Street Law, Inc.

Street Law develops interactive classroom and community programs that educate young people about law and government. Street Law programs and materials help advance justice by empowering people with the legal and civic knowledge, skills, and confidence to bring about positive change for themselves and others.

Street Law’s intended participant outcomes can be grouped into three categories: knowledge, skills, and beliefs.

1. Participants will develop an understanding of the way laws impact their everyday lives.

2. Participants will build skills related to problem-solving, communication, sharing opinions and respecting others’ viewpoints, negotiation, compromise, and self-advocacy.

3. Participants will grow their beliefs about the civic role individuals should play in their communities and their responsibility to take action to solve individual and community problems.

As a result, Street Law programs strive to create a just and fair world in which people understand how law and government work, how to effectively advocate for themselves and others, and that they can and should participate in civic life.

To achieve its mission, Street Law’s work falls under five broad categories.

1. Teacher Professional Development Programs that help social studies teachers improve the way they teach young people about law and government, building students’ civic skills and improving their civic knowledge and participation.

2. Legal Community Partnership Programs that tap the knowledge of lawyers, law students, police officers, and other legal professionals to teach young people—predominantly students of color in low-income urban areas—about law and careers in the legal profession.

3. Curricula and Teaching Materials that build youth’s civic knowledge and skills, are relevant to students’ lives, and delivered via interactive, learner-centered teaching strategies.

4. The Legal Life Skills Program, which provides customized curricula and training to agencies and community organizations serving disadvantaged youth and adults, empowering underserved populations with the legal knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to thrive.

5. Global Programs that partner with law schools, civil society organizations, and government agencies to help cultivate law-related knowledge, rule of law, and democratic culture around the world.

Street Law has been working to accomplish its mission for over 45 years! In 1972, a small group of visionary law students at Georgetown University Law Center developed an experimental curriculum to teach District of Columbia high school students about law and the legal system. The lessons were an immediate success, and, responding to their practical nature, the high school students called them “Street Law.” The name stuck.

Street Law’s 14 staff members are global leaders in civic education. Their backgrounds in law, government, and education enable them to work effectively throughout the U.S. and in more than 40 countries worldwide. They train individuals and organizations to teach young people about law, democracy, and government.

Street Law’s staff has facilitated trainings for legal experts at hundreds of law firms and companies, including counsel at over 40 Fortune 500 companies and attorneys at more than a dozen of the nation’s largest law firms. Street Law also has forged numerous partnerships with educators and school districts to conduct workshops that have helped thousands of teachers at schools across the country improve their teaching practice. Additionally, Street Law trains representatives from youth-serving community organizations to design programs that offer participants the legal knowledge needed to become productive members of society.

The staff has unmatched experience in curriculum creation, web-based resource development, program design, customized technical support, and professional development for educators and legal resource professionals. The groundbreaking textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, is the nation's leading high school practical law text. Oversight is provided by Street Law’s active 22-member Board of Directors, composed of experts in the fields of law, government, public policy, justice, and education.

Street Law has a proven track record of successfully managing grants and funding from government agencies and private foundations, including USAID, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, the McCormick Foundation, and the United States Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services. Scores of corporations and law firms are also Street Law donors. The organization has had a clean annual audit every year since its founding, including A-133 audits concluded without significant findings.

Since 1972, Street Law’s programming has reached millions across the US and in 44 countries worldwide. Below are statistics covering Street Law’s accomplishments in the 2018-19 school year, and a preview of the growth and improvement planned for each program area:

Teacher Professional Development Programs
• Street Law provided 116.5 hours of instruction to 688 teachers, who were trained to deliver interactive curricula that help young people learn about everyday law, discuss contested public issues, and build essential civic skills.
• 68,500 students will be reached by these teachers each school year.
• What’s next: Street Law will develop a one-on-one coaching model for teachers to further strengthen their impact on students.

Legal Community Partnership Programs
• Street Law recruited and trained 1,764 volunteers from the legal sector—attorneys, corporate counsel, paralegals, and law enforcement officers—to teach young people about practical legal concepts and pursuing legal careers.
• These volunteers provided 637 hours of instruction to young people.
• 4,577 students—predominantly low-income students of color—were reached by these programs at 83 US schools.
• What’s next: Street Law will pilot web-based trainings for volunteers from the legal sector.

Curricula and Teaching Materials
• The groundbreaking textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, reached over 31,000 students in the 2017-18 school year.
• Street Law’s free online teaching resources were downloaded 175,128 times in the 2018-19 school year.
• Street Law’s Landmark Cases materials—the premier teaching resource for Supreme Court instruction—received 2,045,227 unique pageviews in the 2018-19 school year.
• What’s next: Street Law will develop at least new 8 ready-to-use lesson plans over the next year.

Legal Life Skills Program
• The Legal Life Skills Program served over 270 youth and adults from vulnerable backgrounds—including young people involved in the juvenile justice system, young people aging out of foster care, survivors of domestic violence, and survivors of human trafficking.
• 184 Street Law-trained instructors and volunteers provided 262 hours of instructions to program participants. Lessons covered everyday legal topics such as housing law, employment law, rights and responsibilities when interacting with law enforcement, dating and sexual assault, and restorative justice.
• What’s next: Street Law will work with an outside evaluator to measure this program’s impact on young people over time.

Global Programs
• Street Law worked with in-country partners to develop public legal education programs and adapt curricula in six different countries last year, predominantly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
• Through these programs, Street Law trained 85 secondary school teachers, 97 law professors, and 136 law students to empower 4,650 secondary school students.
• What’s next: Street Law will measure the impact of its global projects.