Student Hurricane Network

Welcome to the Student Hurricane Network Website!

Hello! And thank you for visiting the SHN website. The Student Hurricane Network (SHN) is a national association dedicated to providing long-term assistance to communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. SHN works with law students and administrators from all over the United States to create and coordinate volunteer opportunities for law students in the Gulf Coast. For more info about SHN please click "about SHN" on the left.

Last fall, we completed the SHN Report, a detailed description of the Student Hurricane Networks activities since its formation as well as observations about the current state of New Orleans. To keep up to date on SHN events, please subscribe to our Newsletter.

Winter 2007-2008 Law Student Volunteer Trips!

We are currently planning law student volunteer trips for winter! We’ve got some exciting events and projects planned for students -- to keep up-to-date please sign up for the Liaisons email list.

First, deadlines! The deadlines differ depending on which week you're coming down, they're listed below. Please email all information in a timely fashion to shntrips@gmail.com.

Work Week for Winter 2007-2008	Deadline to Submit Names of Interested Students	Deadline to Submit Final Names and Itineraries
December 9-14	November 19	November 24
December 16-21	November 24	December 1
December 23-28	NO TRIPS	NO TRIPS
Dec. 30 - Jan. 4	NO TRIPS	NO TRIPS
January 6-11	December 15	December 21
January 13-18	December 21	December 29
January 20-25	December 29	January 5

We will be holding orientations the Sunday evenings of each week and the work week ends at the end of the day on Friday -- please make your travel plans accordingly to be in the region for that entire period.

Second, organization placements! SHN is in contact with organizations in the Gulf Coast to arrange placements for everyone. Out of respect for our partner organizations, please do not contact organizations on your own for trips during these weeks. It makes things much easier on organizations to have one contact, so please leave that up to us. If you've already made contacts with organizations, let us know to avoid confusion and double-booking.

Third -- patience and flexibility! You will not find out your placements until 1-2 weeks before your breaks. One of the things our partner organizations appreciate most about SHN is our flexibility -- we can fill gaps the organization may not know about until the last minute. Don't worry! We'll be able to place everyone who wants to work in a volunteer legal position in one.

Fourth, coordinators! We are looking for anyone interested in taking over a coordinating position during their trip. This could involve extra work before hand and special training, but all worth it to you, your fellow students and the organization you’ll be placed with. Past projects include FOIA Project with the Natural Resource Defense Council in N.O., the Katrina-Gideon Interview Project and the FEMA Trailer Survey Project. We are also looking for people interested in helping out SHN on the planning side of things -- from helping out with matching students to organizations to helping plan orientations. Anyone interested, let us know at the email address below!

Fifth, resources! Check out the Housing and Fundraising resources and other helpful documents on this site under the Members & Liaisons tab.

Any questions, comments, concerns, email shntrips@gmail.com. Thanks and we look forward to working with you!!

Student Hurricane Network

A Mass Mobilization is Under Way

2,700 law students have traveled to the Gulf Coast through SHN over the past 16 months; that breaks down to almost 170 law students per month. Collectively, we have added a tremendous investigative research capacity to the justice advocates in the regions. We have researched matters that have fed into litigation in the following arenas: FEMA services, Army Corps of Engineers, public housing, bulldozing homes, evictions without notice, workers rights, immigration, public education, fair housing rights, government regulation compliance, title transfer, procedural due process, and criminal justice gridlock.

SHN has also been a steady boon to the legal aid services in the region. A small group of dedicated offices provide free legal services, against a need that vastly outpaces capacity; law students are able to assist public interest attorney catch up with massive caseloads and proactively address emergent needs.

Read the following article to learn about some of the work we have been doing: Law Students Storm New Orleans with Legal Aid.

To learn more about students' experiences on the Gulf Coast, please visit the Blogs listed below: