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Merck’s Positive Choices Program

Merck’s Positive Choices Program

For six years Merck’s legal department has participated in Street Law’s Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program—partnering department volunteers with a local high school law class to teach lessons on intellectual property, family law, and housing law and to encourage young people to consider careers in the legal profession.   

Merck saw such success with their pipeline program that they approached Street Law to custom design a volunteer program that focused on vulnerable young people in New Jersey and encouraged all Merck employees to give back to their community through participation.    

The result was Merck’s Positive Choices Program—a three year program that recruits, trains, and places Merck employees in classroom and community-based settings to teach lessons on conflict resolution, law, community safety, advocacy, and career exploration. 

Positive Choices enables volunteers from across the company to have positive, long-term impact on young people by providing them with adult role-models, connecting them to their communities, empowering them through practical legal education, and strengthening their life skills and resiliency.

During this first year of the program, trained Merck volunteers teach lessons from Street Law’s Breakfast with a Legend program and Community Works, Save Our Streets, and Youth in Transition publications to elementary, middle, and high school classrooms and in foster care and juvenile justice community-based settings.  Each year the program will grow to include more volunteers and sites and to deepen its impact on young people in New Jersey. 

Street Law, Inc. has a long history of training, connecting, and utilizing community resource people (volunteers) in classrooms, community settings, juvenile detention settings, and professional development programs.  During each year of Positive Choices, Street Law, Inc. will provide curricula, training, and intensive technical assistance to Merck volunteers and the schools, community-based organizations, and agencies involved with Merck’s company-wide volunteer programs. 

If you are interested in learning more about Street Law’s customized corporate volunteer programs, please contact Judy Zimmer

Learn more

Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program

Breakfast with a Legend program

Topic: Diversity

Topic: Underserved Youth

Topic: Youth Advocacy

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