Meet Our Team: Patrisia Vekima, Staff Attorney

Patrisia Vekima is a staff attorney for the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Program at the Waukegan office. Her role includes increasing access to legal support for underserved populations. She hopes to accomplish this by participating in community events, seeking out partnerships with organizations that serve disenfranchised groups, hosting events to educate community members on their rights, and researching solutions for issues identified by specific communities.

Patrisia received her JD from DePaul University’s College of Law in May 2021, where she received the Benjamin Hooks Distinguished Public Service Award. Prior to working at Prairie State Legal Services, Patrisia worked at both Shriver Center on Poverty Law and Coordinated Advice & Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS) under the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) program.

Patrisia’s skills are a great addition to the team and Prairie State Legal Services.

Prairie State’s Justice, Equity, and Opportunity (JEO)/Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) program is a Community Lawyering Initiative that combines the knowledge and skills of community advocates and attorneys to help solve community identified legal issues, in historically marginalized communities, in a way that empowers local leaders and groups to move towards lasting change and racial equity. We work closely with community-based organizations, churches, and groups to provide not only legal assistance and education, but provide the skills and knowledge to support lasting change. The Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Program is funded in part from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority under the Illinois Restore, Reinvest, and Renew Program.