community empowerment

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, communities across the Gulf Coast began to meet, share experiences, and work together across previous geographic and racial divides.  Now facing new and ongoing challenges like the BP oil disaster, hurricane "recovery" efforts, and coastal land loss, these communities continue to rely on and strengthen these relationships. [...Read more]

Drive down this short stretch of St. Bernard Avenue, and you will see signs of a struggling neighborhood in despair. Bars, blighted homes, metal-grated storefronts, and the still-shuttered Circle Food Store tell the story of this strip.  Here in New Orleans’ 7th ward, hope and sustenance have been drained by Katrina’s floodwaters, and by decades of racism’s insidious trend of sapping vital resources from a community. [...Read more]