Photo of students at work:
Excerpts from the students:
I am currently working on establishing a Political Action Committee "PAC" for Malik Rahim. Malik needs the PAC so that he can collect funds and endorse politician. Malik has extensive ties in the community and it is apparent that they rely on him to solve their problems. While speaking with several residents in Algiers I was made aware of the fact that politicians ignore their needs. Their list of needs was long but the fact that the children in schools do not have books is what bothered me the most. With the PAC, Malik will empower his community and politicians will have to respond to their needs or risk not receiving contributions. The PAC represents political capital for the people of Algiers.
The process of forming a PAC entails the completion of various forms. The forms and the process may seem simple to us as lawyers, but they can be pretty complex for the average person. I am dissecting the forms and making a checklist so that the process is easy for Malik. I am hoping to have this assignment complete before we depart.
-Walter Newsome
After a slow start to the trip, the week picked up on Monday when we got to see Malik Rahim, a former Black Panther, and now activist community organizer, and philanthropist. Pat Baxter was the first person we were introduced to. She received a letter from the City telling her that she had no rights to the land that she had been gardening and taking care of for 15-20 years. She also entered a lease agreement to take care of the land for no less than three years. We also met with “Pal,” a community organizer who started the Westbank Steppers, an organization dedicated to assisting offenders who are released from prison. Lastly, Malik spoke to us about issues that he currently has been facing and that we can help with.
I was assigned to work on a claim that Malik filed against BP on behalf of a group he ran, Meg Perry for Environmental Peace and Justice. The claim was rejected and we think there is a viable claim and that the Center should be compensated for their loss. I am working on filing an appeal and hope to win a judgment in our favor.
After a very frustrating and drawn out process in speaking to representatives of BP at the claim center, I was unsuccessful in getting an appeal. At first, his social security number did not match up with the social security number they had on file so they would not let me make an appeal. After I got past that obstacle, I was told that there were no appeals and if he wanted to prevail in his claim, we would have to resubmit the claim. However, with no additional documents to help prove our claim, Matt and I decided that an attempt to resubmit the claim would be futile.
- Greg Picciano
L.B Landry High school is located in Algiers.(15th ward). This high school has been in existence since 1952 and is named in honor of Lord Beaconsfield Landry, who is a famous activist and soloist in Louisiana. In December, the Louisiana Recovery School District announced that in the 2012-2013 school year, two of the high schools in Algiers, Landry and the Walker schools,
will merge, and the new school will be renamed "Algiers High school at Landry". Landry supporters are quite outraged as they feel the legacy of Landry should not be forgotten. We have placed a phone call to the deputy superintendent, Chris Meyer, to try and confirm the information we have gathered. We have yet to hear back from him at this time. It seems to be a
consensus that this new school will have better resources than the current schools, but Landry supporters do not believe that justifies the changing of the school's name.
-Evan Fidelman
The trip down to New Orleans has been extremely rewarding thus far. From day one, the people we have encountered have been nothing but compassionate by letting us into his or her home to hear his or her stories of how the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has affected his or her life. One of the groups of people that we met was the volunteers working at the Arthur Monday Community Center. The center provides a safe haven for people in the community and most importantly, for seniors of the Algiers community. It also offers social events, a computer lab teaching people how to use computers with free access to the Internet, and a health clinic. Unfortunately, the Community Center is being closed due to lack of funding because the Louisiana Government recently stated that it is merging the health clinic and the senior center to be part of the Department of Health and Hospitals (“DHH”). It is projected that by July 2013, the funding will be cut for nearly all Senior Centers. I was happy to be assigned the task of assisting the Arthur Monday Community Center in trying to see if additional funding could be found elsewhere in order to preserve this staple within the community. Over the past few days, I have found that other Senior Centers in New Orleans are either run based on private funding, through donations, or governmental grants. My task for the day is to see exactly how other centers are able to procure such funding and to see if the Arthur Monday Community Center could use the same tactics in order to save the center.
-Julie Levine
The trip thus far has been great. The trip in to New Orleans was a bit problematic considering we had to make an emergency landing in Mobile, Alabama, but being able to bond over something like that in the airport might have been just what we needed to bring us closer together before we
embarked on our journey. On Monday, we met with Malik Rahim, a selfless man who prides himself on helping others. He introduced us to this lady, Pat, who is being forced off a property she has been gardening on for over 20 years. We also met this gentleman, Pal, who has a couple of licenses in construction and custodial work and we are trying to help him get a business up and running. Malik then took us to NOLA Motorsports park, a go-kart place that will also have actual race tracks. It is being built by a billionaire who is also good friends with Malik. He arranged for us to have a free 10 minute go-kart heat for Tuesday, which was amazing. Also on
Tuesday, we all began working on our assignments. My assignment is to help Malik get a better grasp on "co-ops," and hopefully be able to provide him with some sort of pamphlet that he can pass on to other people in his community to better educate them about these "organizations." I look forward to working on this throughout the week.
-Adam Hyman
Day three is among us. I was paired with a lower classman, Dean Villani. We were assigned a project to assist an individual in the community recover a right to use, through leasehold or otherwise, a community garden. The woman has been the keeper and caretaker of the community garden for close to thirty years. Regardless, the City conveyed the property on which the garden sits to a developer who is attempting to revitalize the neighborhood by converting this community garden into an upscale private home.
So far we realize that this is a deceptively complex issue and are researching many different avenues that may provide relief for the longstanding member of the community. We have reached out to multiple parties that have had a hand in the granting of the subject property and we are researching every possible legal ground that this woman can, at the very least, recoup her right to use the subject property.
-Steven Pollack
This trip is off to an exciting start! From crazy airplane flights to a fun morning go-carting, we are definitely finding time to have fun. However, our main objective is, and remains, helping Malik and the Meg Perry Center. For this trip, I have been assigned to research and to type a packet up on the topics of micro-banking and New Market Tax Credits. For only working for two days I have been extremely successful. I have completed the research and the packet for micro-banking, and all that remains is editing that packet and printing out an application, which I hope to finish later today. Also today, I will finish up researching New Market Tax Credits and start writing up that packet.
- Caitlin-Kavanagh
After a slow start to the trip, due to some travel complications, we’ve started our projects to try and help Malik and the Algiers community. Steven Pollack and I are currently working on a project that deals with the use of “green lands” in the city of Algiers. We met with a woman named Pat who has been running a garden on a vacant lot in her neighborhood for over twenty years. She has recently been informed that a private organization has bought the land and wants her to leave within the next fifteen days. Steven and I have been researching her rights to continue the garden and her right to the property. We have looked into the Homestead Act, landlord tenant, adverse possession, and agency law. Our ultimate goal is to find an avenue to allow her to continue her garden and prevent a pillar of the community from being displaced.
Today we continued our project to try and help Pat Baxter with her community garden. After hearing her side of the story Steven and I decided to contact Parkway and Partners who is the non-for profit organization that runs the community gardens program in Algiers and many other cities in New Orleans. We had attempted to have some phone conversations with the directors of the program but could not get in touch with anyone so we ended up taking a ride down to their office. We met the director of Parkway and Partner’s, Jean Fahr, and had a very informative conversation with her. She explained to us that the Jaeger Foundation, who bought the property that Pat is using as her garden, was not the evil company that was buying up properties in poor areas just to turn them around quickly and make money. The Jaeger Foundation actually buys condemned and indigent properties around New Orleans and builds houses on them. They then give grants and private loans to lower income individuals so that they can buy the property. This totally changed our perspective of the situation. Jaeger is helping the community and the people in Algiers. The major problem is that most people in these lower income areas are very distrustful of companies like Jaeger and were misinformed about their intentions and mission.
After having our meeting with Mrs. Fahr, we obtained some contact information for a Jeff Feilden, the staff attorney for the Jaeger Foundation. He was very friendly and willing to talk to us about almost anything. He gave us a more in-depth story about the Jaeger Foundation and how it was developed and what their major goals were. We had explained what was happening to Pat and her current situation. He was very compassionate and truly understood why Pat would feel the way she did. He explained to us that the plot of land that Pat was currently using was not suitable for a community garden. It was too big and really couldn’t be sustained, but he expressed that the Jaeger Foundation would be open to donating another lot in Pat’s neighborhood. Jeff gave us a name of another foundation, Algiers Riverview Association, who he would be willing to put the property in their name and allow Pat to be the head gardener.
Ultimately we believe that although Pat will not be able to keep the garden she has been working on for the last twenty years, we have found an alternate plan that will help the Algiers community as a whole. Pat is a major staple in the community but if Steven and I can help the community as a whole I believe that is a great accomplishment and the real reason we are on this trip.
-Dean Villani
Yesterday I worked for a local community organizer named Pal helping him take his licenses for construction and janitorial services, and register with the city as a city contractor. I researched online and got all the forms and information needed for Pal's organization to apply for the disadvantaged business enterprise certification. I went on www.nola.gov and pulled all the forms that Pal would need to fill out to apply. Today, I will meet with Pal to discuss this process of applying and give him the forms. I will also work on trying to get Pal on state-wide lists.
Yesterday, I created a packet of information for Pal in regards to getting his business on a City of New Orleans contractors list. It was a pretty intensive packet, but contained everything Pal needed to file and get certified with the city. It did take a bit to figure out where to print everything, but it was essential to have a complete hard copy because Pal does not have a computer or internet. In the afternoon, Marissa and I went to Pal’s house to discuss the packet and what else we could do for him. He was very excited to take the information to his accountant and start working on it. He asked me to look into a tax-exempt program with the city and a state level program for government contracting. I will work on those items today. Pal and I plan to meet again on Friday.
-Stephanie Rapp
For the past couple days we have been trying to get answers regarding the Health Clinic, more specifically, how the original board of directors were crossed out without their knowledge and replaced by a man named Robin "Noah" Morris. We contacted the Secretary of State’s office which was pretty neat. We were told that Mr. Morris provided "proof" that he was elected to become the new chairman of the board. When we further pressed for answers, we were told bluntly that they do not have the man power to check the validity of changes to a board and they take information given to them as factual. We then called the Common Ground Health Clinic and were told that Mr. Morris moved to North Carolina and no longer has any affiliation with the clinic. Furthermore, we were told that the new chairperson is Kimberly Richards and we are currently waiting for her to return our phone calls. Liz drafted a letter which will be sent to the new board addressing our concerns with the dubious changes that were made.
-Evan Fidelman and Liz Doyaga
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