Friday, February 28, 2025
12:30-5:00pm
Online and In-person
As ICE raids increase and law enforcement gains broader discretion with fewer checks and balances, many of our neighbors and loved ones are at greater risk. What can the average citizen do to help protect their community legally? Join us for a session with two experienced instructors who specialize in providing legal strategies for underserved communities.
Kenya Brumfield-Young, M.L.S., M.S.C.J. : SLU - Saint Louis University
Professor Brumfield-Young's dedication to the community and the criminal justice system is both vast and impactful. Collaborating closely with community members, as well as local and state policymakers, she has been instrumental in developing trauma-informed strategies and frameworks that address the deeply entrenched social factors contributing to crime, particularly community trauma. She also works alongside legal teams, affected families, and community partners, diving deep into matters of wrongful conviction, juvenile justice policy, and a range of other criminal justice issues.
Professor Brumfield-Young has also participated in collaborative projects for rehabilitation and community safety. One such project is the Community Resource and Needs Screening (CRANS) program at the St. Louis Justice Center. This initiative, a collaboration between the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Saint Louis University's Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, and the Integrated Health Network, focuses on screening recently arrested individuals. The primary goal is to guide them toward appropriate community resources to reduce community victimization, re-offending, and jail recidivism.
Furthermore, Professor Brumfield-Young's interest in juvenile justice extends to her partnerships with local non-profit and government agencies. Together, they undertake the meticulous task of analyzing data on juvenile delinquency, understanding the system's responses, and addressing the disproportionate representation of minority groups within the criminal justice system.
Professor Brumfield-Young is currently the Vice-President of the Board of Directors for Caring for Kids, Inc., a registered non-profit organization under section 501(c)3, dedicated to supporting children in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County who have urgent, unmet needs due to abuse, neglect, or being in an at-risk situation.
She is also a previous board member of Flance Early Childhood Learning Center and the former Northwest Academy of Law's Criminal Justice 2+2 Program. The 2+2 program gave high school students a unique opportunity to earn credits toward their criminal justice degree at a local community college while still in high school. As a board member, Professor Brumfield-Young played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between high school and higher education for many aspiring young students.
Through her varied and significant contributions, Professor Brumfield-Young paints a picture of a holistic approach to criminal justice—one that emphasizes prevention, rehabilitation, and commitment to community collaboration.
Natasha Robinson, J.D. is the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator for Roosevelt University. Under her leadership, Natasha is responsible for fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and belonging within the university community, and is responsible for the coordination and facilitation of the institution's compliance to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator, Dr. Robinson provides services and collaborates with various offices and departments to enhance student success, the student experience, and student growth and development. Additionally, as the Deputy Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator aids University leadership to identify and address systemic problems.
Natasha has also been an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Roosevelt University. Formerly an assistant teaching professor of criminal justice at Roosevelt University, she taught courses relating to criminal justice and was a faculty member of the Government, Law and Justice Department. In May 2022, Professor Robinson was awarded the Presidential Award in Social Justice by Roosevelt University President Ali Malekzadeh for being a facilitator and founding member of the Equity Teaching Academy. Prior to coming to Roosevelt, Professor Robinson was a teacher at Chicago Public Schools, teaching law courses, including Criminal Law and Criminology, to high school students enrolled in the honors program. For six years, in addition to teaching, she also coached her high school students in preparation for criminal and civil mock trial exhibitions and competitions. Professor Robinson is a retired criminal defense attorney, having been licensed for 25 years, twelve and a half of those years as an assistant public defender of Cook County, specializing in the representation of indigent clients charged with felony crimes.
Dr. Robinson is also the creator and curator of Legaleaze Please! LLC, an online platform and digital space founded in May 2020, that empowers the development of individual and collective comprehension of criminal laws, cases, and policies through decoding, deconstructing, and demystifying legal language. Legaleaze Please!, a Black-owned business created by a Black woman, provides relevant knowledge to legal information as well as equitable access for all users to understand and apply in their everyday lives.
Professor Robinson is a national speaker, lecturer, writer, scholar, activist, and advocate. Natasha has been a regular guest legal analyst on CourtTV and WGN9 news, and is a former monthly contributor to The Soultown Magazine. Professor Robinson was appointed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) in August 2022, and served on the commission that gathers evidence about torture claims happening in Cook County, and then determining, through rigorous investigation, whether there is sufficient credible evidence of torture to merit judicial review.
Currently, Dr. Robinson is a first-year seminarian at McCormick Theological Seminary, pursuing a Masters of Theological Studies. She is a member of the Sacred Memory Cohort, founded by Dr. Itihari Toure and is a proud ministry partner of The Gathering, A Womanist Church, in Dallas, Texas.
Natasha earned her Bachelors of Arts in English from the University of Iowa, her Masters of Arts in English from Chicago State University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Of all of her accomplishments, one of Natasha’s greatest joy is her daughter, Grace and together, mother and daughter live life fully and unapologetically.
