Stories of Women's Hope, Activism and Leadership Across the Gulf Coast
From Ms. Foundation:
Women are building houses and communities, sheltering the homeless and preventing domestic violence, and advocating for policies and approaches that improve life in the areas devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with help from the Ms. Foundation through its Katrina Women's Response fund.
The fund has raised $1.3 million in the aftermath of the storms to help elevate the voices of low-income women in the Gulf - especially those of color - and to ensure that their leadership is central to the region's recovery process.
One year into that process, these women are speaking out about their experiences rebuilding their communities and fighting for their rightful places at the decision making table - battling not just water and high winds for the survival of their communities as they knew them, but also the government itself.
"Funding community-based women's organizations in the Gulf Coast has offered the opportunity to help elevate women's voices, support their leadership and bring them to the policy table as real partners.
Undaunted, Chief Robichaux quickly pulled the tribe's resources together, providing assistance to thousands of Houma families by delivering furniture, food and hope, and offering the benefits of a tight-knit community.
- Mary Croom Fontenot, Executive Director, All Congregations Together (ACT), New Orleans.
Five days post-Katrina, ACT took a group of clergy and families from all over New Orleans to Washington, D.C., where they met with 40 members of Congress.
Give Una Anderson three or four weeks, and she'll give you an affordable house, complete with the little touches that make it distinctively New Orleans.
- Carol Burnett, Executive Director, Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative.
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