In Allegheny County’s legal community, leadership often means looking outward toward the people and neighborhoods we serve. This year, the Bar Leadership Initiative (BLI) Class joined forces with Hello Neighbor, a Pittsburgh-based organization that helps immigrants and refugees build new lives, to create the “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” project. The collaboration produced a multilingual legal referral guide and educational video series aimed at helping newcomers understand and navigate local legal resources.

For us at Very Law, this project represents the best of community legal leadership: practical, inclusive, and rooted in service.

What Is the Bar Leadership Initiative (BLI)?

The Allegheny County Bar Association’s Bar Leadership Initiative (BLI) is a year-long program created for attorneys in the earlier stages of their careers, generally those with fewer than 10 years of practice, who want to take a more active role in the Bar and the broader legal community. Its purpose is straightforward: to develop the next generation of leaders who can guide the profession and serve the public with insight and integrity.

Each year, a select group of participants is chosen to take part in leadership training, mentoring, committee engagement, and a collaborative community-service project. Through these experiences, members gain a practical understanding of how the Bar operates, build lasting professional relationships, and learn what it means to lead from within the profession.

For you as a practicing attorney in Allegheny County, the BLI offers something distinct. It’s not a networking event or a résumé line but a hands-on opportunity to build the skills, relationships, and community awareness that make leadership in law both possible and meaningful.

Hello Neighbor: Organization & Mission

Hello Neighbor is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Pittsburgh whose mission is to “empower refugees and immigrants through community connections, ensuring their journey from arrival to belonging is guided by dignity, cultural sensitivity, and support.” 

Founded in 2017, Hello Neighbor Pittsburgh has helped thousands of families from around the world build new lives in Pittsburgh. The organization connects recently resettled refugees and immigrants with local residents who serve as mentors and community allies. Together, they work toward stability, accessing housing, employment, education, health care, and the everyday support that turns a new city into a home.

Hello Neighbor’s approach is shaped by its values:

• Refugee-first mindset
• Cross-cultural sensitivity
• Dignified storytelling
• Inclusive support growth

To date, the organization has assisted more than 5,000 people and operates with a multilingual team representing over 25 languages. Its work has become an essential link between newcomers and the civic and legal systems that often seem complex or inaccessible.

As someone engaged in legal, civic, or nonprofit service, Hello Neighbor offers a powerful reminder that community work begins with people and relationships, and that effective systems of justice and support are built from that foundation outward.

The BLI Class Collaboration with Hello Neighbor

When the ACBA’s Bar Leadership Initiative class partners with Hello Neighbor, the result is a cohort of attorneys using their training and influence to serve Pittsburgh’s refugee and immigrant communities. The collaboration calls for more than legal skill. It also requires cultural awareness, empathy, and genuine community engagement.

The BLI program has always included a public-service component. Past classes have organized community drives, produced educational materials, and led fundraising efforts. This year’s partnership with Hello Neighbor builds on that foundation through the “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” project. 

Working directly with Hello Neighbor Pittsburgh staff, participants created a multilingual legal referral guide, a series of training videos, and a public awareness event. Each piece of the project supports a shared goal: giving newcomers the tools and information they need to navigate both legal and community systems.

Impact on the Community

The partnership between the BLI Class and Hello Neighbor demonstrates how legal leadership and community service can reinforce one another across several dimensions:

Direct Benefit to Newcomers

Through Hello Neighbor’s wraparound support in mentorship, employment assistance, education, health, and stabilization services, refugee and immigrant families gain practical tools to build stability and a sense of belonging in their new community.

Strengthening the Legal Community’s Engagement

BLI participants extend their impact beyond daily practice. By engaging directly with service work, they see how the law contributes to community building and inclusion, shaping attorneys who are mindful of access, equity, and civic responsibility.

Community Cohesion

When attorneys collaborate with organizations like Hello Neighbor, the public sees the legal profession participating in community life, helping new neighbors integrate, fostering trust, and strengthening Pittsburgh’s collective sense of belonging.

Leadership Ripple Effects

As BLI participants grow through service, they become visible examples of civic leadership. Their work often leads to pro bono initiatives, nonprofit board involvement, and collaborations that expand support networks across Allegheny County.

Together, these efforts strengthen the community and the profession, creating a model of legal leadership rooted in service and sustained by collaboration.

Professional Development and Leadership Growth

The Bar Leadership Initiative offers far more than a line on a résumé. It’s an experience that challenges young attorneys to grow as professionals, leaders, and members of the community they serve, offering the following benefits: 

• Insight into Bar Governance: Participants gain a firsthand understanding of how the ACBA operates — its committees, sections, affinity groups, and leadership pipelines. This inside view builds confidence and familiarity with the structures that shape the profession.
• Networking With Peers and Senior Attorneys: Working alongside classmates and established Bar leaders creates relationships that extend well beyond the program. These connections often become ongoing sources of mentorship, collaboration, and professional support.
• Service Experience: Through the partnership with Hello Neighbor, participants take on a project grounded in community need, designing, implementing, or supporting initiatives that empower refugee and immigrant neighbors. The experience moves leadership from theory to practice.
• Skill Development: The program strengthens essential skills in project management, community engagement, communication, mentoring, cultural competency, and public service — skills that translate directly into more effective advocacy and leadership.
• Visibility and Influence: BLI graduates often move into leadership roles within the ACBA and throughout Allegheny County’s civic and nonprofit sectors. The program is structured to prepare attorneys to lead with purpose and accountability.
• Meaning and Motivation in Practice: By connecting legal work to measurable community impact, participants find renewed purpose in their careers and a deeper understanding of how leadership can serve both the profession and the public.

Taken together, these experiences cultivate attorneys who not only excel in their practice but also strengthen the fabric of Pittsburgh’s legal and civic communities.

Very Law’s Connection or Perspective

At Very Law, we believe in delivering premium legal services grounded in personal integrity, one-on-one relationships, and community connection. Our practice covers each of the following key areas that touch lives and relationships: 

• Business Law
• Civil Litigation
• Civil Rights
• Consumer Protection
• Criminal Defense
• Elder Law
• Estate Planning
• Family Law
• Real Estate

We view the ACBA’s BLI/Hello Neighbor collaboration as an embodiment of what we strive to bring to every client and community partner: leadership with heart, service with purpose, and legal advocacy with relational depth. Our attorneys appreciate that the law is not only about rights and duties but about people, neighborhoods, families, and futures.

Through this initiative, we invite our peers, clients, and neighbors to see legal leadership as a way to engage deeply with the people and systems that shape our community.

Whether you’re a young attorney exploring your leadership pathway, a nonprofit seeking legal partnership, or a community member curious about how the legal Bar serves broader civic goals, you all matter. 

We’re proud to support this kind of work, celebrate the leaders who step up, and advocate for the legal profession to remain firmly connected to communities like those served by Hello Neighbor.

Looking Ahead

The Bar Leadership Initiative and Hello Neighbor partnership has set a strong foundation for future collaboration. As this year’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” project launches, it’s already shaping how legal and community organizations can collaborate to make resources more accessible and inclusive.

Future BLI cohorts are expected to build on this model, combining professional development with meaningful service. Participants will carry forward the lessons learned here: how to lead with empathy, connect across cultures, and translate legal knowledge into community impact.

In time, these experiences will continue to ripple outward. Attorneys participating in programs like this often step into committee leadership, nonprofit board service, pro bono projects, and civic initiatives that strengthen Allegheny County’s legal and community networks. 

Leading Through Service

At Very Law, we believe leadership in the legal profession should be measured by service — by the willingness to use skill and experience for the good of others. The Bar Leadership Initiative and its partnership with Hello Neighbor reflect that belief in action. They show how lawyers can bridge systems, build trust, and stand beside those finding their footing in a new community.

Our firm remains committed to supporting attorneys who take on leadership roles across the profession, whether in Bar governance, advocacy, or community outreach. We encourage our colleagues, clients, and partners to view leadership not as a title, but as a daily practice of showing up for others.

If you’d like to learn more about how Very Law supports community legal leadership or to explore opportunities to collaborate, we invite you to reach out.