At the heart of the Center’s mission to create a just society is a desire to build healthy communities across Mississippi.
By engaging elected officials, faith-based leaders, media, community activists, educators, childcare providers, healthcare professionals and other advocacy partners, the Mississippi Center for Justice provides the legal perspective to policy initiatives that improve the lives of Mississippians.
With offices in Jackson, Biloxi and Indianola, the Center seeks systemic solutions that promote educational opportunity, protect the rights of consumers, secure access to healthcare, ensure equity in disaster recovery and put affordable housing within the reach of all Mississippians. Please visit the individual areas of work to learn more.
Disasters, both natural and manmade, affect the physical health of a community, interrupt the education of its children and wipe away the precious, yet limited, resources some have worked so hard to attain. They often reveal systemic, engrained disparities that renew the debate about issues affecting truly equitable recovery efforts.
In the wake of disasters, emergency needs such as food and clothing are often quickly addressed. But what about the legal needs to help ensure that low- and moderate-income families have equal access to recovery resources intended to sustain neighborhoods and rebuild communities?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi Center for Justice leveraged the unprecedented influx of pro bono legal assistance to help open doors for low and moderate income families.
The Center also learned lessons from that recovery effort and applied them as it established a regional legal response to BP’s Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig explosion. From providing direct legal services to influencing the policy decisions that create the framework for future disaster recovery regulations, the Center and its allies are committed to protecting access to justice for everyone impacted by disasters in the region.
The economic future of a state rests on the quality of the education of its citizens. Sadly, lack of access to a quality education is far too common for Mississippi’s children. Every year, Mississippi ranks at or near the bottom for student achievement. These statistics become even more daunting within communities of color and for students with disabilities. These students are more likely to face the prospect of schooling without basic instructional resources like experienced teachers, up to date textbooks/instructional resources, or access to a wide variety of rigorous academic courses or extra-curricular activities that make school engaging and develop soft skills students need for the world of work and democracy in the 21st century.
During the 2020-21 school year, the academic achievement gap, as measured by proficiency rates of various student groups on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) tests, spells out how stark educational disparities are in Mississippi. The achievement gap between Black and white students was 34.4% in Math and 29.6% In English Language Arts. The percentages indicate the difference in proficiency rates for the Black and white students on the MAAP tests. The gap between students without disabilities and students with disabilities was 26.6%. English language learners had a 20% gap between them and students who spoke English as a native language. These disparities are the products of an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources and thus educational opportunities for these groups of students, their families, and communities are severely limited. According to data from the MDE reporting data explorer website and the MDE Accountability Website, during the same school year, the average demographic make-up of school districts rated “A” by the state was 63.5% white and 25.2% Black. Districts rated “F” by the state were 7.2% white and 94.0% Black, on average. MCJ is committed to supporting a fair and equitable educational system that meets the needs of all students in Mississippi.
Education
Current Initiatives
Past Initiatives
The Mississippi Center for Justice protects heirs’ property and promotes its sustainable use to provide increased economic benefit to historically underserved landowners. Through education and direct legal services, we hope to serve, support, and empower heirs’ property owners and their communities throughout Mississippi. Ultimately, we want to offer services that will help heirs’ property owners keep, protect and utilize their land for generations to come, while protecting it from the pitfalls of predatory developers and timber harvesters, tax sales and forced partition sales. Learn more at mscenterforjustice.org/heirs.
The need for safe, decent, affordable housing across the state of Mississippi is great. Lack of housing options drive gaps in education, health and economic opportunities, particularly for low-income and African-American Mississippians. In fact, the state’s average home value is 50 percent lower than the national average, making it second lowest in the country.
In African American communities, the statistics are even more grim – many more African Americans rent, rather than own. Additionally, almost 32 percent of African American-occupied rental units spend more than half of their income on rent, and on facilities that are older and often overcrowded.
The Center knows that one of the best ways to strengthen communities is by investing in quality housing that is affordable to people at all income levels. The Center is working to address housing gaps in the areas of affordable housing, fair housing and public housing, as well as promoting housing policy as part of its sustainable community initiatives.
Mississippi Center for Justice operates Mississippi’s only statewide COVID-related eviction hotline, which has served more than 470 Mississippians to date.
For consumers who are facing eviction or other household disruptions due to COVID-19, MCJ has helped produce six videos that can serve as a valuable resource.
