Power Moves is a semi-regular column chronicling leadership movements within Philly’s social impact community. Send announcements to philly@generocity.org.

1. Malik Pickett leaves Wade Clark Mulcahy LLP to join Juvenile Law Center as staff attorney.

Malik Pickett was recently hired as staff attorney at Juvenile Law Center, where he will be working to advocate for the rights of youth in the juvenile justice system through litigation, amicus and policy advocacy efforts.

He comes to the position after two years as an associate attorney at the law firm of Wade Clark Mulcahy, LLP, where he litigated personal injury and construction defect cases. Before that, Pickett spent two years as legislative council at the Pennsylvania Senate. There he worked on legislation prohibiting juvenile life without parole, and was involved in a variety of efforts to improve the adult criminal and juvenile justice systems.

Pickett also served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Charles W. Dortch, Jr., presiding judge of the Family Division of the Camden County Superior Court in New Jersey, and was a judicial intern at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, among other early career posts.

Pickett holds a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College, and graduated from Temple Law School, where he received the Beth Cross Public Interest Award for his devotion to public interest work.

2. Philadelphia D.A. Larry Krasner appoints Keziah Cameron to head Victim Witness Services Unit.

Keziah Cameron. (Courtesy photo)

District Attorney Larry Krasner announced January 7 that he is promoting victims’ services coordinator Keziah Cameron to the role of director of the Victim Witness Services Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

“Keziah Cameron has served victim witnesses for nearly 17 years and under four Philadelphia District Attorneys,” Krasner said via the emailed announcement. “Her institutional knowledge of intragovernmental services to support victims of crime and trial witnesses qualifies her to lead the Victim Witness Services Unit during a critical period of growth.”

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Cameron started at the DAO in 2003 as an outreach coordinator with the Victim Witness Services Unit. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“I’m excited to take a leadership role in implementing District Attorney Krasner’s approach to addressing the needs of victims and witnesses with sensitivity, discretion, and care,” Cameron said in the announcement. “Violent offenses aren’t just crimes against individuals, they are crimes against community and society.”

Cameron will be focused on Victim Witness Services Unit reforms that include:

• First efforts at contact with victims and witnesses occur when the defendant is charged, instead of just before trial;
• Efforts to build better relationships in the community, especially on the one-on-one, neighborhood level so Victim Witness Services becomes a name that the community trusts;
• Efforts to improve relationships with community-based organizations and victim service groups in the city;
• Efforts to recognize and celebrate positive outcomes of the Victim Witness Services team.

3. Steve Volk joins Resolve Philly as an investigative solutions journalist for the Broke in Philly project.

Steve Volk. (Twitter photo)

Steve Volk recently joined Resolve Philly as the organization’s first investigative solutions journalist for the Broke in Philly project. [Editor’s note: Generocity is one of Broke in Philly’s newsroom partners.]

Volk has served as writer-at-large for Philadelphia Magazine and contributing editor for Discover. He is also the author of two books: Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable and Breathless: How a Broken Jaw Saved My Life.

In his capacity as investigative reporter for Broke in Philly, he will report on the city’s foster care system.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to explore this approach to collaborative solutions journalism while leveraging Steve’s experience to explore an important subject,” said André Natta, the project editor for Broke in Philly.

4. Swarthmore student Kent Chen receives AAJC support for conference.

Kent Chen. (Photo from LinkedIn)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice announced in late December, that it will be offering a stipend to Kent Chen of Swarthmore College, in support of Chen’s work on a campus conference grappling with issues impacting Asian and Pacific Islander American communities.

Chen is a founding member of the Tri-College Asian Student Conference (Tri-CASC), which is described as a place of solidarity for API/A identifying students residing within the Greater Philadelphia area.

“Tri-CASC aims to be a forum for intersectional conversation through workshops, panels, and guest-speaker lectures that allow for a multifaceted and fluid deconstruction of identity,” the AAJC announcement states. “Tri-CASC 2020 aims to direct its focus on the ways in which we can begin examining, interrogating, and ultimately healing from the violence of racialization exerted by systems of power on API/A bodies.”

A second-year at Swarthmore, Chen serves as the secretary of the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU), and is a board member of Organizing to Redefine “Asian” Activism (ORAA). He formerly served as a leader/student ambassador for the NYC Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council and worked a junior reporter for the China Press.