To further her work, the second year JD student has now been awarded a prestigious Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) fellowship for the 2023-2024 cycle.
OJEN is a charitable not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with a province-wide mandate which develops innovative educational tools that introduce young people to the justice system, help them understand the law, and build their legal capability.
OJEN Fellowships are year-long placements in which students receive in-depth training in public legal education theory and methods. Each Fellow then plans and runs a minimum of three justice education projects in their local community’s schools, with support from OJEN’s staff team and volunteers from the local legal community. Fellows rapidly build their skills in communications, community outreach, public speaking, access to justice initiatives, and plain language work.
Crincoli applied for the fellowship with a desire to “further develop [her] communication and community outreach skills while contributing to the important work engaged by the Network to increase legal literacy and capacity for young people in Ontario.”
Her enthusiasm for engaging audiences and coordinating youth programs was cemented during the four years she worked as a Program and Volunteer Coordinator for the Children’s Department at the Church on the Queensway in Toronto. There she oversaw programs and activities, connected families to suitable programming and adapted programs to the online environment to ensure continuity.
Currently she works as a caseworker in the Community Legal Education and Outreach Division of the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic, where she conducts client intake interviews and legal research and provides accessible legal resources and programming to community groups.
Before law school, Crincoli obtained a Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Guelph. In addition to being a nominee for the Winegard Medal, the University of Guelph’s top undergraduate convocation award, she was awarded a University of Waterloo Senate Graduate Scholarship, a University of Waterloo Graduate Research Scholarship as well as a Dean’s undergraduate scholarship from the University of Guelph.
Crincoli says she is “thrilled to be joining OJEN as a justice education fellow during the summer of 2023 and [is] eager to support the organization’s justice access work by building the legal literacy of young people in Ontario.”
Being named an OJEN Fellow recognizes Crincoli’s dedication and commitment to advancing access to justice. “A product of my very long and fulfilling history of youth work, I believe strongly in the importance of helping young people understand their rights and empowering them to confront the challenging legal issues that they and their communities encounter confidently” she says. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important community resource and look forward to meeting and working with the many bright and passionate youth participating in the program here in the City of Ottawa.”
To learn more about this program, please visit the OJEN website.
Congratulations Samantha.