In Katrina’s Wake, Oxfam Seeks to Focus New Attention on Poverty in America
12 October 2005
Hurricane Katrina uncorked the discussion on poverty in America. How can Oxfam America and its partners in the Gulf Coast states push that conversation into a top spot on the nation's agenda?
That's the question that Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, and a handful of Oxfam colleagues have resolved to answer with the help of local partner organizations after touring hurricane-battered East Biloxi, Mississippi, last weekend.
From the rubble-strewn yards of Crawford Street to the moldy apartments of immigrant workers on Pass Road, Hurricane Katrina left a deep impression on the Oxfam visitors—and a determination to keep the nation's attention sharply focused on the multi-layered issues around poverty that the storm has now exposed.
"There is an opportunity to keep the conversation going while the planning [for reconstruction] goes on," said Offenheiser. "Beyond the storm, what should we be thinking about poverty in America?"
Much of the answer can be found right here in East Biloxi—a case study for neglected interests and silenced voices. It took the Federal Emergency Management Agency weeks to set up a disaster recovery center in this poor, largely African-American section of the city. The burden of feeding, clothing, and sheltering many victims in the days after the storm fell largely on local organizations, churches predominant among them.
Now, as East Biloxi shifts from emergency response to the enormous task of rebuilding itself, critical questions are emerging about insurance issues, land rights, housing, and long-term employment opportunities for community residents. Among the local partner organizations the Oxfam contingent discussed these ideas with on Saturday were the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
"People are trying to pull together as best they can to deal with the crisis," said John Ambler, Oxfam's vice president for programs, after driving through street after street piled with the splintered remains of homes. One of the many issues people will need help with, he said, is finding sources of income so they won't be forced to sell their land at fire-sale rates to developers. They'll need help convincing insurance companies to cover the damages caused by Katrina. Residents need a way to get mold out of their homes as quickly as possible, before they become too unhealthy to occupy. And elderly people on fixed incomes need enough cash to make major repairs to their homes—and save them from the wrecking ball.
With billions of federal dollars promised for reconstruction of the Gulf Coast states, the question of who has a say in how and where that money gets spent is of paramount importance to East Biloxi.
"It's not obvious that people from places like East Biloxi will have any say in decisions about where the money is spent," said Ambler. "There is no obvious mechanism for them to contribute their voices. And that's one of our major objectives: Get them more voice in the planning."
Linked to that is a second objective: raising the larger issues about poverty in America, which robs more than 34 million people of the opportunities the rest of the country enjoys.
"Up to now, we haven't been at the table," Bill Stallworth, who represents Ward 2 on Biloxi's city council, told the Oxfam visitors. "We're going to have to raise enough hell to be heard. That's a tack we haven't been able to take. We're going to need your help."
Oxfam America has already taken several important steps in that direction for this storm-weary section of the city. It has provided the seed funding for the East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center, an information hub on Division Street. Equipped with phones, Internet-wired computers, and meeting tables, the coordination center is matching a host of volunteer services with a host of residential needs. It has also launched a community-wide needs assessment to tally the short-term requirements of East Biloxi residents as well as to gather information that will help address their long-term needs.
"It couldn't have happened without Oxfam—any of this coordination effort," said Stallworth. "When somebody comes along and sees the value in an idea and puts the financial resources behind it, at that point they have done something that is just immeasurable. I love that we-can-do attitude."
Now, the challenge is to push the issues affecting East Biloxi residents—and by extension the issues of poor people everywhere—onto the national policy agenda.
"You can change the direction of a nation if you're at the right place and talk to the right person," said Stallworth. "From this kernel [of resolve] that was planted today, you can change the lives of thousands of people."
