Give me a gift!!!! OF JUSTICE

Thank goodness the NYTimes had their section on Giving include something on Katrina. The whole section is really well done. Make sure you read about the giving circles (the giving circle of my hopes and dreams is now up and running! hooray!) as well as the multimedia Katrina feature "Volunteering to Rebuild New Orleans." I am so into the giving circle idea, by the way, and I'll do another post on that later.

So, Katrina...First check out some pictures. They may not be the best and most amazing but are pretty good to get a sense of it all. Or you can see some of mine. Note that all of these houses are completely empty still.

The best thing about being in the Gulf Coast was witnessing the profound spirit and power of people coming together. As the NYTimes talks about in that media section, there has been a strong committed community of regular volunteers. They are starting to taper off, so if you have any chance of getting down there, PLEASE go to it! You should make use of your Xmas time etc to make a real difference and witnessed what I have seen. Check out Common Ground and Samaritan's purse for group coordination.

Again, as I noted above--no below--we are 15 months post disaster and still we are witnessing a profoundly devastated area. Definitely the most disturbing thing I've seen in the USA.

The inspiring thing is about the groups on the ground, those who will continue their work regardless of whether FEMA gives them funding to do their services or whether they raise national funds from foundations, and many of them haven't been able to. These are worthy groups, and if you are able to give something to one of these groups, please let me know via email or in the comments and I will be very grateful for that.

Here are some amazing groups to consider making donations to:

COALITION BUILDING of grassroots groups: While this may not sound as important, this is incredibly vital work to bring together those working on cross cutting issues and amplify their voices. Mississippi has a Coalition of several agencies called the Steps Coalition which works on health, housing, children, etc. Amazing organizations here that need capacity building and to be strengthened by this network.

HOUSING/ECONOMIC JUSTICE: The Mississippi Center for Justice is an impressive group doing economic and racial justice work. Watch their neat video. Wow...ACORN has done tremendous adovacy work, so has PICO-LIFT and All Congregations Together. They are fighting the very good, very long fight. This housing situation is CRAZY!

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: I absolutely loved the Turkey Creek Community Initiatives . Ben knows how gaga I went for them. This is environmental justice, pure, through and through. They are doing cultural and environmental conservation work on this historic, African american area. Moving Forward Gulf Coast is also impressive. The others are bigger and have gotten lots of attention so I won't go into them.

IMMIGRANT EXPLOITATION: The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance supports the immigrants who have faced tremendous burdens both pre and post disaster. They are helping immigrants to receive back-pay for earnings they were cheated out of by contractors. This is a situation I was very unaware of, but has truly hurt the Latino community.

WOMEN's RIGHTS: Coastal Women for Change was started post-Katrina by a local woman to give low income and women of color a voice in the rebuilding process. This is an AMAZING group!!! Friends & Families of Lousiana's Incarcerated Children was formed when one mother saw her child get sent to Tallulah prison. She organized a number of women and started doing direct advocacy work around the abuses around the juvenile justice system. This is amazing too!!!

NATIVE AMERICANS: Look at the Houma Tribe's cultural education work in rural Louisiana. They, like other racial minorities, were disproportionately affected by the storm.

YOUTH: Kid Camera Project is innovative and new, putting cameras into kids hands to document the devastation. I really appreciate the history of the Neighborhood Story Project that is doing incredible work to rebuild the area by turning the youth into ethnographers and oral historians. This is especially important as the history has been demolished. The work of Youth Empowerment Project has become even more important and timely now to serve adjudicated youth through legal advocacy, aftercare & case management post Katrina. They did great work after the hurricane.

All of these groups were incredibly nimble after Katrina—they reached out and traveled around the country to provide services, they brought back kids for programming, they sent checks for rent payment, they got food and water to their constituents, and they organized them to fight for change.

And check out what Charity Navigator (leading Charity evaluading site, amazing and necessary tool for philanthropists of all levels) says about the Katrina faisco.

Anyway, as the holidays come, please consider making a donation to these very important groups that have all but stopped their work in the face of such huge obstacles. Please please remember them! Don't give me a gift, give me and these groups the gift of hope! If I got nothing out of that trip, I want to spread the word about these groups.

Of all those groups, I am sure you can find something that meets your fancy. And I can personally testify for all of them.