USD Children’s Advocacy Institute Receives $20,000 Grant to Launch Homeless Youth Legal Clinic
SAN DIEGO (December 16, 2025) — University of San Diego (USD) School of Law’s Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) will soon be launching the LEGACY Project: Legal Advocacy for Children and Youth, a new legal clinic serving youth experiencing homelessness in San Diego. This work is made possible in part by a $20,000 grant from the San Diego County Bar Foundation.
The clinic will begin at San Diego Youth Services’ Storefront Shelter and will provide free help with civil legal needs that drive instability, including matters involving housing, education, and public benefits. Staffed for an initial year by an experienced attorney working alongside USD Law students, the clinic will hold regular hours at the shelter, offer follow-up services when needed, and build a referral network for issues beyond its scope. Plans call for expansion to additional sites serving a similar population as the program grows.
CAI will measure impact by tracking clinic sessions, the number of clients served, case outcomes, and partnerships formed with community providers. The project will also train law students in trauma-informed client work, strengthening the pipeline of advocates for underserved minors. Faculty supervision for the new clinic will be provided by Fellmeth-Peterson Associate Professor in Child Rights Jessica Heldman ’04 (JD), who serves as CAI’s executive director.
“This grant makes it possible for us to meet young people where they are and address the legal barriers that too often keep them trapped in instability,” said Heldman. “We are deeply grateful to the San Diego County Bar Foundation for investing in a project that combines direct legal support with student training to create lasting change for youth experiencing homelessness.”
Part of the USD School of Law since 1989, CAI advocates for the health, safety, and well-being of kids and teens through training, research, public education, and impact advocacy. Through its Dependency Practicum, Youth Justice Practicum, and Policy Clinic, law students assist attorneys in delinquency matters and policy reform involving foster care, juvenile justice, children’s health coverage, and education. CAI has led state and national initiatives protecting foster youth’s federal benefits and promoting online accountability and safety across social media platforms, while providing legal education to professionals who serve young people.
SDCBF awards grants to programs that expand access to justice and deepen public understanding of the legal system, with support from the region’s legal and business communities. The foundation has funded dozens of local legal aid and public interest organizations that assist San Diegans experiencing hardship.
About the University of San Diego School of Law
Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.
USD School of Law is one of the 88 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 34th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 35th nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.