NYSDA Client Advisory Board Chair to receive award

ALBANY, NY (10/27/2010)(readMedia)-- John "Jay" Coleman, Chair of the New York State Defenders Association's Client Advisory Board, will receive the Eddie Ellis Life Time Achievement Award on Saturday, October 30. The award was created by Citizens Against Recidivism Inc. to honor contributions by formerly incarcerated persons.

Jonathan E. Gradess, NYSDA's Executive Director, nominated Coleman, who joined the NYSDA Client Advisory Board soon after paroling in 2005. Gradess praised Coleman's "measured intensity and his genuineness," which, "along with his patient persistence and humor, help make him both a leader and a bridge builder."

NYSDA's mission is to improve the quality and scope of publicly supported legal representation to low income people. Its Client Advisory Board works directly with the Executive Director and advises NYSDA on issues of client relations and community programs, including reform advocacy. Coleman sent a thoughtful response to NYSDA's request in 2003 for feedback from people in prison on a draft of Client-Centered Representation Standards that were later revised and promulgated. This was the first major milestone in the development of his working relationship with NYSDA.

Coleman and NYSDA's Client Advisory Board are currently working on the development of a training program to help local public defense offices create and use client advisory boards. "Jay's phone calls to Chief Defenders were, I believe, a primary factor in the overwhelmingly positive response the proposal has received," Gradess notes. "The foundation Jay has built has positively affected the attitude of Chief Defenders toward input from their local client communities."

Coleman, like all the members of the Client Advisory Board, works with NYSDA on a volunteer basis. He is also employed full time as a Life Skills Educator with the Albany branch of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Prisoner Reentry Program. "As a mentor and by the example of his life, Jay teaches that one can change, grow, and make a positive difference in the world," Gradess said in his nomination.

The Fourth Annual Citizens' Awards ceremony of Citizens Against Recidivism Inc. will be held at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, 3940 Broadway (164th Street and Broadway) in New York City. Doors open at 6:00. For more information about the event, see www.citizensinc.org/FutureEvents2010.htm.

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