Mississippi is one of just three states without a tax break on groceries — a choice that directly contributes to suppressed economic opportunities for grocers, farmers and their employees; the most severe hunger epidemic in the nation; and costly public health consequences. In short, our sales tax on groceries is…

On April 16, Governor Phil Bryant signed H.B. 1352, the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2019. H.B. 1352’s bipartisan reforms include a provision that I had the opportunity to author and advocate for, which opts out of a 1996 federal ban on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance…

The proposed public charge regulation would force millions of families across the country who work hard, pay their taxes, and follow the rules to make an impossible choice between lawfully accessing critical health care, food, and housing assistance, and staying together. On Friday, the Mississippi Center for Justice submitted comments…

Remarks at the 2018 Champions of Justice Dinner — Delivered on October 18, 2018 in the City of Jackson, Mississippi: This August, with support from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the Mississippi Center for Justice launched an advocacy campaign to advance healthy food access for all. Our food insecurity crisis is the worst in the nation. One in…

Anyone who works in public health will tell you that the places where we live, work, play, and pray are inextricably linked to our health. Who we are and who we become can depend more on our ZIP code than our DNA. …

New Public Health Legal Resources — Our new suite of public health legal resources and learning opportunities examines how shortfalls in equitable sanitation and hygiene access for people experiencing homelessness fueled the worst multi-state hepatitis A outbreak in over 20 years — and provides innovative public and private policy solutions. The U.S. is grappling with its…

This Q&A was part of a Network for Public Health Law Blog series highlighting efforts to advance health justice through public health law and policy, and was originally posted here. Q&A Homelessness is a Health Justice Issue With Madeline Morcelle, Staff Attorney, Network for Public Health Law—Western Region Q: What does health justice mean to you? A: The U.S. spends significantly more on medical care…

Confronting the Health Justice Implications of Laws that Criminalize Homelessness — This blog post originally appeared on the Network for Public Health Law Blog. In early January, the City of Phoenix, Arizona cracked down on a homeless encampment located on a traffic median in its trendy Roosevelt Row neighborhood, enforcing a local ordinance criminalizing sleeping, cooking, and other basic life-sustaining behaviors…

(Don’t Head to Canada Just Yet) — I loved Canada before it was cool. I grew up in Western New York, just a half hour from the Peace Bridge, where the U.S. and Canada meet. By virtue of my nearness to the border, summers spent gulping loganberry at Crystal Beach, ON, and Buffalo’s cultural emphasis on Tim…