Alicia Virani

Ms. Virani will graduate from the  joint J.D. and Masters in urban Planning program at University of California Los Angeles School of Law in the Spring of 2011.  Ms. Virani occupies her free time as the Education Co-Chair for OUTlaw, the Co-chair for SHAREJD, and Co-Chair of the Teen Court Clinic at UCLA.  In addition, Ms. Virani co-founded the Los Angeles chapter of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and initiated a youth anti-violence summer program that began this past Summer.  Ms. Virani spent this Summer working at the Alliance for Children’s rights as an advocate for foster care youth.  Along with her busy work and volunteer schedule Ms. Virani found time this last year to aggressively pursue her studies and obtain a 3.2 GPA. Last year Ms. Virani worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights where she assisted in preparing an educational manual on LGBT youth in juvenile detention.   Ms. Virani is passionate about providing alternative sentencing to LGBT juvenile offenders and upon graduation plans to start her own non-profit to provide a model alternative sentencing program here in Los Angeles.  In light of her dedication to improving the lives of the youth through public service, WLALA is honored to name Ms. Virani as a 2009 Scholarship recipient.