others.

HOPE has launched a Voting Rights Initiative and a Workplace Justice Project, Juvenile Advocacy, and Human Trafficking programs.  In addition, our students are providing tax preparation assistance in English, Creole and Spanish through our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site, supporting young men and women in detention who are transitioning back to school and the workforce, providing support to children aging out of the foster care system and doing so much more. Yet other teams of students support private sector attorneys who take on pro bono cases through our Pro Bono Research Project. The range of projects span issues including immigration, juvenile, family, tax, voting, animal law, discrimination, domestic violence, housing, and more. Not only do we work to ensure that all UM Law students are able to serve and engage in meaningful projects, but we provide them with the opportunity to gain valuable lawyering skills through our legal advocacy programs. Whether through intake, legal research, or representation, our students are developing and applying their legal training. At HOPE, we seek to instill a pro bono ethic in all of our students as a core component of their legal education.

Additionally, the HOPE Fellows program provides stipends for students who work for public interest agencies under the supervision of an attorney. In the past, HOPE Fellows placements have included work at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda assisting with legal research and writing, interviewing victims and witnesses, visiting refugee camps and conducting special projects in Arusha, Tanzania. One HOPE Fellow worked in China assisting with public defender training, carrying out public rights campaigns and drafting program reports and evaluations. Other Fellows have worked with local agencies including Legal Services of Greater Miami, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Lawyers for Children America, the Office of the Public Defender, and Guardian ad Litem.