News

Night Out for safety and Liberation

LSJA's Sandy Wolff joined several amazing organizations in Austin that believe in the power of safe community: Austin Recovery, Communities for Recovery, BRAVE Communities, Texas Appleseed, ACLU of Texas, The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, CLEAN Cause, Texas Inmate Families Association, Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable, Inside Literature, RAICES, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, NAMI Texas, Texas Fair Defense Project, Austin Health Commons, Students With A Purpose - SWAP, The Bakari Foundation, Grassroots Leadership, Texas Advocates for Justice, and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights at the Night Out for Safety and Liberation. 

Black, White and SuNshine

LSJA joined Houston Play on Purpose at the debut of the groundbreaking stage play Black, White & Sunshine, which sheds light on the disproportionality of minority children swept into both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. While various procedures are in place to protect underserved youth, Sunshine exposes how "one-size fits all" policies and legislation often do a disservice to children of color and those born into less fortunate circumstances. LSJA's Executive Director spoke at a panel hosted by 100 Black Men of Metropolitan Houston after the event on August 4, 2019. 

Transformative justice retreat

Stakeholders from Williamson and Dallas counties joined the Lone Star Justice Alliance, our health and human service partners, and our evaluation team for a two and half day retreat in San Antonio, Texas to launch the new Transformative Justice Model. Stay tuned for a full recap of this amazing event. 

18TH ANNUAL ZEALOUS ADVOCACY CONFERENCE

Elizabeth Henneke was on the faculty at the 18th Annual Zealous Advocacy Conference hosted by the Center for Children, Law & Policy and the Southwest Juvenile Defender Center. The conference is the premier professional development training for juvenile defense attorneys practicing in the Southwestern United States. 

MEASURE ALL-HANDS| THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF CHILDHOOD CRIMINALIZATION

LSJA Executive Director Elizabeth Henneke joined MEASURE to discuss the health impact associated with childhood incarceration, the school to prison pipeline and early childhood criminalization and how we might apply community mobilization & actionable steps to change the statistics. The event took place on July 15, 2019 at 6 pm at Huston-Tillotson University

Kids behind bars: life or parole

This A&E TV show, which tells the individual stories of eight previously convicted juveniles sentenced to mandatory life terms without parole, had an episode focusing on Bobby Gonzales in which he seeks legal representation from Lone Star Justice Alliance. The episode also highlighted Lone Star Justice Alliance's direct representation work. 

Bobby's story aired on May 21, 2019 ​at 10 pm on the A&E channel​

austin under 40 awards gala

We are proud to announce that our Executive Director, Elizabeth Henneke, was selected as a finalist in the legal category and won at the 21st annual Austin under 40 Awards Gala! This black tie event celebrated emerging Austinites and donated all proceeds to the Young Women's Alliance Foundation and the Austin Sunshine Camps. Read more about Elizabeth's experience on our blog here.

This event took place on May 18, 2019 at the JW Marriott​ in Downton Austin. 

Philanthropitch austin

Lone Star Justice Alliance presented at this year's Philanthropitch event! Philanthropitch is the social impact fast pitch competition for nonprofits looking to maximize their impact. Philanthropitch gave away over $110,000 and LSJA was awarded $39,525!

This event took place on May 7, 2019 at the LBJ Auditorium.

essential criminal justice: race

Our Executive Director, Elizabeth Henneke, gave a talk at Leadership Austin's class day on criminal justice on March 27, 2019 at the ​Austin Bar Association. The class aimed to help participants understand key components of the criminal justice system, explain its impact on community issues, and recognize the challenges and opportunities to improve the criminal justice system in Grater Austin

To learn more about Leadership Austin's programs, click the button below