Entity Framework - how do I use the entity relationships in my extended classes?

Public Sub New(ByVal ProjectID As Integer)
        Dim proj As Project = (From p In db.Project.Include("Status") Where p.ProjectID = ProjectID).First
        _ProjectID = proj.ProjectID
        _ProjectName = proj.ProjectName
        Me.Status.StatusID = proj.Status.StatusID  'I get errors here
        Me.Status.StatusName = proj.Status.StatusName  'and here
    End Sub

Public Shared Function GetProjectById(ByVal ProjectId as Integer) as Project
     Dim db As New MyDataContext
     Return (From p In db.Project.Include("Status") Where p.ProjectID = ProjectID).FirstOrDefault
End Function