This week’s P.S. features a grant deadline (today) for any Dallas-area organizations pursuing projects that support women; lawyers from Yetter Coleman, Shipley Snell, and Hunton Andrews Kurth receiving pro bono/community service-related awards; a trivia event that raised funds for Children’s Health; an upcoming gala that supports the Dallas LGBTQ+ community that’s in need of more sponsors; and a recent ribbon-cutting event at Houston’s civil courthouse to celebrate the recent installation of the first of several planned lactation pods.
The Latest
— Today marks the deadline for any women empowerment-oriented organizations in need of project financial support to apply for one of the DWLA Foundation’s outreach grants. The foundation, formed in 2017 by the Dallas Women Lawyers Association, seeks to make charitable grants to organizations that support women and children in the Dallas metropolitan area and suburbs through a wide array of agendas, including:
- Empowering women to advance growth in themselves along with their children and families;
- Improving the delivery services to women, children and their families;
- Charitable and educational activities in support of law-related research and education;
- Improving the administration of justice to women and children; and
- Engaging in activities that work to reduce or eliminate barriers for women to enter the legal profession, including providing educational assistance, childcare assistance and access to resources.
For more information, including the grant application and the full list of agendas that may qualify for the grant, visit here. Grants typically range between $500 and $3,000.
— The Black Tie Dinner, a Dallas-based nonprofit that raises funds to support the LGBTQ+ community, is currently seeking sponsors for its 43rd Annual Black Tie Dinner in November.
Since 2004, the dinner has raised at least $1 million for up to 20 local beneficiaries and a national beneficiary, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Nonprofits are selected each year through an application process based on their focus of LGBTQ+ programs in North Texas. Last year’s dinner hit a record and the planning committee is hoping to succeed that this year.
Munck Wilson Mandala partner Randy Ray, a longtime board member who currently serves as Black Tie Dinner’s general counsel, said the fundraising for the event is important for progress to continue in the LGBTQ+ community, since there is still much to achieve.
Elizabeth Birch Equality Award), and Victor Ray at the 2016 Black Tie Dinner.
“The LGBTQ+ community has made incredible progress in the approximately 36 years I have been in Dallas,” he said. “The challenges and the primary focus may have changed over the years — from the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s to marriage equality in the 2000s and 2010s — [but] there is still much do be done. That is especially true in today’s climate, when there are continual challenges to LGBTQ+ rights and the ability to make additional progress.”
Guests can expect a fun evening with fellow gussied-up individuals, potential celebrity sightings, a cocktail reception (plus a VIP section for premium sponsors), a dinner, an auction, a raffle and dancing, followed by an afterparty.
The event will also honor a group of award recipients, who will continue to be announced in the months leading up to the dinner. Recently announced honorees include educator Han Seth Lu, the winner of the Richard Weaver Volunteer Award for his commitment and support of the Black Tie Dinner and its beneficiaries, and transgender rights activist Landon Richie, who will receive the Trailblazer Award for his work with the Transgender Education Network of Texas during the 87th Texas legislative session.
When: Saturday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m.
Where: Sheraton Dallas Hotel
Event co-chairs: Dustin Vyers, a Dallas area creative consultant, designer, artist and owner of Dustin Vyers Art and Liliana Villarreal, director of global music marketing at iHeartMedia
Key law firm sponsors so far: Munck Wilson Mandala, Greenberg Traurig, Jackson Walker, Akin and Thompson Coburn
Diamond & platinum sponsors: American Airlines, iHeartMedia, Park Place Motorcars Dallas, Sheraton Dallas Hotel and the Eugene McDermott Foundation
How to sponsor (+ sponsor level info): https://blacktie.org/sponsors
To become an underwriter: Contact Gage Baird, chair of sponsorships, at gbaird@blacktie.org
Raffle tickets: Purchase here
How else you can help: consider volunteering, joining the board or donating any time of the year. Visit here for more information.
— On May 1, Yetter Coleman partner Amy Farish and Shipley Snell partner Brooksie Bonvilliain Boutet were honored with the Houston Young Lawyers Foundation’s HYLF Community Impact Award at the organization’s 2024 Law Day Celebration. Together, Farish, who is Yetter Coleman’s pro bono coordinator, and Snell put in a significant amount of work with the Adopt-an-Angel program to provide school supplies to more than 4,000 underserved children in Houston.
— The American Bar Association announced that Dallas attorney Fawaz Bham is among a group of attorneys and firms who will receive the 2024 Pro Publico Award at the ABA’s 2024 annual meeting in Chicago. In its announcement, the ABA described Bham, a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, as a “pro bono champion and community advocate” who has spent more than a decade building and leading innovative and systemic-changing programs, including the small business clinics and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program’s virtual clinic platform. To date, the platform has hosted 283 clinics and processed more than 16,000 applications, with more than 40 law firms and organizations participating to help low-income individuals. Bham is the chair of Hunton AK’s pro bono committee.
— Last Wednesday, the Houston Bar Association, Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, Harris County State District Courts and the Office of the County Engineer partnered to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new lactation pod at the Harris County Civil Courthouse. The standalone space will provide a welcoming and comfortable and private area for all mothers in the courthouse who may require lactation facilities, including employees, jurors, lawyers, clients or visitors. The wheelchair-accessible pod features outlets and USB ports, ventilation fans, a mirror and a shelf. Through the Mamava mobile app, users can unlock the door and access the pod.
This pod is the first of three Mamava XL lactation pods donated by the HBA. It was installed in the civil courthouse May 3. The other two are in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center (which opened May 10) and the Harris County Jury Assembly (being installed today). HBA intends to donate a fourth pod to the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library.
The pods were made possible by a grant from the Houston Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the HBA. Other key donors included Vinson & Elkins, Beck Redden and Haynes Boone. Fundraising efforts were led by the HBA’s Gender Fairness Committee.
“This is a meaningful milestone for our legal community, not only because mothers now have much-needed access to lactation pods in our courthouses, but also because at the Houston Bar came together to identify and address a need,” said V&E partner Stephanie Noble, who serves on the committee. “Support came from everywhere, through firms, local groups and individuals. It’s lovely to see our legal community banding together to make lasting change.”
— Thursday evening, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers hosted a trivia-themed fundraiser, Trial by Trivia, at the Community Beer Co. brewery. Proceeds from the event supported Children’s Health and its dedication to providing vital programs, including cardiology, cancer and blood disorders, neonatal care, clinic services, clinical research and essential patient and family support services. Holland & Knight partner Mark Melton and his wife, Lauren Melton (who is CEO of the couple’s nonprofit, Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center), served as the event’s trivia masters. Top event sponsors included Haynes Boone; Lynn, Pinker, Hurst & Schwegmann; O’Neil Wysocki; Bradley; Crawford Wishnew Lang; Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center; Thomas J Henry; Bell Nunnally; Burke Bogdanowicz; Bailes & Co., Nicole and Stephen Huschka (in memory of Avery Huschka); Ian Ross Phillips; Payne Mitchell Ramsey; and Stinson.