Anonymous Foundation Donor Helps Platte Prosecutor Pay Off Student Loans: Lifetime Achievement Award Announced
(ST. LOUIS, Sept. 16, 2021) – The St. Louis Community Foundation announced today that due to the generosity of an anonymous donor, Jaclyn Taylor, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Platte County, was awarded the 2021 Missouri Prosecuting Attorney Outstanding Service Award. Taylor will have up to $50,000 of outstanding federal and/or institutional student loans repaid over five years if she maintains her role as a Missouri prosecutor.
The anonymous donor established the fund at the St. Louis Community Foundation to ensure the best and brightest were able to seek public service careers.
“As citizens, we all have a stake in having talented legal minds conducting the public business. However, with the high cost of law school, that isn’t always possible,” said the Community Foundation donor. “I established the Missouri Prosecuting Attorney Outstanding Service Award as a mechanism to reward public service and enable those who want to serve as prosecutors to do so without having to worry about student debt.”
This annual award is available to any practicing local or state assistant prosecuting attorney, assistant circuit attorney, or assistant attorney general who is engaged in prosecution within the state of Missouri. Candidates must have at least three years of prosecutorial experience and be employed full time prosecuting criminal or juvenile delinquency cases.
Serving on the Community Response Team, Taylor is devoted to helping victims of domestic violence in the greater Kansas City area. Taylor previously served on treatment team courts to encourage low re-offense rates by reconnecting offenders with community.
Taylor feels supporting local law enforcement professionals is particularly important to help her keep abreast of the happenings in her community, especially since she works tirelessly to pursue justice.
“From weekend trial preparation to meeting with victims after normal working hours, there is no such thing as overtime when pursuing justice for your community. Prosecutors protect our communities by giving voice to the voiceless,” said Taylor in her application essay. “Being part of a team, whose purpose is to pursue justice is such a worthwhile endeavor, and it is the only way I want to spend my career as an attorney.”
Taylor graduated from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and attended Northwest Missouri State University for her undergraduate degree and MBA.
Applicants were evaluated on the strength of an essay, letters of reference, character, integrity, quality of work, leadership, ethical standards, commitment to public service and victims’ rights, contributions to the community and the legal profession, and financial need in the form of outstanding student loan debt.
Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Anthony Franks
The Missouri Prosecuting Attorney Outstanding Service Award committee presented Anthony Franks, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Re-entry Coordinator, Eastern District of Missouri, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honors Franks’ long-term commitment to the field and includes paying off remaining balances of his student loan debt.
After many years, Franks left private practice at Thompson Coburn and Anheuser-Busch InBev to serve in the U.S. Attorney’s Office where he investigates and prosecutes white-collar, firearm, drug, and economic crimes. Franks also represents the U.S. Attorney’s office division and re-entry courts to help justice-involved individuals engage in a law-abiding and productive life.
Franks serves on the Leadership Council of the St. Louis Violence Prevention Commission, the Steering Committee for Cure Violence, and in the FOCUS St. Louis Impact 2020-21 Fellows program working on providing youth a safe space in the city.
About the St. Louis Community Foundation
The St. Louis Community Foundation is a nonprofit foundation with approximately 800 charitable funds with total assets more than $502 million. Each fund represents a unique charitable giving partnership between an individual, family, or business and designated nonprofit recipients. The St. Louis Community Foundation inspires purposeful philanthropy that connects community and donors to build and preserve a more equitable and vibrant region, now and forever.
Over the last 10 years, St. Louis Community Foundation and its donors made nearly $600 million in scholarships and grants to charitable organizations.
Media Inquiries, contact:
Neosha Franklin, Director of Communications
314-880-4959 | nfranklin@stlgives.org
