Alumnus Reconnects with Street Law to Teach Homeless San Diego Youths

July marked the end of an 8-week Youth in Transition program at Toussaint Academy in San Diego—the city’s only long-term residential program for homeless youths. Youth in Transition empowers young people with practical legal knowledge presented through interactive lessons that promote cooperative learning and critical thinking and build life skills.

The high-schoolers at Toussaint were taught by six volunteer attorneys from DLA Piper’s San Diego office. The team of attorneys was led by Ryan Macpherson—an associate at the firm who is no stranger to Street Law!  As a law student, Ryan participated in the D.C. Street Law Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught practical legal classes in public high schools and in an after-school program for teens on probation.

Ryan reports that working with the young people at Toussaint Academy was an extremely rewarding experience for him and his colleagues. More importantly though, he was pleased to see the students so engaged and excited to learn from Street Law’s practical law lessons. They were especially interested in learning how to be a smart consumer, establish credit, and rent an apartment.

The program at Toussaint is one of several Youth in Transition program sites in the San Diego area. These sites are part of an initiative that is funded by the Price Family Foundation.