For the sixth year in a row, the Children’s Law Center (CLC) selected Bates White as one of its four Champions for Children winners. Bates White has won the Corporate Champion award every year since the award’s inception in 2017.
The award honors Bates White’s commitment to supporting CLC, which helps ensure that children can grow up with a stable family, good health, and quality education. In 2022, Bates White raised more than $48,900.
“Our employees are passionate about serving the community,” said Managing Partner Charlie Mullin. “Encouraging and enabling employee commitment to both work and the community is a key part of our culture. This award is a clear illustration of our commitment to contributing to the community and to those in need. That’s one aspect of CLC’s Champions for Children program that is a natural fit with our firm. I am extremely proud of our employees’ dedication and generosity.”
In 2022, Bates White implemented several creative fundraising initiatives to support CLC, including a Jenga Trivia Showdown; a Not-so-Newlywed game, in which teams competed to see who knew their colleagues best; and the traditional Bates White Bake Off. These events raised vital funds for CLC. And the firm continued its support for the annual Holiday Hope Drive, with employees “adopting” a girl and two boys from three families and donating presents and gift cards. In 2022, this drive remained critical to helping families as they struggled to make ends meet even as conditions after the pandemic eased.
In addition to fundraising, Bates White contributed pro bono hours, analyzing the District of Columbia’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget data. That analysis helped CLC identify and understand changes in the budget to make informed, strategic decisions when advocating before the DC Council to support District children and families.
“Bates White has been a steadfast partner through difficult times,” said CLC Executive Director Judith Sandalow. “The firm provides both financial and pro bono support that strengthens our individual and systemic advocacy. In 2022, they saw that the end of federal pandemic support could leave significant gaps in critical services for children and put in record-breaking efforts to ensure CLC could help families bridge those gaps and access resources children need to thrive. Their financial and pro bono support enables us to advance our health advocacy and medical-legal partnership work, resulting in positive outcomes for more DC children and families.”
As a CLC Board member, Principal Ben Wolfert coordinates the firm’s support for CLC. He said, “It has been—and continues to be—a privilege and an honor to support CLC. It is a welcome challenge to continually grow our support; CLC is a wonderfully worthy cause, and the systemic issues they seek to address are not ones that will resolve themselves overnight. CLC is dedicated to the long, difficult task of improving conditions for some of DC’s most vulnerable youth, and so are we.”
To learn more about Bates White’s community fundraising, click here.
To learn more about the Champions for Children awards, click here.