For #GivingTuesday 2014, December 2, lawyers across the country will be asked to donate the first billable hour of their day to help fund law scholarships for First Americans. The College of Law is focusing attention on #GivingTuesday 2014 to kick off a donation-matching fundraising drive for the Huerta Scholars Program, established at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson in honor of Judge Lawrence Huerta, the first Native American to graduate from the College of Law (Class of ’53) and practice law in Arizona. The “First Hour for the First Americans” scholarship drive for the Huerta Scholars Program will assist future generations of Native American law students to follow in this trailblazing first American’s footsteps at the University of Arizona.

Whether supporters are public defenders, partners in a large or small law firms or prosecutors, their donation of one hour of billable work to the “First Hour for the First Americans” scholarship drive will help bring needed support to a population with few resources and significant legal needs. Law firms and legal offices can urge their lawyers to donate this hour to the Huerta Scholarship Fund at the Rogers College of Law and can encourage their teams to give more by creating a donation-matching program.

“This tribute to the first Americans is a compelling way to raise awareness and support for the legal needs of historically underserved Native American communities on a nationally celebrated day,” said Robert A. Williams Jr., E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program at the University of Arizona, who is coordinating the #GivingTuesday 2014 campaign.

“These scholarship dollars for Native American law students to attend law school at the law college will be newsworthy because it is a program by, for and about lawyers, with Native American attorneys and IPLP alumnae like Fred Urbina, attorney general of his own tribe, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which has donated $25,000 as the first major gift to the program, and Gabriel Galanda of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, managing partner at Galanda Broadman in Seattle, engaged in this unique 24-hour fundraising initiative,” Williams added.

Some of the activities surrounding this effort will include:

Google+ Hangouts that will unite lawyers across the country on the first hour of their day (8:30-9:30 a.m.) and provide talks with Indigenous Peoples about their urgent and unmet needs for legal services to protect their basic human rights;

Profile pieces on young indigenous people who have struggled to overcome adversity and are poised to enter the law but lack the resources to do so;

Corporate matching programs for individuals, companies and law firms looking to engage with Indigenous Peoples and their unmet needs for legal services and higher education.

The University of Arizona Rogers College of Law is committed to a broad-based program of legal education focused on the unique needs of Indian tribes in the United States and Indigenous Peoples around the world, a commitment exemplified by its internationally recognized IPLP Program, which has graduated more than 100 Native American and indigenous lawyers over the past two decades. It is the only law school in the world that offers all three law degrees (JD, LLM, SJD) with a concentration in Federal Indian Law and Indigenous Peoples Human Rights. It also offers multiple degree and certificate options for lawyers and non-lawyers who work at the intersection of indigenous law, policy and governance through its close campus partnership with the University of Arizona Native Nations Institute.

#GivingTuesday is a movement to celebrate and provide incentives to give. The second annual #GivingTuesday took place on December 3, 2013, with more than 10,000 partner organizations in 50 states and over 15 countries, including Singapore, Jordan, Mexico, Israel and Latin America. The 2013 campaign earned a staggering total of 1,215,963,628 media impressions.

Since #GivingTuesday harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners—charities, families, businesses and individuals—to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season, it is an ideal partner for the “First Hour for the First Americans” initiative. The movement counts high-profile individuals and organizations among its supporters, including the White House, Bill and Melinda Gates and a who’s who of celebrity activists, from Mary J. Blige to Chelsea Clinton, as well as endorsements from mayors in dozens of cities around the country.

#GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better world. It harnesses the power of social media to create a global moment that is dedicated to giving around the world.

About #GivingTuesday

Initially convened in 2012 by leaders of 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation and supported by a core group of founding partners, including Blackbaud, the United Nations Development Programme, Dynamic Signal, Public Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, charity: water, Darden Restaurant Group, GlobalGiving, Groupon, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), JCPenney, Kiva, Mashable, Microsoft, Unilever, and VentureThree Capital, among many others. Leaders in philanthropy, social media, innovative giving, grassroots organizing, marketing, and communications provide counsel and resources to help build this movement.