Overview:
Law & Public Policy aims to support the unhoused and other marginalized populations in St. Louis through social justice and advocacy. It’s crucial to understand the systemic factors that contribute to health and housing inequities, so we focus on active conversation, fundraising, building partnerships with community members, and volunteering with legal organizations to learn about current issues and promote sustainable, inclusive, equitable wellness. Our goal is to expand our service more holistically with a focus on civic engagement, encouraging HU members to be more involved and educated on diverse determinants of health (such as injury/disability benefits, insurance policies, or housing discrimination) and how they work with set local guidelines. This includes pushing for investment in affordable housing, transit, health equity, childcare, mobilize voters, transparent redistricting, reducing community violence, and funding equitable development. We work with organizations like Archcity Defenders, Freedom Community Center, and Action St. Louis.
Q&A:
What sort of events does the law & public policy project organize?
We attend and volunteer at renter’s rights meetings, policy conferences and working groups such as the People’s Plan Town Hall with Action St. Louis, resource fairs like Juneteenth Freedom Summer, and legal/housing aid events. During the school year, we mobilized volunteers to scribe at the St. Louis City Circuit Court at bail setting hearings, analyzing data to track patterns between prosecutor/judge decision making and demographics in cases to promote accountability.
Most notably, we have provided significant support and resource outreach to over 400 class members for reimbursement in multiple legal settlement cases litigated by Archcity Defenders against the cities of St. Ann, Ferguson, and Florissant for unconstitutionally holding people in deplorable “debtors prisons” for an inability to pay and without the necessary legal process.
Who are the law & public policy project’s favorite community partner(s) to work with?
Archcity Defenders (ACD)! Their pivotal work in providing holistic, pro-bono services helps those caught in the web of our legal system and covers housing/homelessness, social services, cash bail, inhumane jail conditions, and police misconduct. Their awesome attorneys have spoken at our GBMs and integrated us into a coalition of community partners that works together to reshape policy and empower St. Louis. Plus, who doesn’t love Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (one of ACD’s partners that we get to work with) at every event?!
What are some goals that the law & public policy project has for the upcoming semester?
With ACD, we look forward to canvassing in neighborhoods (drop off literature in-person) for class action settlement reimbursements and resource distribution. We will be regularly attending local renter’s meetings and learning more about the history and factors behind housing inequities to better serve our community. We hope to form direct partnerships with WashU social work, law, and medicine for an emphasis on holistic community wellness while sparking engagement with legislative officials and expanding volunteering to legal clinics.
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