Kids growing up in urban poverty today are literally starved for mentors. Study after study shows that children raised in today's inner cities increasingly cannot turn to their parents, teachers, or neighbors for the kind of guidance needed to escape poverty. Instead, these kids get involved in gangs and become lost in our justice system.

In pockets throughout the City of Chicago, there are rays of hope for impoverished kids: tutor/mentor programs that focus not simply on homework but on building one-on-one relationships between children and adults that will help end the cycle of poverty. These programs give impoverished children the opportunity to escape from their daily existences, to share their hopes and fears with an adult in a supportive environment, and to dream of one day achieving personal and professional success.

The Sun Times Judge Marovitz Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth Program (Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth) is our legal community's effort to contribute to outstanding youth mentoring programs in Chicago.  I invite you to join us in this noble effort in whatever way you can. Together, we can lift a spirit and lend-a-hand.

Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth is pleased to announce the creation of its Auxiliary Board.  For more information click on the title above or download the nomination form by clicking here.

All nominations are due Wednesday, February 1, 2012.