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Hurricane Relief Trip Main
Application Form
Trip-Related Links
Indy Media in
affected areas
Effect of Katrina on Mississippi
Lean on Me, Inc.
Multimedia Presentations from Previous Macalester Relief Trips
2006 Macalester Trip
Movie
Trailer: Mississippi Blue
Louisiana Memorial Tribute
Recommended Readings
Understanding
Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences
New York Times: Road
to Rebirth Diverges on a Mississippi Bridge
Editorial:
Death of an American City
Take Action in Rebuilding the Gulf
List of Relief Organizations
You can Participate |
Relief Organizations
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.
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.
Native Communities Specifically
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
www.eswn.org
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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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