Off to Gulfport!

My spring break isn't really a break. I'm off to Gulfport, MS (about an hour away from New Orleans) to do some legal assistance for people and agencies affected by last Fall's hurricanes. I don't have a specific assignment yet, but it's been narrowed down to three possibilities:

1. Pre- and Post-Katrina Affordable Housing Inventory
Students are needed to conduct an inventory of housing needs including the following: (1) contact with and/or site visits of PHA, HUD multi-family, and Rural Development properties to tally how many were damaged and/or destroyed; (2) an inventory of available public and low income housing prior to the hurricane by tallying total units of PHA, Section 8 Vouchers, HUD and Rural Development properties; (3) an inventory of total housing prior to the hurricane; (4) collecting and analyzing FEMA data of total units damaged and destroyed by county; and (5) an analysis of 1990 and 2000 census data showing income levels of residents.

2. Justice Court Eviction Proceedings
The Mississippi Center for Justice needs students to observe Justice Court eviction proceedings and record specific information about case facts and rationales for granting or denying evictions. A training will be provided by housing attorney John Joppling and then students will work in teams attending hearings at courts in Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gulfport, and other coastal courthouses. The information gathered will be used for a range of purposes including preparation of defenses and model pleadings, attorney trainings, identifying appropriate cases for appeal, media attention, and legislative advocacy.

3. Community historical/cultural profiles
We need teams of law students who can effectively interact with these communities, accessing the oral history, historical photographs or other artifacts, and help prepare a profile of these communities highlighting significant personalities from these areas, events in the struggle for civil rights, and cultural landmarks within these communities.

Well, I'm not sure I'm the "interacting with communities" type, but the others sound interesting. So, I'm off to do a good deed or two and maybe improve my chances of getting a job...

Thank you, Jen, for making this possible!