Nazario has worked around the world documenting human rights violations involving women and children for the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and for many nongovernmental agencies. In 2014 he published a book addressing issues of global poverty, Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World's Poor.
Biography
Born in 1949, Nazario grew up in Spanish Harlem in New York City.[5] He earned his B.S. from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 1971 and his B.A. and M.A. from City College of New York in 1972. After graduating from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1975 with his J.D. he served as assistant deputy public defender in San Francisco, and worked as a children's rights advocate. He received a fellowship from the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial to start the Bay Area Street Law Project.[4] He later joined the staff of the University of San Francisco School of Law as a law professor where his focus has been Children's Rights, Education Law, and Family Law.[4]
As part of a National Children's Day observance resulting from a resolution offered by Joseph P. Kennedy II and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, Nazario served as a member of a task force responsible for monitoring the status of children in America and testified before Congress on the problems they face.[6] Additionally, Mr. Nazario has drafted legislation that would ban the corporal punishment of children in California.
In acknowledgment of his work, Mr. Nazario was named the 1997 Harvard Educator of the Year by the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and in 1998 received the Sarlo prize from the University of San Francisco, the university’s most prestigious award given annually to the professor who has exhibited excellence in teaching and in his or her commitment to students and the community.
Mr. Nazario has authored four books on children’s rights including the nationally acclaimed, In Defense of Children. He has appeared on CNN, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, the Today Show, and the Tom Snyder Show, as well as dozens of other programs, while, at the same time, serving as a consultant to law firms throughout the country litigating cases involving children who have been abused or neglected, the subject of an intense custody battle, lost in foster care, or injured or killed as a result of someone’s negligence.
He founded an international philanthropic organization, The Forgotten International, in 2007,[7] whose mission is to develop programs that alleviate poverty and suffering associated with poverty in both the United States and worldwide, in particular, that experienced by women and children. Since its inception, the foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fund programs in nine countries and continues to expand.
Teaching
In addition to teaching and writing at the University of San Francisco, he is the executive director of the school's Center for Community Legal Education,[4] as well as program director of University of San Francisco's Tibetan Children Education Project, and supervises the Street Law Program which sends students to inner-city schools to serve as teachers and role models.[8]
Beyond his work at the University of San Francisco, Mr. Nazario has also taught a course on the Constitution and the Family at the East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai, China, and courses at Trinity College in Ireland, Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary, and at Charles University in the Czech Republic, on International Rights Law and how such law relates to the rights of children worldwide
Work for the United Nations and the U.S. State Department
In 1999, Nazario traveled to Dharamshala, India as part of a team of attorneys and psychologists sent by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to interview Tibetan children who escaped Tibet and went to India as refugees. The report, A Generation in Peril, The Lives of Tibetan Children under Chinese Rule, documented human rights abuses by the Chinese government against Tibetan children and their families as well as the children's lives after arriving in India.[9] The report was presented to the UN on June 6, 2005.
As a result of his work on this report, Mr. Nazario has returned to India on more than eight occasions, and has brought students from his university to work with refugee children, developed a scholarship program for Tibetan students, and coordinated a visit by the Dalai Lama to the University of San Francisco in September 2003. The Dalai Lama came to University of San Francisco specifically to receive an Honorary Doctoral Degree and to thank the university for the work Mr. Nazario has spearheaded on the university’s behalf. Since then, Mr. Nazario has continued to work with the Dalai Lama on various visits to the United States as well as projects related to the care and protection of the Tibetan people.
Nazario has since worked as an Inspector for the UN and other agencies documenting human rights violations involving women and children. In this capacity Nazario has also visited children orphaned by AIDS in Botswana, children sold in sexual slavery in the brothels of Thailand, and children living in sewers in Romania[10] As a Senior Trainer for the U.S. State Department, he has conducted workshops around the world designed to train officials within police agencies to work more humanely with the public.[4]
Living on a Dollar a Day
In 2014 Nazario partnered with Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Renée C. Byer to produce the book, Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World's Poor, detailing the lives of women, children, and families around the world living in extreme poverty.[11] While Jim Colton, editor of zPhotoJournal, calls it, "one of the most important books published this century,"[12] the narratives and imagery have been connected to debate about the effectiveness of philanthropy in eradicating poverty[13]
After the book was published, the video footage collected over the course of their travels inspired the creation of the award-winning documentary, "Living on a Dollar a Day", now available to stream on platforms including Amazon Prime.
Books
Nazario, Thomas A. & Quayle, Kelly (2017). Doing Good: Inspiring Activities and Ideas for Young People to Make the World a Better Place. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-1-4758-3246-4 (Forthcoming February 2017)
Nazario, Thomas A. & Byer, Renée C. (2014). Living on a Dollar a Day: The Lives and Faces of the World's Poor. Quantuck Lane Press. ISBN978-1593720568
Nazario, Thomas A. & Scarpello, Christine (1997). California Supplement to Street Law: a Course in Practical Law, 5th ed. West Pub. Co.
Nazario, Thomas A., Kids and the Law: an A-to-Z Guide for Parents (1996). [San Francisco, Calif.]: State Bar of California ("A community service of the State Bar of California." Developed and distributed with the support of the California Congress of Parents, Teachers, and Students, Inc.
Nazario, Thomas A. & Jannke, Samantha, ed. (1995). Teenage Pregnancy, Single Parents and the Law: a Legal Guide for Those Who Work with California'sYouth: the Answers to Questions Most Often Asked. Sacramento, California: California Alliance Concerned with School Age Parents.
Nazario, Thomas A., ed. (1995). A Curriculum and Program Guide for Teens on Law. The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, San Francisco, California.
Nazario, Thomas A. with Blum, Pamela, Hirschfeld, Steven & Miljanich, Patricia Henderson (1988). In Defense of Children: Understanding the Rights, Needs, and Interests of the Child: a Resource for Parents and Professionals. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Nazario, Thomas A., O'Brien, Edward L., & Arbetman, Lee (1990). Street Law: a Course in Practical Law, 4th ed. St. Paul: West-Pub. Co. (with California state supplement prepared by Thomas A. Nazario.)
Nazario, Thomas A., O'Brien, Edward L., McMahon, Edward & Arbetman, Lee (1987). Street Law: a Course in Practical Law, 3rd ed. St. Paul: West Pub. Co. (with California state supplement prepared by Thomas A. Nazario.
Nazario, Thomas A., O'Brien, Edward L., & Arbetman, Lee (1984). Street Law: a Course in Practical Law, 2nd ed. St. Paul: West Pub. Co. ("A publication of the National Institute for Citizen Education in the Law." "California state supplement prepared by Thomas A. Nazario.")[14]
Articles
Nazario, Thomas A., "When Your Ex Won't Pay." Volume 66, Issue 3, Parents Magazine, 63 (1991)
Nazario, Thomas A., "What teachers, parents, and kids should know about drinking and drugs. " (Youth at Risk) 12 Update on Law-Related Education 4 (1988)
Nazario, Thomas A., "What do we know about delinquency?" 12 Update on Law-Related Education 8 (1988)
Nazario, Thomas A., Ackerley, Sally, Benford, Elizabeth & C. White, ed., "Law Related Externships for High School Students." 192 Building Bridges to the Law 203, American Bar Association (1981)
Related Research Articles
The American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) is a non-profit organization in the United States that helps Tibetans, Sherpas, and Nepalis living throughout the Himalayas. AHF builds schools, plants trees, trains doctors, funds hospitals, takes care of children and the elderly, and restores sacred sites. The San Francisco-based organization also helps Tibetans rebuild and maintain their culture both in exile and inside Tibet.
Fabian Núñez is an American politician and labor union adviser. A member of the Democratic Party, he served three two-year terms as a member of the California State Assembly, leaving office in late 2008. During his last two terms, Núñez served as the 66th Speaker of the California State Assembly.
Street law is a global program of legal and civics education geared at secondary school students. Street law is an approach to teaching practically relevant law to grassroots populations using interactive teaching methodologies. Elements of practical law taught include awareness of human rights/civil rights, criminal breaches and transgression, democratic principles, conflict resolution, the advocacy process, criminal and civil law, employment and labor law, family law, and consumer rights.
Education in El Salvador is regulated by the country's Ministry of Education. El Salvador consists of the following levels of education:
The University of San Francisco School of Law is the law school of the private University of San Francisco. Established in 1912, it received American Bar Association accreditation in 1935 and joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1937.
Jetsun Pema is the sister of the 14th Dalai Lama. For 42 years she was the President of the Tibetan Children's Villages (TCV) school system for Tibetan refugee students.
The educational system in California consists of public, NPS, and private schools in the U.S. state of California, including the public University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems, private colleges and universities, and elementary, middle, and high schools.
Jeffrey Alan Breinholt is an American lawyer. He has been an attorney with the United States Department of Justice National Security Division since 1990. In 2008, he joined the International Assessment and Strategy Center for a one-year stint as Senior Fellow and Director of National Security Law.
John Leonard Burris is an American civil rights attorney, based in Oakland, California, known for his work in police brutality cases representing plaintiffs. The John Burris law firm practices employment, criminal defense, DUI, personal injury, and landlord tenant law.
William W. Schwarzer was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The Tibetan diaspora are the diaspora of Tibetan people living outside Tibet.
Human rights in Tibet are a contentious issue. Reported abuses of human rights in Tibet include restricted freedom of religion, belief, and association; arbitrary arrest; maltreatment in custody, including torture; and forced abortion and sterilization. The status of religion, mainly as it relates to figures who are both religious and political, such as the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama, is a regular object of criticism. Additionally, freedom of the press in China is absent, with Tibet's media tightly controlled by the Chinese leadership, making it difficult to accurately determine the scope of human rights abuses.
Murlene Johnson Randle is a judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court since 2020. She is the former Director of the Office of Criminal Justice for San Francisco and a Discrimination Attorney.
James Pearson Steyer is an American civil rights attorney, professor, and author. He founded Common Sense Media, an organization that "provides education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology and media for children."
Renée C. Byer (1958) was born in Yonkers, New York.
Gary Wolff Goldstein is an American author, speaker, consultant and Hollywood film producer, best known for producing Pretty Woman, Under Siege, and The Mothman Prophecies and generating over a billion dollars in worldwide revenue.
Tibet Justice Center, is an American legal association founded in 1989 that advocates human rights and self-determination for the Tibetan people.
Karl Anthony Racine is a Haitian-American lawyer and politician. He was the first independently elected Attorney General for the District of Columbia, a position he held from 2015 to 2023. Before that, he was the managing partner of Venable LLP. As Attorney General, Racine received national attention for his work on antitrust matters, and in 2021 launched an eventually-dismissed antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.
Mary Bridget Neumayr is an American government official, who served as the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality from 2019 to 2021. She was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the United States Senate.
Mary Lou Breslin is a disability rights law and policy advocate and analyst. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Francisco in the McLaren School of Business Executive Master of Management and Disability Services Program. She is the co-founder of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), a leading national civil rights law and policy center led by individuals with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. She served as the DREDF's deputy and executive director, and president and chair of board of directors.
↑ United States Public Records, 1970-2009 (California, 2005-2007)
1 2 Hubbell, Martindale (March 2001). Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, U.S. Government Lawyers, Law Schools (Volume 4 - 2001). Martindale-Hubbell. ISBN9781561604395.
↑ "Observance of National Children's Day". Joint Hearing before the Task Force on Human Resources of the Committee on the budget and the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families of the House of Representatives. 101st Congress. 1st Session (October 3, 1989).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
