Youth will finish out May with the End of the Year Celebration on Saturday, May 22. The event will recognize each of the young leaders and feature guest speaker attorney Bethany Bonsu.

Bethany Bonsu is a trial attorney at the New York County Defender Services, working as a criminal defense attorney. She is currently licensed to practice law in New Jersey and is expecting to be admitted in the New York bar in the coming months. Bethany’s passion for criminal justice started at a young age when her mother was incarcerated when she was three years old. Her mother’s incarceration separated her from her family for over a decade, and it was this experience that exposed Bethany to the collateral consequences of mass incarceration. In high school Bethany interned at the Public Defender’s Office in Dallas County and went on to continue internships in college at various prosecuting offices. After graduating from Texas A&M University, Bethany went on to law school where she continued interning at some of the most prestigious national organizations in the country. In May of 2020, Bethany graduated from the University of Houston and then not long after she passed the bar. She is now making a difference everyday, one client at a time at the New York County Defender Services. Everyone’s experience is different, but Bethany has used her experience to inspire others.

The End of the Year Celebration will serve as the finale to the third year of Living as Leaders presented by For a Real Change, Inc. and LIFE Mentoring. Twenty-one girls in grades 3-8 participated in the program.