Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Want to Recruit Younger People? Look Within

Want to Recruit Younger People? Look Within

Denise Webb, 20, is a CoGenerate Senior Fellow. She’s a student at Berry College and a seasoned activist, working with organizations including United Way, Partnership for Southern Equity and The Sunrise Movement. She is the co-author of Why Aren’t We Doing This!...

Two Oscar-winning Films Shine a Light on Intergenerational Connection

Two Oscar-winning Films Shine a Light on Intergenerational Connection

Despite the ongoing drumbeat of generational conflict (a hate story), right in front of us is evidence of a new narrative of cross-generational connection and collaboration (a love story).  That love story was on full display at the Grammys, most visibly in the Tracy...

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Barry Zuckerman

National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
Purpose Prize Fellow 2008

Bringing lawyers to clinics to improve the health of low-income children.

While treating infections in children suffering from malnutrition through a lack of food stamps, Dr. Barry Zuckerman saw impaired brain development among children with lead poisoning from chipped paint in rundown public housing. In 1994, when he was 48, he realized that many poor people did not know their legal rights as tenants, community members and parents, so he hired an attorney to work in his clinic. This became the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children. Zuckerman’s idea of putting lawyers in a medical setting was a new method to address many of the preventable problems that impair children’s access to food, safety, education, housing and other resources essential to their health. Zuckerman’s initial center now serves 1,500 families per year in Boston, providing legal intervention to assure access to food, utilities, safe housing, and special education. More than 85 percent of those served later receive an essential benefit that was previously unavailable. Zuckerman’s organization has expanded into the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership that works nationwide to shape the way health care providers respond to the needs of vulnerable populations. “Thirteen years after discovering how our model changes lives, I am driven to spread this approach to help others.”