Dale Ventura, Esq.

Director of Community Legal Services

As Director of Community Legal Services at Youth Represent, Dale leads the organization’s direct legal services and innovative community lawyering model, partnering with over 25 community-based organizations across New York City’s five boroughs. During his tenure, Dale has enhanced Youth Represent’s legal services framework by identifying the critical need for comprehensive mental health support and spearheading the establishment of the organization’s first social workers. This strategic initiative has expanded the organization's capacity to address system-involvement challenges far beyond courtroom advocacy. Their support now encompasses holistic care, including therapeutic counseling, crisis intervention, and trauma-informed services, while advocating for young people navigating complex systems and barriers to reentry.

Before joining Youth Represent, Dale worked at the Legal Aid Society, in both the Criminal and Juvenile Rights Practices. As a Public Defender in the Criminal Defense Practice, he represented over a thousand clients facing charges ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. In the Juvenile Rights Practice, he advocated for children and youth involved in neglect, abuse, and foster care proceedings. Dale’s commitment to social justice for youth began while serving in the Peace Corps in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where he advocated for reentry support services and better living conditions for youth detained at the capital’s juvenile detention centers. He holds a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.

email: dventura@youthrepresent.org