AVENUES FOR JUSTICE'S CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANGEL RODRIGUEZ, SELECTED AS 2024 JUVENILE LAW CENTER LEADERSHIP PRIZE WINNER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUVENILE LAW CENTER ANNOUNCES 2024 LEADERSHIP PRIZE WINNERS WITH ANGEL RODRIGUEZ AS ONEOF FOUR RECIPENTS.

AVENUES FOR JUSTICE'S CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ANGEL RODRIGUEZ, SELECTED AS 2024 JUVENILE LAW CENTER LEADERSHIP PRIZE WINNER

2024 Juvenile Law Center Leadership Prize Winners:

Angel Rodriguez; Co-Founder & Executive Director | Avenues for Justice

Laurence Steinberg; Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience | Temple University 

Elizabeth Scott; Harold R. Medina Professor Emerita of Law | Columbia Law School

Bryan Stevenson; Founder & Executive Director | Equal Justice Initiative

(New York, NY - December 21, 2023) Juvenile Law Center selects Avenues for Justice’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Angel Rodriguez, as one of four winners of their 2024 Annual Leadership Prize.

On December 20, 2023 the Juvenile Law Center announced the winners of their 2024 Leadership Prize. Sue Mangold, CEO of Juvenile Law Center, stated that the four recipients “represent the scope of our work and the areas that remain so central to our mission. Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg are pioneers in applying adolescent developmental science to the justice system and their collaboration has led to key advances in our work. Angel Rodriguez’s vision and lifetime of work has given our field a model for engagement and community to support young people and avoid the harms of the justice system. Bryan Stevenson’s work on Graham v. Florida and Miller v. Alabama and his tremendous efforts to change the narrative about the lives of those impacted by the justice system is truly remarkable. All are leading lights and I cannot wait to celebrate them and our work on May 8th.” 

The Leadership Prize is awarded to outstanding individuals working in any field – law, government, the arts, media, entertainment, sports, business, or any other sector – who are fighting for the rights and well-being of youth in the child welfare and justice systems. Awardees have achieved lasting change either through a lifetime of work on behalf of youth, a landmark contribution to the field of children’s rights, or exceptional efforts to shine a light on the most important issues affecting youth today.

Avenues for Justice is grateful to the Juvenile Law Center for recognizing Angel Rodriguez’s lifelong work in the criminal justice field.

Honored to be in a category with such esteemed recipients, Angel Rodriguez remarked how “Our young people need opportunity and support to accomplish their goals. I co-founded AFJ 45 years ago to provide this support in a manner that’s rooted in community, respect, and a belief in their abilities. AFJ supports our Participants in court, in our programs, and with employment and education. When anyone visits Avenues for Justice, they almost always say the same thing – this feels like family. Most importantly, we hear the same from our Participants. They know we are all committed to providing them with a path forward to success. While we’ve come a long way since we were founded in the Lower East Side, we have so much more to do. More young people to serve in our city, more second chances that we hope to provide them with, and more lives to enrich.”  

The Juvenile Law Center will host an in-person celebration with the winners in Philadelphia on May 8th, 2024. In addition to looking forward to celebrating Angel on May 8th, Avenues for Justice is also looking ahead to our 45th anniversary, kicking off in 2024. Adopting the official slogan of “45 Years of Second Chances,” AFJ will be taking a walk down memory lane, since we were founded in 1979, to highlight some of the biggest accomplishments of the organization and our dedicated staff.

You can read more about the 2024 Juvenile Law Center awardees and their incredible work here.

For more information on Avenues for Justice and how to help us continue to provide second chances, visit www.avenuesforjustice.org. 

# # #

PRESS CONTACT

Weston Muench wmuench@avenuesforjustice.org