Outstanding Young Alumnus Award
“…I was completely overcome. I could almost start crying right now thinking about it ‘cause I care so much about Berea and Berea is so important to me in terms of my experience and in terms of others to be acknowledged or celebrated by the people that I respect the most. I don’t have words for it. I don’t have words for it without crying.”
Cara Stewart is a Health Law Fellow with the Kentucky Equal Justice Center (KEJC), a non-profit advocacy and research center focused on poverty law. Born and raised in Floyd County, Kentucky, and a lifelong Kentucky resident, she is a graduate of Pikeville High School, Berea College and Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Since law school, Cara worked for over six years at Legal Aid of the Bluegrass representing low-income Kentuckians in a wide-variety of civil matters, domestic violence and public benefits to evictions and consumer issues. Housing became Cara’s primary area of focus and in 2012 she published a law review article on landlord-tenant law and breaking down barriers to justice in Kentucky. Cara transitioned to KEJC in June 2013 and was able to play a role in Kentucky’s continuing success with implementation of the Affordable Care Act by conducting community education presentations across the Commonwealth to thousands of Kentuckians, and across the country, enrolling Kentuckians in health coverage, representing Kentucky by invitation at national meetings and through interviews with various local, regional and national media outlets. Some of the most notable media outlets she spoke with were The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Economist, USA Today and the New Yorker. She was recently presented with the Young Lawyer Service to Community Award by the Young Lawyers Division of the Kentucky Bar Association, and was appointed to Kentucky’s Healthcare ‘Improvement Authority Board by former Governor Steve Beshear.
