Students: EJF Needs YOU!

EJF's 2010 Silent Auction kicks off on October 20th and ends on October 28th, the day of the Live Auction, and EJF needs your help!

In order to make this year's auction a success, EJF is requesting student service donations from those who received funding over the summer. In past years, student services have been a big hit during the Silent Auction. Donations included things like driving someone to the airport, walking their dog for a week, or making a dinner for four. The hottest ticket items last year were language and music lessons, which can be a lot of fun for both the donor and the winner!

Students who donate their services will get 1 hour credit toward their EJF fall hours requirement. Student Donation Contracts are available in the EJF office in Room 208. Please just pick one up, fill it out, and drop it off in the folder marked "Completed Contracts" outside of the EJF office. Bidding begins on Wednesday, so add your donation soon!

Rock Band Competition Update

Please note that the all rounds of the EJF Rock Band Competition will now be happening on October 28th, during the Live Auction. (We will not be holding semi-finals on Oct. 20th, as previously announced.) If you are interested in being a rock star for a night, there is still time to sign up!! Please contact: ejfrockband@gmail.com.

ROCKtion 2010 - Sign up for our Rock Band Competition

The 2010 EJF Silent Auction and Live Auction, a.k.a. the "ROCKtion," are less than three weeks away. To help get you fired up, EJF is recruiting teams for our first ever Rock Band Competition. The Semi-Final Competition will take place on October 20 at Wednesday Wind Down, and the finalists will compete for the grand title during the Final Competition on October 28 - on stage at Live Auction! There is a $10 entry fee per team. Grab three of your friends and email ejfrockband@gmail.com to sign up.

Get ready to ROCK!

Fire Sale - Next Tuesday & Wednesday!

Attention all students:

EJF will be hosting a "Fire Sale" next week to sell off some remaining prizes from last year. As always, the funds we raise will help fund public interest summer internships for Georgetown Law students.

The sale will take place next Tuesday, 10/5, and Wednesday, 10/6, between 11am and 7pm each day.

While some items will go for low prices, they will definitely all go fast. Please stop by our table in McDonough next week and check out these great deals!!

Sign-up Sheets for EJF Recipient Volunteer Hours Now Available on TWEN

This year's EJF silent auction will run from October 21-28, and the live auction will be held on October 28. To make the auctions a success, however, EJF asks that each recipient complete 4 hours of volunteering for various tasks relation to the auction, 2 hours of which are phonebanking. Sign ups are available on TWEN (enroll in the Equal Justice Foundation - Hours and Applications course). Please sign up ASAP, but no later than Wednesday, September 29.

We have lots of different sign-up options available on a wide variety of times and dates, including (but not limited to) baking, tabling, auction set-up and clean-up, and picking up prizes. We also have a number of hours available for poster-making and decorating. This year's theme is the "Rocktion!" so those of you with artistic skills can go wild!

If you have any questions, please contact gulc.ejf@gmail.com. Thank you all in advance for signing up and volunteering; we couldn't put this together without the help of all of the EJF recipients!

EJF gears up for the 2010-11 school year

Welcome back to campus to all of our returning students, and welcome to the new 1Ls we look forward to meeting this year. This past summer, we had our largest class of EJF recipients in our history participating in summer internships in DC, across the country, and even abroad. Now, EJF is getting ready for another busy school year of fundraising and supporting the public interest students at Georgetown Law.

Please mark your calendars for this year's EJF Auction which is scheduled for Thursday, October 28th, in Hart Auditorium. As the auction approaches we will be providing additional information about the event and the fabulous prizes up for auction - stay tuned!

Turning in "One Day For Justice" Forms

EJF Applicants --

If you have a completed One Day for Justice form you can turn it in to Kim Matthews in the OPICS office on the 2nd floor of McDonough Hall. OPICS is open 9am-5pm, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from 9am-8pm on Tuesday.

Remember, a One Day for Justice form is not complete until it has either payment attached or credit card information, it has been signed by the donor, and it includes your name as the "honoree" at the bottom.

Rock for Justice

Join the Equal Justice Foundation for an evening of music and drinks at Rock for Justice 2009!

Where: RFD
810 7th St NW, Washington DC

When: January 22nd from 9:00 pm - 12:00 am.

What: Happy Hour specials at RFD all night. Music from The Reserves with an opening from Wes Tucker.

Cover will be $5 with all proceeds going to the Equal Justice Foundation!
Join us and ROCK FOR JUSTICE!

EJF mentioned on political blog!

Marc Ambinder writes a very highly regarded blog about politics on the Atlantic Monthly (now the Atlantic) website.

Last Thursday he wrote a post about the EJF auction and how the Podesta prize went for way more than last year -- he uses it as evidence of Obama's rise to power causing inflation on certain aspects of life in DC.

Check it out!

Callbacks for Public Service -- 1 Callback = 1 EJF Hour

It's callback season and that means Callbacks for Public Service.

A Callback for Public Service (CPS) is a callback where you travel to a city, are offered a hotel room by a firm, and you choose to instead to stay with friends or family. Firms support public service work and EJF by donating to us the money they would have spent on your room. The firm gets a tax write-off, EJF gets a donation and if you're a recipient -- you get an hour of EJF volunteer credit! And if someone wants to do a CPS on your behalf (because they aren't a recipient or because they don't need the hour), that's fine too!

Here's a link to a list of firms who are participating (PDF).

Here's a link to the form you'll need to fill out to do a CPS (PDF).

Here's a link to a list of FAQ's about the CPS program.

And here's the EJF/CPS policy:

"EJF recipients will receive one hour of credit for doing a CPS. Recipients can get others to do a CPS in their name -- similar to One Day for Justice last year. There is no maximum number for the number of C'sPS one can get credit for -- a recipient could take care of all 7 of their hours and then give away hours to another recipient. In order to get credit, a recipient must email the EJF lawmail (ejf@law.georgetown.edu) account with (1)their name, (2) date of the CPS, (3) name of the firm and (4) an affirmation that they submitted the form to the firm."

Thanks and good luck with your callbacks!

Callbacks for Public Service -- Frequently Asked Questions

What are Callbacks for Public Service (CPS)?

CPS is a program where students who have interviews with non-DC firms can help to raise money for EJF. Under this program, a student can stay with friends or family instead of in a hotel. The firm will then donate the money they would have spent on the hotel directly to EJF.

How do I know which firms participate?

Office of Career Services (OCS) has on their website the list of participating firms (PDF).

Callbacks at DC firms are not eligible for this program.

How do I set up the program?

Students should set up this program when they set up their interview for a callback. The school has already sent a letter to all non-DC firms about this program, so a student who is organizing this with their firms can mention the letter sent out by Georgetown's assistant dean.

What do I give to the firm when doing this program?

On the OCS website there is a short form (PDF) that students should give to firms. Firms will then submit this form to OCS.

How can a recipient get hours for this program?

EJF recipients will receive one hour of credit for doing each CPS. Recipients can also get others to do a CPS in their name. There is no maximum number for the number of C'sfPS one can get credit for -- a recipient could take care of all 7 of their hours and give away hours to another recipient.

How does a recipient get credit for each hour?

In order to get credit, a recipient must email the EJF lawmail account (ejf@law.georgetown.edu) with (1)their name, (2) date of the CPS, (3) name of the firm and (4) an affirmation that they submitted the form to the firm.

Can non-EJF recipients participate without linking to an EJF recipient?

Of course!! We encourage every and all to participate. This program is a great way for to support EJF and public interest at Georgetown. We appreciate your support.

Will firms mind if I stay with friends instead of at a hotel?

Often firms will view it positively. You've helped raise money for charity and not cost the firm any money while demonstrating your strong connections with their community. And the firms get a tax write-off! Remember, the firms on the list have received a letter from OCS about the program’s details.

Survey Results

The results are in and can be viewed in full here. A summary and analysis of the results appears below:

From July 14 to July 17, 2008, the Georgetown University Law Center Equal Justice Foundation (“EJF”) surveyed recipients of Equal Justice Foundation summer funding to receive their feedback on the extent to which their EJF stipend covered their summer living expenses. We had a 64% response rate for our survey. Of the 246 students who received an EJF stipend for the summer of 2008, 158 responded to the survey, which was distributed via email and completed by respondents via a web service called “Survey Monkey.” Survey results were password protected. This memo summarizes the survey’s findings, as analyzed by the EJF board.

The EJF stipend does not adequately cover summer living expenses for a majority of EJF recipients.

A large majority, 81% of respondents said their EJF stipend did not fully cover their living expenses for the summer.

A majority, 60.2% of respondents said they paid $750 or more each month in rent, with 38.7% stating they paid more than $1000 each month. Three months rent at a minimal rate of $750 equals $2250, consuming the vast majority of a 1L stipend after income tax and Social Security withholding. A monthly rent of $1000 completely exhausts a 1L stipend, with no money leftover for groceries or transportation.

Additionally, rising fuel prices have increased that cost of commuting and flying. This has especially impacted those traveling internationally or those living in cities without sufficient public transportation. Nearly half (41.1%) of respondents report relocating away from Washington, DC or their home towns for their summer internships.

The EJF Board is discouraged that recipients are not able to make ends meet over the course of a summer and are determined to increase funding levels to allow students to participate in public interest work.

Large numbers of EJF recipients are going into additional debt, beyond academic year student loans, in order to make ends meet.

The majority of respondents borrowed money from family (48.1%) and/or paid for additional expenses with credit cards (37.3%).

Students also report working second jobs at night and on weekends (26.6%), missing payments on bills (7.0%), relying on spouses or significant others for financial support (5.0%) and depleting personal savings (4.4%) in order to make it through the summer.

The EJF Board is especially concerned with the need for EJF recipients to further incur debt during their summer working in public interest. The decision to work in public interest during the 2L summer or after 3L year is a difficult decision financially. The need to repay family loans or pay off the interest and balance on a credit card from a summer of public interest work should not be a further financial impediment to a career in public interest.

In order to make ends meet, recipients need more financial assistance from Georgetown and EJF, but not much more.

When asked how much support they would need in order to live “reasonably
comfortably” a vast majority of respondents (70.3%) said an increased EJF stipend of $4000 - $6000 would be adequate.

No respondents suggested that a stipend of more than $9,000 would be necessary, and only 10.8% of respondents suggested amounts of $7000 or more.

By increasing our current EJF stipends by only $1000-$2000, we can succeed in making a public interest summer more feasible for students at Georgetown. The EJF Board is committed to this goal and looks forward to working with the Law Center administration.

View the results in full

Google Reader

Add the Equal Justice Foundation blog to your Google Reader feed!
If you are not familiar with Google Reader here's a little more info:
Google provides a great service that constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Simply subscribe to your favorite blogs and websites and Google Reader will send any new updates to your personal Google Reader page. This way you can keep up to date with all the amazing experiences being had by Equal Justice Foundation recipients this summer. You can even share favorite items with friends through your Google Reader public page.

Simply click the button below or visit Google Reader.
to subscribe.