JRF Alumnus Ashley Williams ’12 Draws from Her Life Experience to Help Others
JRF alumna Ashley D. Williams ’12 emerged from the adversity of being raised in the foster care system to a career path of advocacy for children and families involved in the child welfare system.
Today, Ashley Williams is an attorney with Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc. (LADL), which represents parents in various juvenile proceedings in Los Angeles County. Ashley represents parents assigned to the Dedicated to Restoration through Empowerment and Advocacy (DREAM) Court, a specialized courtroom serving minors who are victims of sexual assault.
Ashley was placed in 36 foster and group homes while attending 26 different schools from kindergarten until the time she was 18 years old. Applying an undeterred focus on her studies, she consistently maintained at least a 3.0 grade point average throughout her domestic challenges.
While enrolled at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Ashley lived alternately in two homes. At Dorsey, Ashley was a member of the Law Magnet Program and was named to the Principal’s List, graduating 16th out of 337 with a 3.5 GPA. While at Dorsey High, Ashley was active in many extracurricular activities, notably serving as the Student Body President and receiving her school’s Teen Court Judge and Clerk Award.
Upon graduating, she was honored with the dedication of the “Ashley Williams Computer Center” at Dorsey High School.
“I was always a determined kid…I saw myself going to college and doing something big with my life,” said Williams in an interview with the L.A. Youth newspaper, upon being emancipated from her last foster home at the age of 18. She went on to relay “My foster parent learned that she was no longer going to be getting a check for me. One day I came home, and all my things were put out on the porch.”
Checking in recently, Ashley reflected on her time as a JRF Scholar.
“I knew I wanted to go to college. During my senior year in high school, I moved in with one of my mentors and lived on UCLA’s campus,” said Williams, adding, “[M]y mentor was one of the directors of the Vice-Provost’s Initiative for Pre-College Scholars (VIPS) at UCLA. That’s where I learned about the Jackie Robinson Foundation…I was grateful for [JRF] because it really gave me that ‘foundation.’ I was already prepared. In my mind I knew what I wanted to do, but I think JRF provided me with the mentorship, the guidance and the professionalism, and how to get it done. They introduced us to lawyers, had us shadow people and put us to the task…’if this is what you want to do, here are the people to make those connections, here’s what you need to do to be a professional.’ The workshops [JRF] provided for us in that program set us up for nothing but success,” said Williams.
At UCLA, Ashley co-founded the Bruin Guardian Scholars Program and the First Star Bruin Guardian scholars summer academy. The programs were developed to support foster youth as they navigated life on the UCLA campus and included a five-week residential summer Academy which offered academic support, leadership development and guidance to applicants at two-and four-year colleges. In 2012, in recognition of her work with foster youth, she was awarded JRF’s Spike Lee Youth Motivation Award. The award, established in 1995 with funding by the Academy Award winning filmmaker, is presented to the JRF Scholar who has performed the most outstanding community service and had a particularly enduring impact through their commitment to serving others.
“Ashley personifies the legacy of our namesake, Jackie Robinson,” said JRF President and CEO Della Britton in presenting the Spike Lee Award, “Through her passion to provide opportunities to those in the foster care system, she changes lives and upholds important values in underserved communities.”
After graduating with Honors from UCLA earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, and a minor in education, Williams enrolled at Southwestern Law School, served as a judicial extern with Judge Harry Pregerson in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and later as a Congressional Intern for Congresswoman Karen Bass.
Said Congresswoman Bass, “[Ashley] again distinguished herself and continued to take leadership positions as a law student, always focusing on service to those in need, both among her peers and in clinical settings…I was delighted when she sought an internship in my Congressional office, where she drafted a policy report and presented her results at a Congressional briefing titled, “Fostering a Culture of Silence: The Need to Improve Reporting of Sexual Abuse in Foster Care.” Ashley has proven herself unstoppable both in pursuing her professional goals and in pursuing justice for children and families,” wrote Bass in a letter of recommendation nominating Williams as a candidate for the NACC (National Association of Counsel for Children) Outstanding New Lawyer Award, which Ashly won in 2022.
That same year, Ashley was awarded a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition of Outstanding and Invaluable Service and nominated as the Congressional Coalition of Adoption Institute Angel of the Year due to her extensive record of child welfare advocacy. She also presented at the 2022 National Child Welfare Law Conference and was named Outstanding New Lawyer by the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC).
In 2023, Ashley was appointed by the President of the American Bar Association (ABA) to serve on the ABA Commission on Youth at Risk. As a member of the Commission on Youth at Risk, Ashley provides expertise on advancing access to justice for parents and families in child welfare.
She currently trains judges, attorneys, and dependency court staff on the 2022 ABA Resolution 606, which addresses best practices to combat anti-racism in child welfare. Ashley’s professional goal is to obtain a judgeship in the areas of juvenile dependency and delinquency law.
In the 12 years since Ashley Williams left UCLA as a graduating JRF Scholar, she has excelled and accomplished every goal she has set for herself while having an indelible impact on the lives of many others.
