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Dear
Friends-
We are coming up on the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and
the floods that devastated the Gulf Coast region, and still there is so
much cleaning up and rebuilding to be done. For sure, there have been
many accomplishments. Grassroots organizations have been kickstarted by
the imminent needs of the region, and others that existed already have
developed creative solutions to many issues. I have talked with folks
who live in New Orleans or have traveled there to lend a hand. They talk
of the devastation that still exists and the need for people to keep the
Gulf region in mind. Some of the rebuilding efforts have been plagued
by mismanagement and the governments approach has often been swayed by
corporate greed, racism, or just plain laziness, rather than trying to
do right by the many neighborhoods that are still in a stage of complete
devastation. The positive side of this is that there are so many folks
doing amazing work. What follows is a list of organizations that we believe
have proven worthy of our support. This is by no means a comprehensive
list, but can serve as a place to inspire and get you started. It has
been updated and we will continue to make changes as they become necessary.
Thanks,
Amy and Emily
July 2007
Human
Community
Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now
www.acorn.org
ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income
families; working together for social justice and stronger communities,
ACORN was a key ally in political organizing efforts for evacuees to get
the respect they deserved from local and national political representatives
and fight for humane treatment. A national network of community organizations,
ACORN is headquartered in New Orleans and was hit particularly hard by
this tragedy. Over the year, ACORN rebuilt their own organization while
continuously supporting relief and rebuilding efforts in the region.
ACORN
continues to collect donations through their Hurricane Recovery and Rebuilding
Fund. This fund supports ACORN's work in the rebuilding of New Orleans;
their Home Clean-out Program has cleaned and preserved more than 1,000
homes in New Orleans. As well, ACORN, in partnership with Pratt University
and New Jersey Institute of Technology, was awarded HUD money for rebuilding
and they will focus on the low- and moderate-income neighborhoods that
have been ignored by others. Residents will guide the planning process
with technical support emerging from ACORN and its University partners.
All efforts will be made to build flood and hurricane resistant homes
with an eye on ecological and safety concerns. Ultimately, ACORN seeks
the development of safe, healthy neighborhoods.
Common
Ground Collective
www.commongroundrelief.org
Common Ground's mission is to provide short term relief for victims of
hurricane disasters in the gulf coast region, and long term support in
rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area. Common Ground
is a community-initiated volunteer organization offering assistance, mutual
aid and support. The work gives hope to communities by working with them,
providing for their immediate needs and emphasizes people working together
to rebuild their lives in sustainable ways.
The
Common Ground Collective was founded with only $50 and the belief of four
people that they could do a better job than the government of the most
powerful and richest nation in the world. If you take a stroll through
the Lower Ninth Ward, you'd be hard-pressed to dispute that they were
right. That small investment has now grown to hundreds of members who
have fed, housed, and provided medical care for nearly 20,000 people.
How did they do it? Read
more here
Common
Ground Health Clinic
www.cghc.org
The Common Ground Health Clinic is a non-profit organization that provides
free quality health care for the greater New Orleans community, and develops
and provides programs to address community health care needs through collaborative
partnerships. From its early days as an emergency First Aid Station after
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Common Ground Health Clinic has emerged
as a solid community health resource and seeks to remain a permanent fixture
in the Algiers communities and continues to broaden its services.
Sweet
Home New Orleans
www.sweethomeneworleans.org
Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to
revitalizing the music and cultural community within the neighborhoods
of New Orleans by helping our tradition bearers secure stable, affordable
housing. Since Hurricane Katrina, a network of service providers and music
institutions has worked tirelessly to revitalize New Orleans' music community.
SHNO is an umbrella organization that integrates these efforts, connects
musicians to an array of services, and provides direct assistance for
housing.
New
Orleans Food and Farm Network
www.noffn.org
The New Orleans Food & Farm Network works with individuals, growers
and communities to support sustainable growing practices and ensure equal
access to safe, nutritious, enjoyable food. After Hurricane Katrina hit,
New Orleans' food system was devastated. A year after the storm, few grocery
stores are open, local food supplies have decreased dramatically and even
functional home/trailer kitchens are scarce. NOFFN is working with a diverse
coalition of individuals, farmers, health care workers, non-profits, schools
and universities and others to build a food system alliance that will
assess the community's food needs and develop a plan to meet those needs
in a healthy, sustainable and just manner.
People's
Hurricane Relief Fund & Oversight Coalition
www.peopleshurricane.org
The People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF/OC) is
composed primarily of left and progressive community, labor, civic, and
political organizations. They are working to advance the Katrina Reconstruction
and Justice movement, which seeks to advance community planning processes
in the most impacted Black communities in New Orleans; to develop institutions
that enable Hurricane survivors to maintain their self-determination and
meet their needs (examples include a women's clinic, co-ops, Survivors'
Assembly and others); and to build a grassroots movement for justice that
empowers citizens to take action and defend their human rights. PHRF/OC
is also a key player in advancing the following two projects: International
Tribunal on Katrina and the Levees are a Life and Death Campaign. The
tribunal campaign charges the U.S. government with human rights abuses
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina while the levee campaign calls for the
construction of a state of the art levee and water management system funded
by the federal government. To learn more about either of these projects,
visit the PHRF/OC website.
People's
Organizing Committee
www.peoplesorganizing.org
The mission of the People's Organizing Committee is to build and maintain
a coordinated network of community leaders, organizers and community based
organizations with the capacity and organizational infrastructure that
can help to meet the needs of people most impacted by Katrina and facilitate
an organizing process that will demand local, grassroots leadership in
the relief, return and reconstruction process in New Orleans. The Committee
is a great resource for those that want to get involved locally with the
rebuilding of New Orleans. This summer saw their first home gutting block
party, where five homes were gutted and cleaned. The Committee is also
sponsoring the Reconstruction Training Program with the New Orleans Survivor
Council, where community members with construction skills (carpentry,
plumbing, electrical, etc) will be paired with community members who want
to develop those skills while rebuilding homes.
Project
South: Institution for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide
www.projectsouth.org
Project South is a leadership development organization based in the US
South, creating spaces for movement building. They work with communities
pushed forward by the struggle to strengthen leadership and provide popular
political and economic education for personal and social transformation.
They build relationships with organizations and networks across the US
and global South to inform our local work and to engage in bottom-up movement
building for social and economic justice.
Project
South worked in coalition with others and participated in several marches
and demonstrations fighting for the right for the people of New Orleans
to return. They have also taken several groups of people on tours, utilizing
an activist perspective. In Atlanta, Project South helped to organize
displaced people who were staying in local hotels to make sure they didn't
get federal funds cut off.
Project
South is now focusing on research to track economic and political developments
in the Gulf Coast Region; findings will be available to organizing efforts
in the affected areas. As well, Project South continues to provide direct
support to grassroots groups seeking to re-organize.
Project
South also established the Justice Fund for Katrina Relief and Renewal
through:
The Southern Partner's Fund
www.spfund.org
Southern Partners Fund is a trusted resource with ties to grassroots movements
in the rural and urban South. Their efforts will be tracked, accountable,
and long-term during this crisis. They are essential in rebuilding for
the future.
The
Southern Empowerment Project
www.southernempowerment.org
SEP is a multi-racial association of member-run, member-based organizations;
this coalition stands with the oppressed, challenging racism and social
injustice. SEP recruits and trains community leaders to become organizers
to assist organizations in the South and Appalachia to solve community
problems.
SEP has used their website to create an immense online resource focusing
on the relief and rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. In addition to lists of
grassroots groups to support and donate to, SEP frequently updates their
website to include the most current news and analysis as the situation
in the region constantly changes. SEP provides the opportunity for solidarity
and active support directly to the community organizations and neighborhood
groups in the coastal regions of Louisiana and Mississippi so hard hit
by Hurricane Katrina. They are the institutions on the ground that speak
for people who have not been heard.
Food
Not Bombs
www.foodnotbombs.net/katrina.html
Since the hurricane struck, Food Not Bombs has been in Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Alabama getting hot meals to survivors of Katrina. Their work continues
with urgency, especially as New Orleans faces a drinking water crisis.
Food Not Bombs is collecting food, tools, water, and other essentials
to distribute to those in need. You can also use Food Not Bombs as a resource
to connect your with local food kitchens in your own community. Even a
year later, people remain homeless and hungry and help is needed.
The
National Organizers Alliance
www.noacentral.org
NOA, founded in 1993 by organizers working across the spectrum of progressive
social justice movements, has a two-fold purpose. NOA's mission is to
advance progressive organizing for social, economic and environmental
justice and to sustain, support and nurture the people of all ages who
do it. In furtherance of that goal, NOA's members are organizers who are
responsible to a defined constituency and who help build that constituency
through leadership development, collective action and the development
of democratic structures.
Many individuals would like to help community organizing groups or progressive
service providers that were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. NOA has provided
a list of organizations
to support. NOA, in collaboration with others, also created the Organizers
Respite Award to provide much needed relief to those working on the
front lines of rescue and recovery since the hurricane struck.
When
the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts: A Film by Spike Lee
www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/index.html
Like many who watched the unfolding drama on television news, director
Spike Lee was shocked not only by the scale of the disaster, but by the
slow, inept and disorganized response of the emergency and recovery effort.
Lee was moved to document this modern American tragedy, a morality play
witnessed by people all around the world. The resulting film is structured
in four acts, each dealing with a different aspect of the events that
preceded and followed Katrina's catastrophic passage through New Orleans.
The film was shown on HBO, commemorating the first anniversary of the
storm.
Native
Communities Specifically
Four
Directions Solidarity Network
www.eswn.org
Although largely unknown to the public and ignored by the press, numerous
Native tribes in the Gulf were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The fishing
industry at large was destroyed by water contamination, and tribal members
who rely on fishing (freezing seafood to get them through the winter)
for self-sufficiency have been left without a means to feed their families.
Four
Directions Solidarity Network was established in recognition that the
Native communities of southern Louisiana were under-served and in urgent
need of relief efforts. Four Directions worked in solidarity with five
tribes including the Bayou Lafourche, Isle de Jean Charles, and Grand
Caillou-Dulac Bands of the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees
(BCCM), Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT), and United Houma Nation.
Four Directions helped distribute food, appliances, and educational materials;
rebuild homes and develop community programs on self-determination and
cultural preservation; and garnered media attention and support for the
impacted Native communities.
Asian/Pacific
Islander American Community Specifically
In
the wake of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, there were 34,656 Vietnamese
living in federally declared disaster areas. It is not known yet how many
have lost their homes and their livelihoods. We need your help to support
the efforts of the local Asian/Pacific Islander American Community to
address the needs of people with language and cultural barriers.
Organization
of Chinese Americans-Greater Houston
www.ocahouston.org
OCA-Greater Houston anticipates that hurricane recovery and addressing
the needs of Katrina survivors will continue for at least two more years.
They encourage continued support of relief efforts, as the APIA community
faces cultural and language barriers in re-establishing their livelihoods.
OCA Greater Houston has set up a Legal Internship, Advocacy & Services
program to specifically work with their community partner organizations
to address the legal needs of Katrina survivors.
Boat People SOS
www.bpsos.org
BPSOS has extensive experience mounting large-scale rescue and relief
operations. In the 1980s, the organization rescued over three thousand
boat people at sea. In the 1990s, its legal assistance project helped
in the resettlement of 20,000 Vietnamese boat people from Vietnam. BPSOS'
20 programs currently serve some 10,000 refugees and immigrants a year.
Many
of the 30,000 Vietnamese living in the Gulf Coast region are still seeking
help and timely information. Through their three disaster relief centers
in the Gulf Coast and their branch offices, BPSOS is helping connect evacuees
with federal assistance and local resources including legal services,
housing assistance, clothing and supplies as well as other needs. Most
recently BPSOS has joined forces with other local groups to rebuild homes
in East Biloxi, MS and received initial funds from Church World Service/Habitat
for Humanity International to carry out this work.
Donations
by mail can be made to:
BPSOS
6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 100
Falls Church, Va. 22041
Attn. Hurricane Relief Fund
All donations are tax deductible.
Animal
Community
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of pets and stray animals
were stranded or separated from their owners, left to fend for themselves
in the storms and floods without food or water. Many of these animals
were not as fortunate as those who have since been reunited with their
owners, been adopted into new families, or await adoption in shelters
across the country. Some face serious behavioral challenges and others
have overcome great odds to recover from dehydration and starvation. The
rescue stories are inspiring and heart-wrenching and the work done by
animal shelters, rescuers and activists over the last year must be acknowledged.
Efforts continue to rehabilitate animals and get them into loving homes.
PAWS
Atlanta
www.pawsatlanta.org
This is an example of a local animal rescue group. Daemon Records raised
funds to help out PAWS of Atlanta. Many shelters, like PAWS, agreed to
take animals from the Gulf area shelters to make room for the rescued
animals who were being distributed to the closest shelters in Mississippi,
Alabama, or Louisiana. Local animal shelters across the country were invaluable
to the pet rescue effort. There are as many stories as there are animal
shelters. Check with your local shelter to see if they supported the Gulf
Coast and if their efforts are ongoing and need your support.
Farm
Sanctuary
farmsanctuary.org
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's largest farm animal rescue and protection
organization. They rescued more than seven hundred chickens, which were
trapped in their cages at a Tyson Foods facility in Mississippi after
the storm. Left to die, these chickens suffered from serious diseases
both from the result of the storm and the poor living conditions on the
factory farm. Since the rescue, the Farm Sanctuary has adopted out the
chickens or housed them on their own. Read
the full story here.
Farm
Sanctuary continues to raise money through their Katrina Farm Animal Rescue
Fund. This fund supports the continued care that the rescued chickens
require in their new home.
Best
Friends Animal Society
www.bestfriends.org
network.bestfriends.org/hurricane/news/
This grassroots animal welfare group has spread its efforts across the
U.S. They are extremely progressive and effective and got themselves into
the Hurricane zone very quickly using guerilla style tactics when necessary.
They asked the right questions and forced the government and businesses
to think about their approach to the animal situation in the rescue and
evacuation efforts during and after Katrina.
Best
Friends set up the Hurricane Relief Fund to raise money to support their
rescue efforts including assembling a dedicated team of rescuers who traveled
to the Gulf Coast region to rescue and care for stranded pets; their stories
can be read in the book Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New
Orleans. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Best
Friends rescue fund.
Over
the last year, through their network of local humane societies and local
rescue groups, Best Friends coordinated efforts for people to locate and
reunite with their lost pets. They also acted as an online clearinghouse
for news stories from local animal groups and individuals. Best Friends'
work continues as they seek training partners for Katrina dogs with behavioral
challenges.
Humane
Society of the United States
www.hsus.org
One year after the hurricane, click
here to watch the video of pet rescue, rehab and reunification.
The
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals
www.aspca.org
HSUS and ASPCA are two of the biggest organizations with the ability to
really reach out to the mainstream public. They lobbied hard for more
governmental response and support for pet rescue efforts. The legislative
result of these efforts is the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards
Act (PETS), a federal bill signed into law on October 6, 2006. The PETS
Act requires that state and local governments develop disaster plans for
companion animals, authorizes federal funds to states to construct pet-friendly
emergency shelters, and allows FEMA to provide assistance for individuals
with pets and service animals and the animals themselves following a major
disaster. This law stands as a landmark victory recognizing pets are a
part of the family and that no pet should ever be left behind.
Prison
Conditions, Human Rights and Racial Justice
Safe
Streets - Strong Communities
www.safestreetsnola.org
Safe Streets is a post-Katrina New Orleans based grassroots organization
comprised of community members most hurt by violent crime and decades
of failed public safety policies. We are parents who have lost children
to the streets, sisters and brothers who have lost siblings to the prison
system, young people who are harassed and intimidated by police who assume
we are all criminals. We are family members who have lost loved ones at
the hands of law enforcement and most importantly, we are leaders who
believe in the transformation of our communities and who are activated
to solve problems that harm our children and families. Our mission is
to build leadership in communities most impacted by violence and run campaigns
to transform the New Orleans criminal justice system into one that creates
safe streets and strong communities for everyone regardless of race and
income.
Families
and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
www.fflic.org
FFLIC is dedicated to creating a better life for all of Louisiana's youth,
especially those who are involved, or at risk of becoming involved in
the juvenile justice system. They use education, direct action organizing,
and peer advocacy to build strong, powerful families and communities and
to fight for justice for our children and ourselves. After Katrina hit,
FFLIC hit the streets and visited shelters looking for families with incarcerated
children in order to reunite them with their loved ones, get them out
of shelters and into better housing, and drove hundreds of miles to reconnect
families. FFLIC's story is one of courage, steadfastness, and hope. They
sent out a plea for help and were astounded by the response. Support,
supplies, and money poured in from around the world, enabling FFLIC to
contact their member base, identify their needs, and help where they could.
This became known as the Circle of Care, where much needed donations found
their way to those families and struggling to locate their children and
rebuild their lives.
Southern
Center for Human Rights
www.schr.org
In March 2006, the Southern Center for Human Rights released their report
on Pre- and Post-Katrina Indigent Defense in New Orleans. Nearly seven
thousand men and women who were too poor to afford an attorney were awaiting
trial when the levees broke. A majority of these people were being held
in the New Orleans Parish Prison when the city flooded and were evacuated
to prisons across the state. Many of these defendants remained behind
bars with no access to legal counsel. SCHR's report bares the truth about
the status of these arrestees. Read the full report here.
American
Civil Liberties Union
www.aclu.org/hurricanerelief
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the injustices it exposed, the ACLU
is tracking multiple issues including prison conditions, human rights,
and racial justice. A recently released report, Abandoned and Abused,
documents prisoners' experiences in the New Orleans Parish Prison during
and after the storm, including their transfer to other facilities. The
report reveals the dangerous and horrifying conditions that prisoners
were left to live in and the lack of planning for disaster at the prison.
The ACLU also formed a working group of individuals from their regional
offices to address critical issues facing hurricane survivors and the
failure of government agencies to prepare for and respond to such a disaster.
ACLU does not shy away from the tough issues and their accessible website
offers news and analysis, full length reports, feature stories, slideshows,
legal documents, fact sheets, and more.
National
Center for Transgender Equality
www.nctequality.org/resources/hurricane.asp
Last year when Hurricane Katrina struck, many transgender people were
victims of harassment and discrimination when seeking emergency relief
and support. Rather than being a safe place, shelters became places of
discrimination and fear. As a result, the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Transgender Equality
created a fact
sheet on Making Shelters Safe for Transgender People. This year, the
National Center for Transgender Equality is urging communities in areas
at risk for hurricanes to be prepared in advance. Their website has resources
for preparing disaster plans, emergency kits, legal documentation and
other items to take with you during an evacuation, and emergency legal
support contacts should you face discrimination as a transgender evacuee.
NCTE also provides a state by state list of trans and gender organizations
working in the Gulf states that are key local organizers and allies should
another storm emergency arise.
AIDS/HIV
Gulf
Coast HIV/AIDS Relief Fund
www.aidsfund.org
Individuals living with HIV/AIDS and population groups viewed as being
most at risk for HIV/AIDS remain particularly vulnerable and in need of
support. For that reason, ensuring the capacity of community-based organizations
in the region to provide high-quality HIV/AIDS prevention and care services
is a critical public health matter. Based on state health department data,
more than 21,000 people living with HIV/AIDS resided in the affected counties
of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi prior to Hurricane Katrina, with
nearly 7,400 living in the New Orleans metropolitan area. Immediately
following the storm through the Katrina HIV/AIDS Emergency Fund, the National
AIDS Fund awarded support to organizations in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Texas to provide emergency services to individuals and families affected
by HIV/AIDS who had been displaced by the storm.
Building on the Katrina HIV/AIDS Emergency Fund, NAF and the Ford Foundation
have established the Gulf Coast HIV/AIDS Relief Fund. In Winter 2006,
$500,000 in grants were awarded to community-based organizations in the
southern and central areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that
were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The
New Orleans AIDS Task Force
hwww.noaidstaskforce.com
The New Orleans AIDS Task Force is the oldest HIV/AIDS service organization
in the South. With their offices devastated by Hurricane Katrina, NO/AIDS
has spent the year rebuilding its infrastructure while continuing to provide
important medication and services to their scattered clients. Medical
resources remain strained in the Gulf Region, but NO/AIDS is making essential
progress. Their largest fundraiser, NO/AIDS Walk, was cancelled in 2005
due to the storms so the staff quickly developed a "Virtual Walk"
where people could participate all over the world to raise money for the
task force.
National
Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA)
www.napwa.org
NAPWA advocates on behalf of all people living with HIV and AIDS in order
to end the pandemic and the human suffering caused by HIV/AIDS. NAPWA
works to strengthen the voice of over a million Americans living
with HIV and AIDS, and is the oldest national AIDS organization in the
U.S. NAPWA’s programs respond to the changing needs of the epidemic
by developing positive leadership in people living with HIV and AIDS,
advocating for the needs of those living with HIV or at risk of becoming
infected and now working with a growing movement of people with AIDS throughout
the developing world. NAPWA takes its HIV/AIDS advocacy role seriously,
whether it's demanding appropriate government action or mobilizing organizations
and communities to offer accessible, integrated HIV services for at-risk
individuals. NAPWA has advocated strongly on behalf of people living
with HIV who were impacted by hurricane Katrina, and the annual conference
sponsored by NAPWA ("Staying Alive") was held in December 2006
in New Orleans.
Environment
Hurricane
Katrina has been called the single worst environmental disaster in U.S.
history. Eighty percent of New Orleans was flooded with contaminated waters,
leaving behind a toxic mess of chemicals and other hazardous materials
including arsenic and other heavy metals in the soil. The region also
faces a huge increase in solid waste - from personal belongings to homes
and cars scattered in the storm - and where to put it all. Rapidly eroding
coast lines and submerged marshland will contribute to the poor water
management already experienced in the region. Despite the devastation,
the hurricanes have offered an unimaginable laboratory to learn from past
mistakes and to rebuild in an ecological and just manner. The following
are just a few groups working to do just that.
Louisiana
Environmental Action Network
www.leanweb.org
The purpose of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is to
foster cooperation and communication between individual citizens and corporate
and government organizations in an effort to assess and mend the environmental
problems in Louisiana. LEAN's website details the environmental and human
health impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It is a good resource for
learning about how the land was impacted by the storm and the threats
to public health during and after the storm.
Deep
South Center for Environmental Justice
www.dscej.org/
A research center at Dillard University in New Orleans, the DSCEJ is focusing
on research, policy, and community outreach and assistance and education
for the displaced population of New Orleans. Combining issues of ecological
integrity and jobs, the DSCEJ is committed to developing a fair reconstruction
plan. Their Katrina Survivor Project provides an opportunity for community
leaders to voice their concern about how New Orleans will be re-shaped
by race and class and how these social issues intersect with the environment.
On October 19-21, 2006, DSCEJ hosted the symposium Race, Place, and the
Environment After Katrina. Using an environmental justice perspective,
the symposium explored the idea of geographic vulnerability while the
city’s clean up remains one of the greatest challenges in environmental
history.
National
Black Environmental Justice Network
www.nbejn.org
The mission of the National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN)
is to enable African Americans to secure environmental and economic justice,
health equity, political, power, and civil rights and human rights. NBEJN
calls Hurricane Katrina an environmental disaster of unprecedented proportions.
Find out how to help by connecting with NBEJN.
Natural
Resources Defense Council
www.nrdc.org
Along with its high winds and surging waters, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
unleashed an array of environmental hazards to overcome including solid
waste disposal, hazardous chemicals, oil and gas spills and many others.
In the first week of October, a team of NRDC experts went to Louisiana
at the request of local partner groups, including the Deep South Center
for Environmental Justice and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network,
to gather first-hand information about the health and environmental after-effects
of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Read
more.
Resource
for Teachers
An
Unnatural Disaster: A Critical Resource Guide for Addressing the Aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina in the Classroom
www.nycore.org/katrina.html
The New York Collective of Radical Educators released
the first version of this guide just days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged
the Gulf Coast. It has since been revised and updated to include resources
for rebuilding and recovery. This is an invaluable tool for engaging students
in critical dialogue around Hurricane Katrina and issues of racism, classism,
poverty, environmental justice, and federal response and failure.
Studies
and Reports
Irrevocably
changed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, people's lives and communities
were affected in dramatic ways. In order to sort through the storm's impact,
diverse organizations set about writing and issuing reports on the state
of everything from schools and education to human rights violations and
prison conditions. Here are just a few studies we thought are good reading.
Abandoned
& Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina
American Civil Liberties Union
A
Safe Way Back Home
Project of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Big,
Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast
Corp Watch
Envisioning
a Better Mississippi: Hurricane Katrina and Mississippi - One Year Later
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Forgotten
Communities, Unmet Promises: An Unfolding Tragedy on the Gulf Coast
Oxfam America
The
Invisible Tide: Vietnamese Americans in Biloxi, MS
National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies
Race
to Rebuild: The Color of Opportunity and the Future of New Orleans
Center for Social Inclusion
Treated
Like Trash: Juvenile Detention in New Orleans Before, During, and After
Hurricane Katrina
Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
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