Progressive Donations for Katrina Victims

thanks to Yee Won Chong and Cliff Lee
9/2/05

Peoples Hurricane Fund
Other Funds

(The following is a statement issued by Community Labor United in New Orleans)

The Displaced New Orleans Community Demands Action, Accountability and Initiates a People's Hurricane Fund

Not until the fifth day of the federal government's inept and inadequate emergency response to the New Orleans disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it was "unacceptable." "Unacceptable" doesn't begin to describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism shown to the people of New Orleans. The government's actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40% illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.

The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans.

Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, has brought community members together for eight years to discuss socio-economic issues. We have been communicating with people from The Quality Education as a Civil Right Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young People's Project and the Louisiana Research Institute for Community Empowerment. We are preparing a press release and framing document that will be out as a draft later today for comments.
Here is what we are calling for:

• * We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in the city to be evacuated immediately.
  * We are calling for information about where every evacuee was taken. We are calling for black and progressive leadership to come together to meet in Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community Oversight Committee of evacuees from all the sites. This committee will demand to oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting resources on behalf of our people.
  * We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters where our people are and to assist parents with housing, food, water, health care and access to aid.
  * We are calling for teachers and educators to carve out some time to come to evacuation sites and teach our children.
  * We are calling for city schools and universities near evacuation sites to open their doors for our children to go to school.
  * We are calling for health care workers and mental health workers to come to evacuation sites to volunteer.
  * We are calling for lawyers to investigate the wrongful death of those who died, to protect the land of the displaced, to investigate whether the levies broke due to natural and other related matters.
  * We are calling for evacuees from our community to actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
  * We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant list serves and press contacts to send our information.
  * We are in the process of setting up a central command post in Jackson, MS, where we will have phone lines, fax, email and a web page to centralize information. We will need volunteers to staff this office.

We have set up a People's Hurricane Fund that will be directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees. The Vanguard Public Foundation has agreed to accept donations on behalf of this fund. The Vanguard Public Foundation has a long history of social justice activism and also has the staff capacity to manage this level of effort.

Danny Glover, who was one of the original conveners of the first national meeting of the Quality Education as a Civil Right Campaign (QECR) at Howard University in March, 2005, serves as the Honorary Chairperson of the QECR Coordinating Committee. Mr. Glover also is the co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Vanguard Public Foundation.

Tax-Exempt donations can be made out to:
The People's Hurricane Fund
c/o Vanguard Public Foundation
383 Rhode Island St., Ste 301
San Francisco, CA 94103

If you have comments on how to proceed or need more information, please email them to Curtis Muhammad (muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net) and Becky Belcore (bbelcore@hotmail.com).
Thank you.

Donating to trusted local groups:

1. Enterprise Corporation of the Delta: ECD is a strong CDFI based in Jackson, with credit union branches in New Orleans and Gulfport. It has set up a Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund for anyone willing and able to make a contribution to help the region recover. ECD will coordinate its lending and relief efforts with the Red Cross, state and municipal governments, CDFIs, and others. If you would like to make a contribution, please send your check to: Enterprise Corporation of the Delta c/o Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund 222 North President Street Suite 220 Jackson, MS 39201 You can contact ECD at (601) 944-1100 or you can go to their website for more information (www.ecd.org).

2. Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.Southern Mutual Help Association in New Iberia, LA has an urgent call out to any organizations and donors that can assist them with helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. SMHA has a solid track record of working with rural people and communities in Southern LA. Please contact Lorna Bourg, smha@southernmutualhelp.org or by phone (337) 367-3277, with any assistance or contributions.

3. Gulf Coast Community FoundationThe Gulf Coast Community Foundation in Biloxi, MS will have a mailing address to receive contributions. In the meantime, they are using the facilities of www.networkforgood.org. Just type in Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Mississippi. 4. Greater New Orleans Foundation The Greater New Orleans Foundation has established a fund to receive on-line contributions for hurricane relief in that community. Go to the foundation's website (www.gnof.org) and click on Hurricane Katrina Recovery Fund.

4. Baton Rouge Area FoundationThe Hurricane Katrina Displaced Residents Fund – will benefit those individuals evacuated to Baton Rouge from the hurricane impacted areas in Greater New Orleans, who are now unable to return for what maybe an extended period. The Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Recovery Fund – will focus on the rebuilding of infrastructure to provide basic human services to residents of these devastated areas. If you would like to make a contribution, please send your check to: Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund 402 N. 4th Street Baton Rouge, LA 70802

You can also offer housing for evacuees from the Gulf Region