Rhea Yo, LCYC’s incoming Executive Director
Dear Community,
On behalf of LCYC’s Board of Directors, I am thrilled to announce that Rhea Yo will be the next Executive Director for Legal Counsel for Youth and Children (LCYC).
Rhea's extensive expertise in youth legal aid, her progressive leadership within LCYC, and her steadfast dedication to furthering our mission through an anti-racist approach are invaluable strengths that will propel LCYC forward. We are truly fortunate to have Rhea already integrated within our team at LCYC, and we eagerly anticipate her guidance as we embark on the next phase of our journey.
To ensure a smooth transition of leadership, Rhea will assume the role of Executive Director on June 1, at which time Erin Lovell will transition into a Special Counsel role. As noted in Erin’s transition announcement made last August, Erin’s last day with LCYC will be July 31. We thank Erin for her tremendous contributions as LCYC’s founding Executive Director, and to the broader landscape of children’s civil legal aid.
“I have seen the direct, transformative impact LCYC has had on thousands of young people by advancing their legal rights. I am humbled and honored to take the baton and move LCYC’s mission forward with our team of outstanding advocates and our community as the next Executive Director.”, said Rhea.
Before joining LCYC, Rhea was a senior attorney at Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (LACY), a project of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. At LACY, Rhea was a dependency attorney who represented hundreds of minors and non-minor dependents in Santa Clara County. She also represented caregivers and young people in special education, guardianship, custody and child support, and restraining order cases, as well as minors in court-appointed guardianship and custody cases. Prior to her time in the Bay Area, Rhea was a supervising attorney and dependency attorney at D.C.’s Children’s Law Center (CLC). Rhea’s commitment to justice and centering the marginalized is rooted in her first-generation Korean immigrant experience.
We eagerly anticipate witnessing LCYC’s continued growth under Rhea’s capable leadership. Please join me in extending warm congratulations to Rhea!
In Partnership,
Brandi McNeil
LCYC Board Chair