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Board of Directors Awards
Awards Home
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Attorney Thomas A Tupitza, attorney Knox
McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C, was awarded a 2011 Excellence
Award from the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network for his outstanding work
on behalf of legal aid both locally and statewide. Tupitza served on the
NWLS board of directors from April 1994 to June 2007 and during his
tenure he was president from 1997 to 2000, and a member of the Finance
Committee from 1995 to 1996, and again from 2002 to 2007. During this
time he was actively engaged in the mission and vision of the
organization, volunteering his time and talents to the challenges facing
legal services in northwestern Pennsylvania.
In 2005 he was named by the Pennsylvania Bar Association to fill an
unexpired term on the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) Board of
Directors. He was elected Treasurer in the same year and has since
served as Chair of the PLAN, Inc. Budget and Finance Committee. He is
currently serving his final term on the PLAN board, which expires in
March, 2013.
When NWLS began preparations in the summer of 2008 for our fortieth
anniversary celebration in May 2009, Tupitza joined the steering
committee for the event and he was instrumental in securing major
funding from his law firm for the celebration at the U.S. Federal
Courthouse in downtown Erie. He has also been a consistent and generous
contributor to the mission of NWLS during our bi-annual fundraising
solicitations during the past decade.
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Attorney Jay W. Alberstadt, Jr., attorney with
MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton, LLP was awarded a 2008
Excellence Award from the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network for his
outstanding contributions to the mission of legal aid in northwestern
Pennsylvania. Alberstadt joined the NWLS board of directors in 1982, and
has served continuously since then, including a total of twelve years as
president of the board.
His appointment to the NWLS board in 1982 coincided with the creation
that year of the Legal Aid Volunteer Attorney (LAVA) Program in Erie
County, a pro bono project co-sponsored by NWLS and the Erie County Bar
Association (ECBA). Attorney Alberstadt became active in LAVA, not only
accepting pro bono cases referred to the private bar as part of the
project, but also chairing and serving on the ECBA’s advisory committee
for the pro bono initiative. LAVA has been recognized as one of the
pre-eminent pro bono projects in the Commonwealth, and it was awarded
the 2002 Louis J. Goffman Award for service to the civil legal needs of
low-income people.
With more than a quarter-century of service to NWLS, attorney
Alberstadt has been actively involved in a leadership role in the growth
and development of civil legal services in northwestern Pennsylvania. As
part of his tenure on the board, NWLS implemented many changes in its
service delivery system, including the creation of a central intake unit
that has become a prototype for other legal services programs across the
country.
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Patricia Mickel Receives 2008 Liberty
Bell Award
NWLS Board
Member of 16 Years
The Erie County
Bar Association awards Patricia
Mickel the 2008
Liberty Bell Award at the Erie
County Law Day Ceremony on May 2, 2008. Pat has
demonstrated strong commitment to the civil legal needs of
low-income individuals and families in northwestern
Pennsylvania. She joined the
Board of Directors
of Northwestern Legal Services in 1992, and has
served continuously on the board for the past sixteen years,
including numerous terms on the Executive Committee as a
board officer. She has also been very active in the
Client Council of Pennsylvania, an organization that
provides guidance and feedback to the Pennsylvania Legal
Aid Network (PLAN), the agency that administers state
funds for legal services. |
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| As part of her service to Northwestern Legal
Services and other legal aid programs, Pat has been a part
of Peer Review Teams for both the Legal Services Corporation
(federal) and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (state).
She has also been an active participant in the NWLS planning
retreats for both staff and board members, and she provided
important input into the development of our current mission
statement. Pat remains a strong advocate for the civil legal
needs of low-income people at home, and across the nation. Pat is an example
to our community that one person can make a difference in
helping others develop a strong sense of individual
responsibility so that citizens can recognize their duties
as well as their rights. In this process, she has worked
cooperatively with her neighbors to make our home a better
place to live.
As a single parent in a public housing project in Erie,
Pat decided to take a leadership role in helping fellow
residents of public housing throughout the city. In 1990 she
was the co-founder of the Erie Tenant Council, a voluntary
association comprised of representatives from all of the
Erie Housing Authority’s residential complexes. The council
works with Erie Housing Authority staff and other social
service agencies to develop and implement educational and
recreational programs for residents, and to encourage
residents to become positive catalysts for change in their
neighborhoods. It also refers individuals and families to
appropriate legal representation and counsel when
circumstances warrant.
As President of the Erie Tenant
Council for the past ten years, Pat has emphasized the need
for training initiatives and classes designed to teach
residents of public housing units organizational and
leadership skills so that ordinary citizens can take
responsibility for confronting challenges that exist in
their communities. She was instrumental in writing and then
implementing a Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency
(ROSS) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development that enabled the hiring of a staff person to
help neighborhood tenant councils facilitate program goals.
Pat has worked in other ways to develop a collective
vision for improving the lives of public housing residents.
Examples of her “hands-on” approach to community needs was
her work to establish the John E. Horan Garden Apartments
Food Pantry. Under her leadership, the food pantry has been
open for the past four years, providing much-needed food
items to over 100 public housing families on a regular
basis. Pat was responsible for organizing groups of
residents and other volunteers to staff the pantry, and she
continues to devote many hours of her own time to the
project.
For the past five years Pat has served as member of the
Erie Housing Authority’s Resident Advisory Board (RAB), a
group that offers input to the Authority as part of their
strategic planning process. Pat provided strong leadership
to the RAB by first recruiting a cross-section of public
housing residents to serve on the RAB, and by joining with
her peers to provide guidance to the Authority on
programming goals and spending priorities. She also serves
on the Housing Authority’s Section 8 Family Self-sufficiency
Coordinating Committee, a group that evaluates and
recommends Section 8 residents to participate in the Family
Self-Sufficiency Program.
Pat was recently part of a planning committee to help the
Housing Authority design a handicap-accessible playground
for the families living in the John E. Horan Garden
Apartments. The playground is scheduled for completion this
year (2008).
In addition to her volunteer efforts for residents in
public housing, and legal aid for poverty-level individuals
and families, Pat was a Girl Scout troop leader for ten
years, and she has been involved with the “Companions on the
Way” program administered by the local Area Agency on Aging.
When she has the time, Pat also loves to volunteer to read
at her granddaughter’s school.
The list of past recipients of the Liberty Bell Award is
a very distinguished group of local citizens. Patricia
Mickel is an important example to all of us that an
“ordinary” person, with determination, hard work and a
spirit of cooperation with neighbors and friends, can
produce “extraordinary” results that benefit our community,
and help ensure access to justice for all.
Congratulations on this well-deserved
award!
View
Nomination Letter
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Thelma
Grady receives the 2005 Liberty Bell Award
Thelma Grady, Northwestern Legal Services (NWLS) board member
and lay vice-president, received the 2005 Liberty Bell Award from
the Erie County Bar Association. She was presented the honor as part of
the Law Day luncheon on Friday, April 28 at the Erie Shrine Club.
The Liberty Bell Award is given annually by the Erie County Bar
Association to a non-attorney who has “strengthened the American system
of freedom under the law.” Grady was honored for her many years of
community service to the Erie region, and her leadership role in legal
services on a local, state and national level.
NWLS executive director Robert A. Oakley, Esq., delivered the
introductory remarks at the Law Day event that honored Grady’s many
contributions to the Erie community. She was instrumental in creating
local programs such as Crime Watch, the Erie Tenant’s Council, the
Welfare Rights Organization, and the Clients’ Council of Erie County.
Grady was also involved in Project Vote, an initiative that enabled
voter registration materials to be distributed at county assistance
offices, and she has been active in the local chapter of the NAACP.
Grady was also honored for her many years
of service to NWLS as a board member, along with her work on behalf of
legal aid with the Clients’ Council of Pennsylvania and the National
Legal Aid and Defender Association.
Jack Ford, Court TV news anchor and former legal correspondent for
ABC and NBC News, was the keynote speaker at the event.
Thelma Grady, honored for her work and dedication to the
community!
Thelma Grady was recognized as a public housing hero
by the Erie Housing Authority for her commitment and dedication to the
low-income community.
Thelma has been an active supporter and board
member of NWLS, past president of the Clients Council of
Pennsylvania, Clients Council of Erie
County, and Erie Tenants Council. She has been a mainstay of public
support of free legal services for low-income people throughout the
state.
View Full News Article
Congratulation, Thelma!
Grady Receives 2002 Striving
for Excellence Awards
Presented by Pennsylvania Legal Services
Pennsylvania Legal Services (PLS) recognizes individuals
who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and commitment to legal
services with the "Striving Toward Excellence" Awards.
Thelma Grady, was
recognized as a recipient in March, 2002. Thelma has been a long
standing Northwestern Legal Services' Board Member
and a powerful advocate for the legal needs of low-income clients
in her own community and across the
nation.
For over 25 years she has worked in a leadership role on
the local, state and national level to ensure that clients have received
civil legal services, and has molded this commitment into positive
accomplishments on behalf of low-income individuals and their families.
Thelma continues to serve on the NWLS board of directors, and she
remains a strong voice on behalf of our mission.
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