HLS Mississippi Delta Project has a website!
Please check out our website for more complete information about the HLS Mississippi Delta Project, our programs and initiatives, and our sponsors and advisors. The website can be viewed here: HLS Delta Project site. Thank you to Karina Chamorro and J.P. Kaytrosh in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs for all their help in putting up the site!
read moreSecond Annual Harvard-Wide Delta Celebration!
Save the Date!! Wednesday, December 1st, from 6-8pm in Hark South (HLS): Over the past few years, students and faculty from Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Business School, and Harvard College have traveled to the Mississippi Delta to work on a range of projects to improve the health, economic outcomes, community engagement, and overall wellness of communities in the Delta. Please join us as we come together to educate each other and others from the Harvard community about these projects and...
read moreSpring Break 2010 – Providing Legal Assistance to Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Special thanks to HLS 1L Jeremy Haber for the spring break update posted below: “Along with four classmates, Ashley Nyquist, Tom Ferriss, Rachel Mehlsak and Robb Eastman, I recently went to Clarksdale, Mississippi for spring break to help write a small business legal guide and conduct a seminar for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs as part of the GrowDelta Initiative‘s work in the Delta. Clarksdale is about an hour south of Memphis, sitting at the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 49, where blues legend Robert...
read moreHLS Delta Project’s Spring 2010 newsletter
The Delta Project has just come out with its first bi-annual newsletter. This newsletter includes updates and information about student projects conducted during the fall 2009 and winter 2010 semesters. A newsletter with updates from the spring 2010 semester will be published this summer. In the next edition, we hope to include updates on some of the other Harvard projects taking place in the Delta. Special thanks to Hannah Orlansky for the fabulous layout of the newsletter and her ongoing communications and design assistance! Please click...
read moreFarmers markets for EVERYONE in the Delta
The Delta Project’s Farmers Market Working Group is spending the Spring 2010 semester researching and analyzing an issue getting more attention across the U.S.: farmers market access for people receiving food assistance benefits. Team members are currently hard at work researching all 50 states (along with Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico!) so that they can understand the scope of the issue. Once they’ve finished collecting research (and producing colorful maps), they will begin writing an Action Plan meant as a resource for...
read morePerinatal Care and Infant Mortality Assessment in Memphis
This semester, a group of students is conducting a infant mortality assessment of Memphis, TN, and the surrounding Shelby County area. The assessment was requested by the Tennessee Justice Center, and it is being modeled after a similar survey done by an HLS student in January of 2009. The report that the students ultimately plan to produce will include a statement of the problem, a summary of the current state of affairs concerning ob/gyn care in the region, and recommendations to improve services offered to prenatal and parenting...
read moreKids Count
The Kids Count project involves researching and writing policy papers to be included in the Kids Count Data Book, which is an annual data book that contains statistical information as well as policy recommendations concerning children within a specific state. Last semester we worked on papers concerning teen pregnancy and low birth rate. This semester our Kids Count policy papers are on early childhood education and on literacy. The papers will explore the importance and urgency of addressing the issue, previous and current Mississippi...
read moreFarmers Markets – Sales Tax Exemption
Throughout the fall 2009 semester, HLS Delta Project volunteers drafted a set of legislative recommendations for Mississippi to promote and strengthen farmers markets in the state. Recommendations focused on four areas: sales tax, food safety regulations, use of food assistance benefits at markets, and market funding by county and municipal governments. Several students traveled to Mississippi during January 2010, and spent time in Jackson meeting with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce and several Mississippi...
read morePartnering With Southern Bancorp
One of the most exciting new partnerships that the Delta Project has developed is with Southern Bancorp, the country’s largest rural community development bank. Southern is a pioneer in rural development, and the Delta Project is working in several different ways to support their work. Most recently, several students on the financial services team have been asked by Southern to research how municipalities could use state Historic Preservation statutes, zoning laws, or the tax foreclosure processes in Mississippi and Arkansas to encourage...
read moreWelcome to the Delta Project!
Welcome to our new blog! The Mississippi Delta Project is an organization at Harvard devoted to addressing the public health and economic development needs of the Delta. Dozens of students and faculty across the law school are involved in projects in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Just by way of example, in the past year: Students have helped work with the Mississippi legislature to draft new sales tax laws to promote the growth of farmers markets. Students have produced policy papers for a survey of children’s health issues...
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