Knock and the Door Shall Open. Finally!

Since the passage of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast advocates across the region have had to battle against the lack of principled leadership dedicated to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable families who were impacted by the 2005 storms. We have also had to fight an uphill battle in Washington, DC and indeed nationwide with Katrina fatigue.

Let me be clear though, the fatigue is felt not by the thousands of volunteers who have come to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to sweat alongside families struggling to repair their homes and communities. I speak instead of the fatigue of past policymakers and officials in the federal government and in Congress who couldn’t seem to understand why recovery and rebuilding would take more than 1-2 years as described in the Washington Post among many other newspapers.  Yet, recently, since the seating of the 111^th Congress and the establishment of the Obama Administration, there seems to be a lot of reasons to hope.

I have visited DC several times to advocate for a more equitable recovery as a proud participant and a recently elected board member, of the tri-state the Equity and Inclusion Campaign. The Campaign is a nonpartisan policy advocacy and public messaging campaign advocating for fulfillment of the federal commitment to confront persistent poverty and inequity during the Gulf Coast recovery and rebuilding process. As a coalition we are working to effect systemic change that will establish sustainable Gulf Coast communities characterized by economic, social and environmental fairness.

Our most important premise is that the people on the ground, residents of disaster-affected communities, have the deepest and most relevant insight on how to rebuild in an equitable manner. It is also a key tenant of equitable development, which my organization,PolicyLink works to advance at the policy level. In our many trips, we have asked for many policy solutions that could address our needs but have had marginal success. Recently, this seemed to change as we were welcomed by Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as members of the Obama administration, all of whom seemed to really listen to our key policy ask – an empowered Gulf Coast Coordinator who would be accountable to affected Gulf Coast residents.

For the first time, one of our policy asks was echoed by the entire Louisiana Congressional delegation in a letter to Obama Administration. After months and years of banging on the door, finally, with a couple of knocks, we see it opening just a crack. Yes, there is a reason to hope, but hopefully that hope will result in a more equitable recovery for all.