SOLD OUT: Cheers to Justice! Virtual Wine Fundraiser
Thursday, May 18 | 6PM - 7PM EASTERN
Impact of Funding
Your support to our Cheers to Justice Wine Fundraiser will increase our ability to offer our robust programming to better serve youth across New York. Youth Represent employs a multi-disciplinary approach to serving youth which includes three primary pillars - Legal Representation, Youth Leadership & Empowerment, Advocacy & Coalition Building.
Legal Representation - Our Community-Lawyering Model partners with community organizations and combines direct legal representation, Know Your Rights workshops, and technical assistance. Our legal representation targets employment discrimination, eviction, school suspension, summonses, and other criminal and civil legal issues.
Through our Strategic Litigation practice, we advance strategic class and individual plaintiff litigation to bring reform to employers who discriminate against clients based on criminal histories and race. To date, we have secured $8M in settlements on behalf of 24,000 class members.
Youth Leadership & Empowerment - Our City Dreamers Advocacy Camp trains justice-involved young people to be advocates in their own right. We then connect young people with speaking engagements and advocacy opportunities as part of larger reform efforts, and provide ongoing support and training.
In 2020, we piloted a powerful youth leadership training model, Train the Trainer, where young people become trainers themselves and leaders in peer education on legal issues that both directly and indirectly impact them and their community. Young people understand best what legal information will be the most useful to other young people, and how to communicate that information clearly.
Advocacy & Coalition Building - Youth Represent uses legislative advocacy to decrease the criminalization and incarceration of Black and Latine youth in NYC. We advance a systemic reform agenda that reduces the number of young people entering the legal system and expands opportunities and protections for those who have been through it. Our goal is to build the movement for youth justice by deeply involving young people in every aspect of the campaign, from strategic decision-making on the steering committee, to developing social media and other communications, to leading meetings with elected officials.
About André Mack
Despite having a successful career with Citicorp Investment Services, André Mack decided to leave his “desk job” to pursue his passion for wine. While working as a sommelier in San Antonio, Mack discovered the joys of introducing guests to the little-known vineyards that first attracted him to the business and “the instant gratification of a guest’s reaction.”
While still in Texas, Mack was awarded the prestigious title of Best Young Sommelier in America by the highly regarded Chaine des Rotisseurs. This recognition led to a job as sommelier at Thomas Keller’s world-renowned French Laundry in Yountville, California. Mack went on to accept the position of Head Sommelier at Keller’s equally famed Per Se in New York City, where he managed an 1800-selection award-winning wine list and consulted regularly with Chef Keller on the menu and pairing development.
Winemaking had always been a dream of his and came to fruition in 2007 when he founded Maison Noir Wines. His wines are unique and distinctive garage wines (micro-négociant) that source the best fruit possible in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon to produce wines showing the individuality of their respective sites and terroirs. Maison Noir Wines can be found in the best restaurants and retail shops worldwide. In 2020, Mack and Maison Noir Wines were a semifinalist for a James Beard Award as an "Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Producer.”
Mack has been married since 2008 to author Phoebe Damrosch, whose New York Times notable book, Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter, detailed their courtship and collaboration in opening Per Se.
Mack has been featured in major publications such as Food and Wine, Wine and Spirits Magazine, New York Times, The Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal and nominated as “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast for their 21st Annual Wine Star Awards. He is an ardent wine educator who has been invited to host seminars as well as lead panel discussions at several of the country’s most prestigious food and wine gatherings, including Aspen Food and Wine and Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival. As one of the top professionals in the wine industry, he has worked with the likes of Amazon, Cadillac, Ebay, National Rental Car, Microsoft and has appeared on Anthony Bourdain's “The Taste” and NBC’s “Uncorked”. Since early 2021, Mack has been featured on Bon Appétit’s YouTube Channel. He provides education for newcomers to wine and established winos alike on “World Of Wine with André Mack,” the highest-viewed wine show on YouTube. Mack also hosts “Through the Grapevine” where he interviews celebrities while also quizzing them on their wine chops.
