All Rise! A Night of Power, Purpose, and Possibility
We recently hosted “All Rise! A Night of Power, Purpose & Possibility,” an interactive educational experience that brought foster youth together with attorneys, judges, advocates, mentors, and community supporters for an evening centered on knowing their rights, recognizing their power, and imagining what is possible for their futures. Youth from Crossroads For Florida Kids were joined by peers from Florida Youth SHINE and Madi’s Movement, both of whom also supported the event and helped make the evening possible.
Led by Professor Joseline Jean-Louis Hardrick, Esq., the program took constitutional law out of the casebook and brought it to life through music and storytelling, introducing participants to the real people behind some of America’s most important constitutional protections.
“Too often, young people encounter the legal system without truly understanding the rights they carry into that encounter,” Hardrick said. “We wanted them to understand that the Constitution is not just something lawyers argue about in court. These rights belong to them.”
During the “Know Your Power” portion of the program, Hardrick used original music and storytelling to explore landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments. Participants learned the stories behind Terry v. Ohio, Miranda v. Arizona, Gideon v. Wainwright, Atkins v. Virginia, and Graham v. Florida, connecting the people behind the cases to constitutional protections involving searches and seizures, police questioning, the right to counsel, and constitutional limits on punishment.
Instead of simply memorizing case names and legal rules, attendees were invited to meet the people behind the decisions and consider the circumstances that caused their cases to reach the nation’s highest court. It’s a reminder that landmark cases begin with people who questioned what happened to them, lawyers who advocated on their behalf, and courts called upon to determine the limits of government power.
Daniela E. Mendez, Esq., a Crossroads board member, former public defender, and Attorney Ad Litem, helped guide the conversation and connect legal principles to the real-life experiences of the young people in the room. Her presence created space for youth to ask questions, better understand their rights, and consider how to interact with law enforcement, lawyers, courts, and other authority figures, bridging the gap between the law on the page and what these young people actually live through.
One of the evening’s biggest highlights was special guest Brian E. Tyms, a former foster youth who went on to become an NFL Super Bowl champion, a law school graduate, an author, and an advocate. Tyms shared his personal journey through foster care and the experiences that ultimately led him to professional football and law school. For the foster youth in attendance, he represented more than an accomplished guest speaker; he was someone who could say, “I have been where you are.” His story showed that foster care may be part of a young person’s story without determining how that story ends. Copies of his book, From Foster Kid to Football Star, were available for guests to take home and continue engaging with his journey.
None of this would have been possible without the partnership of Florida Youth SHINE and Madi’s Movement, who brought their own youth to the event and supported it alongside Crossroads. Their involvement helped create a broader, richer room where young people could see themselves reflected not just in the stories being told, but in the peers standing beside them.
True to the evening’s spirit, every young person left with more than they came with. Door prizes and giveaways meant no kid left empty-handed, a small but deliberate reminder that they were seen and valued that night.
For Crossroads For Florida Kids, the evening was about more than constitutional law or legal education. It was about giving young people access to information, stories, and people who could help them see themselves differently through the ordinary people whose names became part of constitutional history, the lawyers and advocates committed to protecting their rights, and a guest speaker who lived through foster care himself and went on to pursue dreams that may once have seemed impossible. It was a night built around one message: know your rights, know your voice, know your power.
Interested in supporting programs like this one? Donate/Volunteer/Contact Us to help us bring more experiences like “All Rise!” to youth across Hillsborough County.
