The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF) was established in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in September 2005.  Its initial funding —approximately $13 million dollars—came exclusively from donations made by everyday people in the United States and around the world.  Since those early days, LDRF has continued to receive contributions from individuals and from corporations, national foundations, and the Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund as well.  To date, the foundation has assets close to $40 million.  Its mission—to support and work with private, nonprofit organizations engaged in recovery efforts in the state—is the same.  LDRF strives to be as responsive as possible to requests for relief, recovery, and betterment.

This goal and the foundation's strong connections throughout the state made it a particularly appropriate foundation sponsor for “Hurricane Katrina, One Year Later:  Remembrance, Recognition, Recovery,” a town hall meeting hosted by television and radio host Tavis Smiley.  The town hall was taped before a live audience on August 10 and aired in two parts between August 17th and 21st on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS.   Held at Loyola University, the meeting was opened and closed by LDRF chief executive officer Sherece West; the LDRF board chair, former Ambassador to South Africa James Joseph, took part in the portion of the program recorded for radio. Panelists appearing in the televised broadcast were:

• Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO, PolicyLink, a national organization working with affordable housing and equity advocates throughout Louisiana;
• Jed Horne, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City;
• Charmaine Marchand, Louisiana State Representative, Lower Ninth Ward;
• Royce Osborn, New Orleans-based filmmaker;
• Warren Riley, New Orleans Chief of Police; and
• Irma Thomas, New Orleans singer-songwriter.

You can listen to audio or read the transcripts of the program by clicking on http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200608/20060817.html.

Do you know displaced residents from Louisiana who are looking for information about rebuilding efforts back home?

LouisianaRebuilds.info is a web portal and call center that connects Louisiana residents wherever they are to an extensive and regularly updated source of information.  By going to www.LouisianaRebuilds.info or calling 1-877-LA-Rebuilds (1-877-527-3284), residents seeking information can find out about services, resources, and support networks for rebuilding lives, homes, communities, and the state.  Call center operators are available 24 hours a day and can respond in several languages, including English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and several Chinese dialects. 

As the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the National Alliance to Restore Opportunity to the Gulf Coast and Displaced Persons calls for a Season of Prayer and Call to Action to urge the federal government to provide adequate resources in the rebuilding of the region, and to broaden support for and heighten awareness of organizations working to improve the lives of Gulf Coast residents.

As part of its ongoing efforts, the alliance initiated a Petition for Fairness and Opportunity, located on its website, www.linkedfate.org.  Its Opportunity Platform encourages individuals affiliated with congregations, unions, block associations, and other organizations to call for the federal government to: 1) rebuild the Gulf Region and ensure that the people of New Orleans never again face the devastation wrought by failed levees and decimated wetlands; 2) ensure the right of displaced Gulf Coast residents to return to real opportunity by significantly improving upon the conditions that existed prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, conditions that embodied the racial and economic inequalities of the nation; 3) provide opportunities and support for displaced Gulf Coast residents who cannot or will not return and support communities that have so generously received them; 4) bring federal resources to the region without taking funds away from programs that already serve people in need; and 5) establish an independent commission with regional and national representation to guarantee transparency and fairness in the rebuilding process.

The alliance is a national coalition of faith-based and social justice organizations. Please visit www.linkedfate.org for a list of primary organizers, Katrina fact sheets, talking points, the Take Action Toolkit, alliance and affiliated partners’ events, reports, and other information for getting involved and supporting efforts to ensure an equitable rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.

Improving Fresh Food Retailing in Small Stores

As a result of decades of inequitable public policymaking and private-sector disinvestments, many low-income communities of color are plagued by a “grocery gap”—a lack of access to full-service supermarkets offering produce and other fresh, healthy foods.  Food options in these neighborhoods are often limited to fast food outlets and small convenience stores.  Healthy Food, Healthy Communities:  Improving Access and Opportunities Through Food Retailing, a PolicyLink report released in 2005 detailed strategies to expand fresh food access through developing new grocery stores, improving the selection and quality of food in existing smaller stores, and starting and sustaining farmers’ markets.  Representative Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) is working to bring federal attention to the issue of small store improvement with her plan to introduce the Bodegas as a Catalyst for Healthy Living Act (“bodega” is a commonly-used term for small corner convenience-like stores that are prevalent in New York City—particularly in communities of color—and other urban areas).  The legislation would create Small Business Administration grants to assist bodega and corner store owners in increasing their offerings of fresh produce (which is more difficult and costly to stock than packaged, nonperishable foods), milk, and juices.  To learn more about the emerging effort to build awareness around food access issues, read coverage of the bodega legislation in Salon.com and City Limits.    

Chicago Passes Big Box Living Wage Legislation

In July, the Chicago City Council passed a historic measure that requires “big box” stores—retailers with at least 90,000 square feet of space and gross annual corporate sales over $1 billion—to pay workers a living wage of at least $10 per hour by 2010 (and either offer benefits or an additional supplemental $3 per hour).  ACORN, Chicago’s Grassroots Collaborative, and the Brennan Center for Justice led a coalition of labor, antipoverty, and faith-based organizations in drafting and lobbying for the legislation.  Chicago was previously the site of a contentious debate over the sustainability of big box jobs and economic development when Wal-Mart sought to open its first store within city limits; a Wal-Mart was eventually approved for construction on the city’s west side.  Mayor Richard Daley, who has criticized the big box wage legislation, has until mid-September to decide whether to sign or veto the measure, and advocates are working to secure support in the council, should a vote to override a mayoral veto become necessary.  Meanwhile, ACORN members are staging nationwide protests against Target, charging that retailer with “redlining” minority communities —threatening to cancel plans for stores in three predominantly African American city neighborhoods, while proceeding to open a store in one of the city’s largely white areas.  To learn more about Chicago’s big box living wage ordinance, and access legal and economic analyses of the policy, visit the Brennan Center for Justice’s retail living wage resources page.    

Creating and Preserving Affordable Housing in Baltimore

Baltimore moved one step closer to expanding housing opportunity for low- and middle-income communities with the recent release of At Home in Baltimore:  A Plan for an Inclusive City of Neighborhoods, the report of the Baltimore City Task Force on Inclusionary Zoning and Housing.  Since the city council established the task force in late 2005, the group has convened area planners, real estate professionals, and civic leaders, as well as prominent national housing developers and experts, to help form recommendations for an inclusionary zoning (IZ) policy in Baltimore—a struggling “older core” city now undergoing a building boom that affordable housing advocates worry will rapidly gentrify some neighborhoods and displace longtime low-income residents of color.  The task force’s report endorses numerous strategies for inclusionary housing in Baltimore, including strengthening homeownership counseling programs, establishing an inclusionary housing trust fund, leveraging public subsidies and rezoning to create affordable housing, and advocating for increased support at the state level.  To learn more about inclusionary zoning in Baltimore or get involved with the IZ advocacy effort, contact the Citizens Planning and Housing Association.

On Thursday, August 17, Tavis Smiley announced the launch of the new, interactive Covenant with Black America website.   The new site builds on the success of The Covenant with Black America (Third World Press, 2006) which reached number one on the New York Times paperback bestseller list last spring. "We wanted to move from a site that simply provided information about the Covenant to one that allows everyone committed to creating a Covenant project to meet and share ideas,” said Smiley.

Site visitors can sign the official Covenant pledge, send legislators a copy of the Covenant policy goals, link to voter registration sites, and download tools for organizing and research. The website also gives people a forum to connect and join efforts with other activists across the country.  One of the most exciting features of the redesigned portal is the blog, which features weekly thought-provoking entries from some of the Covenant experts.  Smiley provided the first piece of commentary, which asks the question: What is the magnet that will draw people back to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans? Visitors can answer the question on the Covenant with Black America site. The next blog will be written by PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell, then Princeton University Professor Cornel West, followed by other scholars and community activists currently working to advance the Covenant agenda.

The website was built around ways to get involved and is targeted at individuals, faith based organizations, and community groups.  In order to use the weight, effort, and integrity of the black church and organizations working out in the field to promote the Covenant policy goals, the site offers suggestions and opportunities to actively pursue an aggressive agenda for what must be done as we move towards midterm elections.  Smiley plans to grow the site and increase its capability and functionality over the next two years leading up to the 2008 presidential election.  After the great success of the book, these are the next steps in the strategy to make black America better.

Infrastructure is the skeletal support of communities and regions—yet except in times of crisis, most people seldom think about infrastructure and how energy, communications, roads, schools, parks, bridges, and sewers are part of a comprehensive system for supporting communities and regions.  The devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina, however, thrust the word “infrastructure” into the consciousness of the nation and left many wondering about its meaning in the Gulf Coast and curious about its significance in their own communities.  In the current Policy Matters website column, PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell discusses the importance of infrastructure in building and maintaining healthy, vibrant communities, and outlines seven principles for ensuring that infrastructure policy decisions equitably benefit all communities throughout a region.