Marovitz Scholarship Recipients

2017 – Christen David Lee

Christen David Lee started each of his high school days on the bus from his home in Austin and North Lawndale to Lincoln Park High School. Outside the windows, he watched the blocks of vacant lots and dilapidated buildings of the city’s west side slowly change into an entirely different world, where mansions sat across the street from his school. Chris, recipient of the 2017 CBF Abraham Marovitz Scholarship, was struck by the incredible inequalities of Chicago. “As I matured,” he says, “I wanted to help make the difference in lifestyles of those in the neighborhoods along the way to school less glaring.”

While studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chris worked as a fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing. There, he helped study the effects of eviction records on housing stability and advocated for more tenant-protective sealing laws in such cases. He also helped develop a suite of presentation materials for educational outreach efforts on the subject. His materials for the eviction presentations resonate deeply with affected communities according to Mark Swartz, Executive Director at LCBH: “Chris understands the people impacted by eviction.”

After graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2016, Chris accepted a year-long position as a full time Illinois JusticeCorps Fellow. He led a team of over twenty part-time AmeriCorps volunteers help people without lawyers navigate the court system at the Daley Center. Begun by the CBF as a pilot program in 2009, the innovative program seeks to make courts across Illinois more welcoming and less intimidating for people without lawyers.

Chris started law school at Chicago-Kent College of Law in the fall of 2017, and he is determined to further his burgeoning public interest law career. He strongly believes that legal disputes should be resolved based on the law, rather than on variable and unequal access to legal institutions. With a law degree, he hopes to be better able to expand access to legal aid and help right some of those inequalities. The Marovitz scholarship will help ease the burden of law school debt and will make a career in public interest law financially viable as Chris turns his dreams of a more just world into reality.

2016 – Amanda Insalaco

Amanda Insalaco, the 2016 CBF Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Scholarship recipient, has demonstrated an impressive commitment to public service and civic engagement, while distinguishing herself academically. At Northern Illinois University, Amanda studied Community Leadership and Civic Engagement, an interdisciplinary major that emphasizes public service, nonprofit management, and advocacy. Not only was she the first in her family to attend college, but she also graduated summa cum laude and received a number of awards and accolades as an undergraduate. In addition to receiving NIU’s Outstanding Women Award and the Dean’s Award, Amanda was also a finalist for the Lincoln Student Laureate Award, the most prestigious undergraduate honor in Illinois.

Most recently, Amanda completed a year-long, full-time position as a Fellow with the Illinois JusticeCorps at the Knox County Courthouse in Galesburg. This innovative program recruits and trains students and recent college graduates to serve as guides to make courts across Illinois more welcoming and less intimidating for people without lawyers. As a JusticeCorps Fellow, Amanda served as a docent for people without lawyers by helping them find their way around the courthouse and providing them with procedural and navigational assistance. Amanda has observed first-hand the barriers to the justice system that people without lawyers face when they come to court on their own and her experiences have inspired her to dedicate her legal career to making our justice system more fair and efficient for everyone.

Amanda’s choice of volunteer opportunities during and after college further underscores her passion for public and community service. For example, when she was working full-time at Illinois JusticeCorps, Amanda completed the 40-hour domestic violence training and received certification through a local domestic violence agency, Safe Harbor. She was able to use her training to help domestic violence survivors file Orders of Protection. She also volunteered with the food pantry in Galesburg and as a Live Help operator with Illinois Legal Aid Online.

In the fall of 2016, Amanda began her studies at DePaul University College of Law. She selected DePaul because of the school’s comprehensive public service offerings, which support her deep commitment to public service and desire to dedicate her legal career to making the justice system work better for everyone, regardless of income.