The Berger-Marks Foundation has announced it will award 2011-2012 BLF Fellow Lydia Edwards with an Award of Distinction for her work on behalf Brazilian domestic workers.  The awards honor women age 35 or younger who have already distinguished themselves as leaders of the social justice movement. Lydia will be presented with the award on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at the National Press Club.

The Berger-Marks Foundation was created by bequest of Broadway composer Gerald Marks (“All of Me”) in honor of his wife, Edna Berger, who rose from being a receptionist to the first woman organizer of The Newspaper Guild.  The official press release announcing the award recipients can be found here.

It’s hard to believe!  BLF has been funding social justice legal work for 35 years.  During that time, BLF has helped launch many public interest careers, and organizations such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, the East Bay Community Law Center, and the Homeless Action Center.

To celebrate BLF’s 35 years of grant giving, BLF will be hosting a special holiday happy hour.  Please come out to toast to BLF’s long history of giving, mingle with BLF alumni and supporters, and enjoy one of the best happy hours in San Francisco.

December 8, 2011

6:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Taverna Aventine

582 Washington St., San Francisco

If you can’t attend, please consider making a special donation to help BLF celebrate 35 years of grant making!

Please feel free to invite other friends of BLF to join us at this event.

BLF Honorary Director Chris Daley has joined Just Detention International as their Deputy Executive Director in Washington, D.C.   Congratulations!

Veena Dubal, a BLF 2008-2009 postgraduate fellow and staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, was featured on KQED Radio discussing her work with Muslim clients who are targeted for investigation by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, without reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. Read or listen online here.