Founded in 2009, the HLS Mississippi Delta Project (MDP) is one of the newest student practice organizations at Harvard Law School.
MDP provides policy and legal services to clients in the Mississippi, with a focus on the Mississippi Delta region. Mississippi is the poorest state in the U.S. and the Delta is one of its poorest regions. The Delta struggles with public health outcomes, segregation and the legacy of Jim Crow, poverty, and education, among other issues. Our policy teams work with our clients to pursue long-term legislative and policy projects in many areas of need.
MDP doesn’t want to dictate how our clients or Mississippians should live their lives. We also don’t want to parachute in and impose our solutions. MDP instead focuses on a long-term, collaborative, dynamic approach of working with our clients to further their goals for how they think Mississippi and the Delta can improve. Sometimes that’s writing model legislation or pushing bills in the statehouse. Sometimes that’s talking with farmers or school administrators or public health officials to hear about their challenges. Sometimes that’s writing policy papers that our clients use to launch their campaigns. MDP try to help Mississippians already pushing their state and the Delta forward in any way we can.
Are you an HLS student interested in learning more about the Delta Project?
MDP welcomes new members at the beginning of each semester! Our application for the Fall 2022 semester is open and available here. All applications are due by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 21st.
For more information, or to receive MDP updates via email, please contact the 2022-2023 MDP Co-Chairs Caroline Jaschke ’23 (cjaschke@jd23.law.harvard.edu) and Christine Smith ’23 (csmith@jd23.law.harvard.edu) Thank you!
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