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THE SARITA AND CLAIRE WRIGHT LUCAS FOUNDATION

The Sarita and Claire Wright Lucas Foundation (SCWLF) operates in the image of Sarita Wright Lucas, a young Black woman who was working as a prosecutor in Delaware County when she died unexpectedly. Heartbroken yet inspired, her family came together to create the foundation, with the unique goal of increasing the proportion of Black women who work as prosecutors, which stands at a measly 1%. The SCWLF carries out this work through scholarships for Black women who are law school graduates, studying for the bar, and dedicated to a life of public service. They also do this through fellowships for Black women who are JD candidates interested in prosecution, to spend a paid summer internship with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. In a world where people of color are not only tried far more harshly than their white counterparts, but are also often placed with prosecutors who cannot relate to their lived experience, we at the SCWLF see diversifying the role of the prosecutor as a critical step in working towards anti-racism in the criminal justice space. 

At the SCWLF,  I work as an Administrative Assistant, where I perform social media content and account maintenance (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook), reach out to awardees and fellows, as well as affinity groups (national and regional), maintain the donor database, and events support (timeline creation, social media outreach, planning). In addition, I complete copywriting for annual reports and work on our website through Wordpress.

The Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative seeks to empower communities to work towards a more equitable justice system by providing partners with data access and information sharing that hopes to support policy changes. Their initiative focuses on three key areas: Policing, Diversion, and Prosecution. The Urban Institute is a think tank that originated with the intent to study the nation’s urban programming, which currently seeks to build knowledge across social and economic issues and develop evidence-based solutions. 

 

The Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative and the Urban Institute selected the SCWLF as one of 30 organizations across the country to participate in the Catalyst Grant Program. This program intends to help organizations like ours use data and technology to inform and improve practice within our communities to make the justice system more equitable. The organizations chosen have launched projects using data and technology to advance local justice reform and decrease racial and ethnic disparities in policing, diversion and alternatives to incarceration, and prosecution.

Using grant funding and resources, and in partnership with Microsoft, the Urban Institute, and Boston University Law, our “More Than 1%” Initiative fosters an understanding of the importance of diversity in prosecution in the local Greater Boston community. Our work focused on polling undergraduate and law students, community members, and lawyers across Boston-area academic institutions and community organizations on their perceptions of the role of prosecutors in the justice system. We’ve sought to understand why there are so few Black women prosecutors and illustrate the misconceptions about prosecutors in the area. Funding will also support education and outreach, using technology and social media to evaluate and disseminate the survey outcomes, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in prosecutorial offices, in a multimedia campaign.

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THE MORE THAN 1% INITIATIVE

FINDINGS LAUNCH SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

To support the launch of our research report and associated findings, I, along with SCWLF consultant Isa Volinksy, created an integrated social media campaign showcasing some of the statistics and responses we gathered to appeal to readers and future grantors.

PROSECUTOR PROJECT DATA COLLECTION

To ensure that we were operating with the most up-to-date figures, me and colleague Maggie Mcmenimen undertook data collection over the life of the project, assessing the proportions of current elected prosecutors that are white, men, and Black women. The figures cited within this report are the result of that collection.

This data was gathered through searching each state’s records via the Secretary of State, prosecutor-specific websites, and when the data were not recent, news articles and election ballot results. Our goal was to identify prosecutor by county, race, gender, and political party.

 

Unfortunately, not all desired information was found; roughly 17% of the desired information was not available online at the time of this report.

ANNUAL REPORTS

In late 2022 and again in 2023, I aided on the complete rewriting and data pulling for the SCWLF'S 2021 annual report. I gathered quotes and testimonials from past awardees, updated our descriptions of the foundation and its various offerings, and aided on the design of the report, its formatting, and website design.

FOUNDATION SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATION

As a result of my work, Instagram engagement increased by 125%, and Facebook engagement increased by 240% within one month.

BLACK WOMEN PROSECUTOR'S PROJECT

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT CREATION

All posts here are unconfirmed/mockups. BWPP will launch on an undetermined date in 2024.

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