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The Greater New Orleans Section of the National Council of Jewish Women will present��Madeleine M. Landrieu with the 2019 Hannah G. Solomon Award on Thursday, October 17, at a luncheon at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. and the program/luncheon starts at 12��noon.

The Selection Committee is very excited to honor a woman whose actions have made a positive impact in the community, officials said. This award is given annually to a community leader who exemplifies the qualities of Hannah G. Solomon, founder of the National Council of Jewish Women. These leaders have brought about important community programs and services through their leadership in a volunteer capacity. Each has been a catalyst for social change.

The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.��

Tickets are $65 and can be ordered online at www.ncjwneworleans.org or by calling (504) 861.7788.

Madeleine Landrieu is the Dean and Judge Adrian G. Duplantier Distinguished Professor of Law at �������� College of Law. ��Prior to her appointment on July 1, 2017, she served as a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal for the State of Louisiana, and prior to that, as a trial court judge on the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish. ��During her 16-year tenure in the judiciary, Landrieu served as president of both the Louisiana District Judges Association and the Louisiana Judicial College. She also served on the Board of the Louisiana Judges and Lawyers Legal Assistance Program.

“I did not plan this journey and never envisioned being Dean of a law school,” Dean Landrieu��said in an interview with the NCJW. She confessed that coming from a family of nine��siblings with parents who are wonderful role models, she wanted to be the mother of nine��children, even when she was in law school and met her husband Paige Sensenbrenner. ��They are the proud parents of four daughters: Erica, Hannah, Alexandra, and Olivia.
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Dean Landrieu has spent a large part of her career advocating for improvements in laws and policies relative to children who come before the courts as a result of abuse or neglect. ��She is a founding Board member of the Louisiana Institute for Children in Families and was instrumental in the launch of Louisiana’s Quality Parenting Initiative and Louisiana Fosters, efforts to raise awareness about the needs of abused and neglected children and their families. ��She attributes her dedication to this cause to her volunteer work in an orphanage while in high school. “I was so impressed by the situation of kids without parents that I vowed that one day I would be doing something about it,”��she said.

Recently, she was appointed to serve on the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association’s Council of Advisors to the Board of Trustees and serves as Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.
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“I am stunned and humbled by this honor granted to me by an organization for which I have the highest respect and admiration”, said Dean Landrieu when interviewed. She is mostly proud of creating the Louisiana Institute for Children in Families, “an idea launched and inspired by the late Lindy Boggs.” ��She is very proud of the organization’s accomplishments such as the Foster Youth Intern Program that provides foster youth with opportunities to do an internship with a Louisiana legislator, legislative committee or state agency engaging policymakers on the challenges and issues surrounding life in foster care. In addition, she said that the Institute was the driving force in passing the bill extending foster care to age 21 and the bill limiting the age of strippers to 21.
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Because of Dean Landrieu’s leadership and vision, she has been��the recipient of various awards, including the Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award from the New Orleans Association of Women Attorneys; the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center’s Public Service Award; the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award, its Young Lawyers’ Section Pro Bono Award, and its President’s Award. In 2017, Dean Landrieu received the inaugural President’s Award from the Louisiana Judicial College for her “dedication to judicial education, particularly in the areas of new judge training and mentorship.”

In addition to her devotion to the Institute, Dean Landrieu serves on the Board of Covenant House, New Orleans, a service provider for homeless, at-risk, and trafficked youth and previously served as Chair of that Board. She serves on the Legal Services Corporation Disaster Task Force and as Co-Chair of the sub-committee on Continuity of Operations Planning for the Courts and Legal Service Providers.
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Like Hannah G. Solomon, Dean��Landrieu is not afraid of challenges that she continues to encounter while serving her community. “Through the Katrina tragedy, the curtain was pulled back to reveal the inequities and corruption of our system”, she said, adding that “we still have a lot to do, but the biggest challenge in Louisiana is to educate our community about the impact of early childhood education”. ��
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