Touro Law Receives $20k from the Long Island Community Foundation For Study on Disaster Relief and Recovery

March 25, 2014

Touro Law Center Dean Patricia Salkin is pleased to announce that the Long Island Community Foundation has awarded a grant in the amount of $20,000 to Touro Law Center to fund the research and development of a white paper designed for policymakers, lawmakers, regulators, nonprofits and others engaged in disaster relief and recovery.

Dean Salkin stated, “We are grateful to the Long Island Community Foundation for this grant. It will enable the Law Center to continue our substantial disaster relief efforts in a manner that will have a tremendous impact on disaster relief and recovery programs for years to come.”

Touro Law Center has been a leader in Superstorm Sandy relief and recovery throughout Long Island, helping over 1,500 vulnerable households, giving presentations to hundreds more, and seeking systemic reforms to benefit the region as a whole. Disaster recovery is essential to helping thousands of homeowners rebuild their homes and lives, and to rebuilding communities and promoting resiliency for future storms.

The report will focus on the systemic problems with the delivery and administration of disaster relief and recovery programs. It will address the steps that can be taken to more efficiently and equitably provide disaster relief to vulnerable populations, including seniors, and working families who were barely making ends meet before the storm. In particular, it will address flood insurance programs, among other components, examining lessons to prepare for future disasters and benefit future victims. The report will have local, regional and national value.

Touro Law students will be conducting research and writing, supervised by Professor Sarah Adams-Schoen, Director of the Land Use and Sustainable Law Institute, working in conjunction with Professor Benjamin Rajotte, Director of the Disaster Relief Clinic at Touro Law.

“This project is vital to the long-term response to disasters on Long Island and throughout the country,” said Professor Adams-Schoen. “I am proud to be a part of this project and look forward to working with students on fact gathering, research and writing.”

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center’s 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law, which has a student body of approximately 750 and an alumni base of more than 5,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs, several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of the Touro College system.

About the Touro College and University System
Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris and Florida. New York Medical College, Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/media/.
For more info contact:
Patti Desrochers
Director of Communications
pattid@tourolaw.edu
(631) 761-7062

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