Louisiana Center For Children's Rights

What Louisiana Center For Children's Rights does

Louisiana Center For Children's Rights (LCCR) is a nonprofit legal services organization founded in 2006 and headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana (1100-B Milton St). The organization provides comprehensive defense and advocacy for children entangled in Louisiana's juvenile justice system, delivering juvenile public defense, social work services, youth advocacy, reentry support, and statewide policy advocacy. In FY2025 LCCR's attorneys defended 541 children across 727 cases in Orleans Parish and served an additional 165 children in East Baton Rouge Parish, while producing measurable outcomes in education (181 enrolled in school), employment (160 connected to jobs or training), mental health and substance use care (110), mentoring (89), and special education advocacy (33 IEPs and 41 school disciplinary hearings). Services are delivered free of charge to clients through a multidisciplinary staff of approximately 30, comprising supervising attorneys, staff attorneys, special counsel, investigators, social workers, youth advocates, a reentry specialist, and policy associates.

Underlying delivery is human-staff-led rather than technology-based: there is no proprietary platform, no AI/ML components, and no commercial software product. The organization's adjacent technology surface is a public Youth Defense Resource Library that publishes template motions, training materials, objection reference charts, and case reports for the broader youth defense bar, plus client-facing educational resources for families navigating juvenile court. LCCR also operates the #ItTakesAVillageNOLA narrative change campaign, launched in April 2025, to counter harmful narratives about Black youth and promote positive community narratives.

The business model is a nonprofit charitable structure with no commercial revenue. Funding flows from institutional grants (Foundation for Louisiana, Public Welfare Foundation, Louisiana Justice Fund, Campbell Foundation, Frueauff Foundation, RosaMary Foundation, OJJDP), United Way of Southeast Louisiana, individual donors, an annual Celebration for Children's Rights fundraiser (with Milbank as presenting sponsor), and a 2019 contract from the Louisiana Public Defender Board to represent the majority of children facing life without parole in the state. Go-to-market is community-led: clients are reached through court appointments, partnerships with Orleans Public Defenders, and coalition advocacy (Liberty & Dignity Coalition, Louisiana Youth Justice Coalition, IWES), not through paid distribution channels.

Name

Louisiana Center For Children's Rights

Legal name

Louisiana Center for Children's Rights

Website

https://lakidsrights.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Louisiana Center For Children's Rights is a New Orleans nonprofit providing holistic legal defense, social work, youth advocacy, and policy advocacy for children in Louisiana's juvenile justice system, serving 600+ youth annually across Orleans Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Juvenile Legal Defense Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Child and Youth Services (624110), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal Aid & Client Advocacy Services (BPAGAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Criminal Justice Reform & Legal System Advocacy (BPAGAFAI), Juvenile Justice System (Courts & Detention) (BPAIAFAF), Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

Keywords

• Juvenile public defense
• Legal aid services
• Holistic defense representation
• Policy advocacy
• Reentry support services

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Grants and Donations: LCCR is funded through grants and donations from foundations (Foundation for Louisiana, Public Welfare Foundation, Campbell Foundation, Frueauff Foundation, etc.), government grants (OJJDP), and individual donors. The organization also receives support through its annual Celebration for Children's Rights fundraiser event.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Louisiana Center for Children's Rights provides direct legal representation for children in the juvenile and adult justice systems in Orleans Parish and East Baton Rouge. The organization pairs attorneys with social workers, investigators, and youth advocates to address root causes of justice involvement rather than offering legal defense alone. Services are provided free of charge to clients and funded through foundation grants, government grants, and individual donations.

Product overview

Louisiana Center for Children's Rights (LCCR) is a nonprofit legal defense organization providing comprehensive services to children in Louisiana's juvenile justice system. The organization operates a multi-faceted offering centered on juvenile public defense, providing legal representation through attorneys, investigators, and youth advocates; supplemented by social work services addressing holistic needs including mental health, education, employment, and housing; combined with policy advocacy to reform juvenile justice laws at the state level. LCCR also provides resources for defense attorneys including a Youth Defense Resource Library with template motions and training materials, and offers client resources for youth and families navigating the court system. Reentry specialist services support children transitioning out of incarceration back into their communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Juvenile Public Defense

Quantifiable outcome

• 541 children defended in FY2025 through 727 cases
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Orleans Public DefenderscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner in providing public defense services; shares staff (Louis Gibson serves as Resentencing Client Advocate with OPD)
• United Way of Southeast LouisianamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization; LCCR is a proud partner of United Way of Southeast Louisiana
• Marshall Motley Scholars ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProgram supporting diverse law students; partnership through LSAC
• It Takes A Village NOLAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNarrative change campaign launched by LCCR in April 2025 to combat harmful narratives surrounding Black youth and promote positive narratives
• Liberty & Dignity CoalitionmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition formed to defeat Amendment 3 in March 2025 Louisiana election; successfully prevented easier prosecution of children as adults
• Louisiana Youth Justice CoalitionmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner advocating for youth justice reform in Louisiana; collaborated on Raise the Age campaign
• Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies (IWES)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner founded by Dr. Denese Shervington; combined advocacy on trauma-informed approaches for justice-involved youth

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• ABA Center on Children and the Law: American Bar Association program supporting legal representation of children through training, resources, and policy work; comparable in producing defense resources and training materials like LCCR's Youth Defense Resource Library.

Direct peers

• National Center for Youth Law: Oakland-based national legal advocacy organization for vulnerable children and youth, combining impact litigation, policy reform, and direct representation — analogous to LCCR's combination of courtroom defense and statewide advocacy.
• Equal Justice Initiative: Alabama-based nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform including representation of juveniles sentenced to extreme sentences; overlaps directly with LCCR's life-without-parole defense work and policy advocacy.
• Youth Law Center: California-based legal advocacy organization representing children in juvenile justice, foster care, and mental health systems — a comparable mission with litigation, training, and policy advocacy on behalf of court-involved youth.
• Juvenile Law Center: Philadelphia-based nonprofit that provides direct juvenile defense and statewide policy advocacy on children's rights — closely aligned with LCCR's holistic defense and policy reform model, though operating in Pennsylvania rather than Louisiana.
• Center for Children's Law and Policy: National nonprofit focused on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system through policy reform and technical assistance — closely comparable in mission and policy-advocacy operating model to LCCR.

Broad incumbents

• Children's Defense Fund: National child advocacy organization working on policies affecting poor and minority children, including juvenile justice reform; broader policy and research scope than LCCR but a comparable children-rights mission.
• Southern Poverty Law Center: Large civil rights nonprofit with significant juvenile justice litigation and policy advocacy work; a much broader incumbent than LCCR but a direct comparator on criminal justice reform for youth in the Deep South.

Regional players

• Louisiana Public Defender Board: State agency that funds and oversees public defender services in Louisiana and is LCCR's primary contract counterparty for juvenile defense; the institutional counterpart against which LCCR's geographic and programmatic scale must be measured.
• Orleans Public Defenders: The local public defender office in Orleans Parish and a named strategic partner of LCCR; shares staff with LCCR and is the closest operational counterpart delivering public defense services in the same jurisdiction.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/lakidsrights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Louisiana Center For Children's Rights