PHLP's Janice L. Meinert Honored with 2024 PLAN Excellence Award
PHLP’s Janice L. Meinert, MSW, was honored with a 2024 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) Excellence Award in the Outstanding Non-Attorney Advocate category. Celebrating the indispensable contributions of non-attorney staff within the PLAN network, this award recognizes those who have left indelible marks on their community through steadfast advocacy.
PLAN hosted a celebration of the 2024 Excellence Awards on March 27th at the Harrisburg Hilton. The celebration, emceed by former PLAN Executive Director Sam Milkes, featured a cocktail reception, keynote remarks by Lt. Governor Austin A. Davis, and the presentation of the awards to the evening’s six honorees. The event brought together legal aid advocates and supporters from across the state to celebrate the incredible achievements of the honorees, each of whom demonstrates an enduring commitment to justice and service. A copy of the 2024 Excellence Award Program Booklet can be viewed here.
Beginning her career as a counselor supporting teen parents at The Zoar Home, a residential treatment program for women and their children, Janice worked in a variety of positions there before deciding to pursue a master’s degree in social work at the University of Pittsburgh. Upon gaining her degree, Janice continued to work at Zoar Home as a master’s level social worker specializing in mental health treatment and substance use recovery.
Janice joined PHLP’s Pittsburgh office in 2000 after answering an ad in the local newspaper! She has made incredible contributions to PHLP and the PLAN network in the more than two decades since then. Janice has excelled in each area of PHLP’s work: direct service to clients, community education, and systemic advocacy. She is PHLP’s go-to behavioral health and substance use disorder expert. Janice is a tenacious and persistent advocate for clients and well known for her ability to communicate complicated information in a clear and understandable way. When Janice learns of a problem, she immediately starts working with those who are directly impacted to empower them to work to develop solutions.
Janice is deeply admired and appreciated by PHLP staff, community partners, and most importantly, her clients. She personifies the core tenet of PLAN’s mission of remaining client-centered in her approach to her work. Michael Campbell, one of PHLP’s founders and former Executive Director, reflects on Janice’s work and client commitment:
“Janice is the consummate client-centered advocate. From the time she joined PHLP as a paralegal 23 years ago, she has taken a personal interest in her clients – treating everyone as a person rather than a case. This empathetic approach has fueled her aggressive, detail oriented and highly successful representation. And she is a wonderful colleague as well!”
Perhaps most telling in terms of Janice’s incredible impact on the PLAN network and its clients are the heartfelt messages and testimonials PHLP receives from Janice’s clients and their loved ones. Janice’s ability to connect with her clients, in addition to effectively addressing their legal issue, is unmatched. Here is a note Janice received from one client following the resolution of their case:
“I am so grateful and humbled by your willingness to advocate for our family. We have felt so dejected and powerless, and l can only imagine what you have been able to achieve for so many families and people who do not have a voice at this time. What an inspiration. We are very, very thankful. I pray you know what honor and service to others you bring to your profession.”
Janice’s long career of steadfast advocacy has made a world of difference to the people she has helped and to those she has empowered through community education and systemic advocacy. We are proud to have Janice on our team, and PHLP’s clients are lucky to have Janice in their corner. Congratulations to all the 2024 honorees!
Media credit: Rolling Lemon Creative Co.
