Madeleine Landrieu to receive NCJW’s Hannah G. Solomon Award
The Greater New Orleans Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has selected Madeleine M. Landrieu, the Dean of the Loyola University of New Orleans School of Law, as the recipient of its coveted 2019 Hannah G. Solomon Award.
Madeleine Landrieu
The award, considered the highest honor that can be conferred by the NCJW, is used to honor someone whom the selection committee feels has had a positive effect on the community and who best exemplifies the qualities of the organization’s founder, Hannah G. Solomon.
“I am stunned and humbled by this honor granted to me by an organization for which I have the highest respect and admiration,” said Landrieu.“I did not plan this journey and never envisioned being dean of a law school,” she added.
Before she became a dean, Landrieu spent a large part of her career advocating for improvements in laws and policies relative to children, many of whom are victims of abuse or neglect. Recently, she was appointed to serve on the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association’s Council of Advisors to the Board of Trustees and serves as co-chair of the Advisory Committee to the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.
She is a founding board member of the Louisiana Institute for Children in Families, and was instrumental in the launch of Louisiana’s Quality Parenting Initiative and Louisiana Fosters, efforts to raise awareness about the needs of abused and neglected children and their families. She attributes her dedication to this cause to her volunteer work in an orphanage while in high school. “I was so impressed by the situation of kids without parents that I vowed that one day I would be doing something about it”, she said.
She is proud of creating the Louisiana Institute for Children in Families, “an idea launched and inspired by the late Lindy Boggs” and credits the organization’s accomplishments such as the Foster Youth Intern Program. That program matches foster youth with opportunities to do an internship with a Louisiana legislator, legislative committee or state agency engaging policymakers on the challenges and issues surrounding life in foster care. In addition, she said, the Institute was the driving force in passing the bill extending foster care to age 21 and the bill limiting the age of strippers to 21.
Landrieu’s leadership and vision has resulted in her being the recipient of various other awards, including the Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award from the New Orleans Association of Women Attorneys; the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center’s Public Service Award; the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award, its Young Lawyers’ Section Pro Bono Award, and its President’s Award. In 2017, Dean Landrieu received the inaugural President’s Award from the Louisiana Judicial College for her “dedication to judicial education, particularly in the areas of new judge training and mentorship.”
In addition to her devotion to the Institute, Dean Landrieu serves on the Board of Covenant House, New Orleans, a service provider for homeless, at-risk, and trafficked youth and previously served as chair of its board. She serves on the Legal Services Corporation Disaster Task Force and as co-chair of the sub-committee on Continuity of Operations Planning for the Courts and Legal Service Providers.
Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.
The event will be held on Thursday, October 17, at a luncheon at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canall Street. Doors open at 11:15 am and the program/luncheon starts at 12:00 noon.
Tickets are $65.00 and can be ordered online at www.ncjwneworleans.org or by calling (504) 861.7788.
