San Antonio Young Lawyers Association Receives Grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to Educate Students about the 2020 Census

    SAN ANTONIO, TX, November 22, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The San Antonio Young Lawyers Association (SAYLA) is honored to receive a generous grant provided by the Texas Bar Foundation. Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $20 million in grants to law-related programs, from pro-bono efforts to law-related education, and much more. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation's largest charitably funded bar foundation.

SAYLA is a membership-based organization of young attorneys from the San Antonio area that focuses on providing tools and resources to develop young lawyers, offer continuing legal education, provide valuable networking opportunities, and develop philanthropic opportunities focused on giving back to both the legal community and the San Antonio community as a whole.

The grant, awarded in October 2019, provides $9,000.00 to SAYLA to develop and produce an educational video focusing on the importance of participation in the upcoming 2020 United States Census. The video will incorporate educational standards required for public schools by the TEKS, including good citizenship, U.S. History, and the Constitution. We Count will focus on the Constitutional and historical foundations of the census, what the census looks like and how to respond to it, and how participation—or lack thereof—can have a substantial impact on the community in regards to funding for social programs, infrastructure, and representation. The video will include kid-friendly animation and interviews from San Antonio elected officials and advocates.

Chris Mazzola, SAYLA's current president said of the project: "This project is so important to our community because of how important it is to get an accurate count of people in the census. This project aligns directly with our organizational goals to serve the community through legal education." Ryan Cox, a former SAYLA president and chair for the project, added, "Developing educational resources that fit current standards while also encouraging participation in the census should allow a significant number of schools to immediately incorporate the project into their existing curriculum. We believe focusing on students is especially important, because many populations that are considered 'hard to count' rarely interact with public institutions except for the information that kids take home to their parents."

SAYLA is deeply grateful to the Texas Bar Foundation for funding this project. We feel this project will benefit not just the local community, but will serve as a useful resource for schools and teachers across the state.

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