A cornerstone of the GHJP is a practicum/clinic course and other project-driven work that teaches students how to engage critically and constructively with the evolving tools of law, policy, and rights in the context of health and human rights.
“Our student teams are interdisciplinary, joining law and public health students to benefit from their different kinds of expertise, and also to teach students how to appreciate and do work across these silos,” Kapczynski said. “The design of our projects, partnerships, and teaching is organized by principles of health justice work, meaning that we not only aim to influence the structural and political determinants of health, but also aim to build power among the people most affected so that over time they have more say over their circumstances.”
“Working locally in New Haven and Connecticut has become more and more central to our work over time,” she continued, “because we also believe in the importance of deep and ongoing partnerships that allow our students to get outside of the classroom.”
As part of its mission, the GHJP seeks to make critical policy interventions and perform crosscutting research that promotes health justice nationally and globally. The partnership produces policy reports and commentaries, organizes conferences and events, and provides research in support of litigation promoting health justice and equity in the U.S., as well as in regional and global forums. It also offers students fellowship opportunities for advanced study. The issues addressed in GHJP policy-oriented projects are often further interrogated in more academic-focused writing as well, by students, fellows, and faculty associated with GHJP.
Former GHJP clinical fellow Francesca Maviglia, MPH ’20, praised the partnership for helping her become more self-reflexive and critical in her analysis when engaging in health justice issues.
“The multiple vantage points offered by law, public health, and human rights were particularly useful,” Maviglia said. “A different disciplinary perspective can illuminate repercussions or consequences that are not readily apparent.” She said she will always strive to maintain the rigorous practice she learned at the GHJP in her public health work rather than settle for simple answers.
Maviglia used her fellowship to advance the health and rights of New Haven sex workers through harm reduction and advocacy. The project resulted in a joint report by the GHJP and the New Haven-based grassroots organization Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN) titled “Mistreatment and Missed Opportunities: How Street-Based Sex Workers are Overpoliced and Underserved in New Haven, CT.” The report has been cited by other organizations and advocacy groups, and current projects are continuing from where the SWAN project left off. Current GHJP students are mapping the ability of Connecticut service providers to reach, adequately serve, and ultimately advocate for and with LGBTQ+ and substance-using people in sex work.
In a separate project in 2019, former GHJP students Rita Gilles, YLS ’20, and Isabel Echarte, YLS ’21, applied innovative legal theories to help hold a landlord accountable for excessive rates of asthma and other health conditions in New Haven’s notorious Church Street South apartment complex. Their efforts contributed to a class-action lawsuit that resulted in a preliminary $18.5 million settlement in the tenants’ favor.
“The work of the GHJP is not just to be part of efforts for policy change; we are here as a site for networks of students to find each other across disciplines, discover the strengths and challenges of the tools in law and public health, and put them to work together in ways that can be sustained after graduation,” Miller said. “The goal is not just for student projects to have an impact (as they have, both locally and globally) but for students to see themselves and their work as accountable to the movements and collaborating partners with whom we work for the long haul.”