Students Speak Out About Helping Out

During the five weeks that made up the recent 2007 law school spring breaks across the country, MCJ hosted more than 170 law students, one dean, two professors, and three pro bono and public interest administrators. They came from “nearby” University of Alabama and University of Mississippi, and as far awayas University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Columbia Law School in New York. They stayed four-to-a-room at the Best Western, on the floors of the First United Methodist Church in Gulfport, or with the Hands On Network,where room and board is a mere $10 for Katrina volunteers.

Not since Freedom Summer 1964 have so many young people come to Mississippi,changing themselves and the region in the process. This crop of students worked on a series of discovery and data collection projects, all of which will supportMCJ’s future advocacy efforts.

Activities included:

• Under the supervision of Kerry Griffin and Kalpana Bhandarkar from Manatt Phelp’s New York Health Solutions practice, nine students conducted more than 150 interviews to learn why 55,000 children have been dropped from Mississippi’s Medicaid rolls over the last year.

• Students surveyed coast residents to gain an understanding of why applicationsfor Mississippi’s Katrina Recovery programs are so much lower than predicted, especially from traditionally underserved neighborhoods.

• Students surveyed tenants in the few remaining public housing complexes, some of which are slated for sale.

• Teams of students met with African American community elders to gather information about the civil rights history in the area and to further efforts to secure historic preservation grants and develop cultural tourism.

• A group helped negotiate agreements with local utility companies to waive required deposits that are preventing cash-strapped residents from moving back into their homes or apartments.

As you will read in the stories that follow, the pro bono work has had a significantimpact on the work of MCJ, the people of South Mississippi, and the lawstudents themselves:

Thuy-Tien Nguyen
Class of 2007, Univ. of Southern California Gould School of Law

I just turned twenty-five and had a quarter-life crisis. I feared my decision to go tolaw school was wrong. Then I came to Biloxi, compiling household informationfrom residents in public housing communities for future advocacy efforts in theevent that the Housing Authority sells off the property -- and realized I made theright choice. We have an awesome power as attorneys: We can see the evil effectsof institutional structures that exploit the vulnerable, and we know how to dosomething about it. Working here and seeing MCJ's passionate pursuit of socialjustice, I finally appreciate how we can use our knowledge to do more than blindlycriticize. We can act. We can do something. We must.

Suzanne Guertin
Class of 2009, William Mitchell College of Law

I worked on issues pertaining to the Housing Relocation Act, learning about Katrina-related development and residential dislocation in lower Mississippi. Ihad the wonderful opportunity to work with senior attorney John Jopling, one ofthe most dedicated professionals I have met - in any field. I saw much of thecoastal destruction by traveling with MCJ's Remy Orozco who filled me in onmany of the issues not immediately visible, such as the myriad landlord/tenantissues plaguing the area. I was surprised by the number of blue roofs still atop so many houses, but encouraged by the incredible spirit of Mississippians and theirdesire to remain and rebuild.

Benjamin Harris
Class of 2007, North Carolina Central University School of Law

I always knew that History hides himself in strange corners. But History suddenlyappears in our new world of modernity, to change and shake up our commonunderstanding, and to remind us that there is still much work to do.While walking in a public housing project in Mississippi, I was preparing toconduct a survey of a resident. A grandmother, approximately 40-ish, with worn hands and tired eyes, said "When they tear down these here projects where wegoing to go? We never have anywhere to go." I just looked at her and said, "I don't know. I simply don't know."

Darren Sullivan
Class of 2009, Columbia Law School

Talking to people on the Mississippi Gulf Coast about their experiences trying toget health care was an eye-opening experience. I had thought that Medicaid andother government programs provided at least some benefits to the neediest populations, and it was shocking to learn that disabled people living in FEMA trailerparks who have been out of work since Katrina do not qualify. It really drovehome to me how much we have to do to create a sustainable health care system inthis country, and it gave me hope that lawyers, law students and groups like the Mississippi Center for Justice can be a part of that fight.

Gregory Pleasants
Class of 2007, Univ. of Southern California Gould School of Law

I spent time surveying people at free community health care clinics, asking bothclients and staff about how recent changes in Medicaid law had affected theirability to obtain or keep coverage- especially for the very poor, sick, or disabled.Several observations stand out. First, while we feared people would be "surveyedout,"most were eager to share their stories with us. Second, many objected to howthe new Medicaid laws were being applied to them, but most strongly supportedanti-fraud measures in the abstract and decried how the 'fraud of a few' was hurtingeligibility for those most in need. Finally, almost everyone emphasized theneed for better health care for the working poor.

Chris Richardson
Class of 2007, Duke University School of Law

While interviewing citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina at health clinics for aMedicaid eligibility study, I was moved by the level and depth of poverty that stillpersists in the South. Even after two years, southern Mississippi was still reelingfrom the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. We met women and children, mothersand fathers who lost everything and yet any hope of them rebuilding their livesand moving on seemed caught up in red tape, bureaucracy, and a sense that America has forgotten about our citizens most in need.