“See, with a storm, (there’s) damage and you come back, you know,” Duncan said recently while mending a hole in one of his fishing nets in Venice, LA. “This here is different than a storm .First time we ever had something like this. (With a storm) if people lost their job and didn’t have their job, they come and fish. This here is the life of the people here, fishing. This is their lifeline here. A lot of people make their living and survive with their fishing.”
Duncan has spent the past five years trying to rebuild his life since Hurricane Katrina swept through Louisiana. And although the storm was severe, he suffered the most damage afterwards when a private company from New York, hired by the Coast Guard, came through Venice and began delivering on their mandate to lift swamped boats like Duncan’s from the water. Instead of cloth ties, the company used metal cables for the task, destroying the fiberglass hull on Duncan’s boat and dozens of others—before the Coast Guard could stop it.
Now the fishermen on the Gulf Coast are getting hit again. Duncan has barely been able to get out to fish the areas he’s out on almost daily during this time of year. In a normal year he’d plan on fishing four months out of the year – and earning a year’s income in that time. Since the spill however, he’s already lost one month and expects to lose at least two more. With authorities opening and closing fishing areas on a case by case basis, he goes out when he can. Meanwhile, the bills pile up and he says, plainly, that he doesn’t know where he’s going to get the money to pay off the note on his boat. He hopes assistance will come from BP but hasn’t talked to any company representatives in the nearly two months since the spill. No one from the government has been by to offer their help either.
Much of the physical and financial help that arrived after Katrina never reached its intended targets. Many worry the same will happen again, with assistance going to those best prepared to navigate the complex levels of bureaucracy that come with a multi-billion dollar effort like the Road Home recovery program in Louisiana or now, the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. In many cases, the most vulnerable people have the hardest time getting help.
“People in the Gulf Coast are famously resilient, but they are running out of options. The response is way too slow for people who depend on the gulf for their livelihoods,” said Minor Sinclair, director of Oxfam’s United States Regional Office. “It was true with Katrina and it’s true now---communities need to be part of the solution and part of making sure it never happens again.”
Oxfam is working to ensure the voices from those communities are heard, convening meetings with community members and state and federal officials along the coast, working to have Oxfam partners represented in the media coverage of this disaster, and bringing coastal residents to Washington, DC to testify before congress and meet with elected officials. While BP’s establishment of the $20-billion escrow account for those affected by the spill will help, there is for those affected by the spill, there is much work to be done to ensure that those funds actually make it to their intended recipients, unlike with previous recovery efforts, and that community voices are continually heard in the recovery process.
And while there is serious concern among those most directly affected by the disaster, there is still significant resolve to continue living their lives and come back from this as they have come back from so many disasters before.
“I think it’s serious what’s happening here,” said Duncan. “We don’t know the effect of this, nobody don’t know how long the effect is going to be. (But) whatever we got to do, we got to do.”
]]>Sharon Hanshaw, executive director of the Oxfam America partner organization Coastal Women for Change (CWC), has been working to help Biloxi residents prepare for hurricane season. Now, she says, many locals fear that they will no longer be able to earn a living from the Gulf waters—and in a city already battling poverty and the legacy of Hurricane Katrina, this could be one uncertainty too many.
“People are in panic mode,” says Hanshaw. “They’re worrying: ‘I might lose my job, I might lose my job.’ What does that do to you and your family?”
The oil spill threatens a region already hit hard by poverty and unemployment. The Oxfam-funded 2008 report Measure of America ranked Mississippi and other Gulf Coast states as the lowest in the country on educational attainment, life expectancy, and level of income.
Hanshaw estimates that at least 20 percent of people in her native East Biloxi rely on fishing and shrimping to support their families. Many more work in related industries, including restaurants, shipbuilding, and the city’s 11 seafood processing plants. “Fish and shrimp: that’s how we live,” she says.
With the oil spill approaching the Gulf Coast, “fishermen fear this could be the end of their career,” says Hanshaw. “They’re asking questions like, what kind of compensation can I receive? Can I still fish and be okay? How long, if the spill reaches land, will I be out of work?”
Though community members have attended three meetings with BP officials, Hanshaw notes that straight answers are in short supply. “We get emails from the Environmental Protection Agency, BP, local organizations, national organizations—all with different information. There’s not one email with the same stuff,” she says. “There’s a lot of unanswered [questions], uneasiness.”
Cultural and language barriers also add to a sense of exclusion and misinformation. “The Vietnamese-American community is the majority of fishermen here. It’s their livelihood,” says Hanshaw. But, she adds, many Vietnamese fishermen don’t have computers or internet access—and key resources, like the BP insurance claims phone line, don’t provide Vietnamese translators.
“In East Biloxi, the Vietnamese community was left out during the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina,” adds Hanshaw. “Many are afraid it will happen again.”
Memories of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still fresh in Biloxi, where 52 people died and more than 5,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. With the start of hurricane season approaching on June 1, Hanshaw says many residents are worried about the next big storm.
Many in the low- and middle-income neighborhood of East Biloxi are still fighting what they see as an inequitable recovery process. Right now, Hanshaw’s group is protesting the closing of three local schools, including the historically African-American Nichols Elementary. School superintendent Dr. Paul Tisdale attributed the closings to budget cuts and poor enrollment, but Hanshaw sees post-Katrina displacement as the root of the issue.
“Instead of building back affordable houses as soon as they could, the municipality had developers from other cities build condos and casinos,” explains Hanshaw. As a result, many families were forced to move out of the area, while others displaced by the storm still haven’t returned.
“If they take the schools… the community as we know it is over. It’s gone,” says Hanshaw. “A lot of teachers’ jobs will be gone. And that’s very devastating for people.”
With all of this happening at once, it’s no wonder locals are feeling overwhelmed, she says. “Can you imagine the mental state of people—thinking about schools, BP oil, and hurricane season, all in a couple of weeks?”
This month, CWC is partnering with another local group, Gulf Coast Restoration, to distribute a fact sheet about the oil spill in English and Vietnamese. “The fact sheet will tell you what you really need to know, how to prepare yourself. If you have an [insurance] claim, this is the number that you need,” says Hanshaw.
CWC volunteers plan to hand-distribute the fact sheets to peoples’ homes. “Not everyone has a computer, so [we make] phone calls and knock on doors,” she says. “You have to talk to people face to face, get them on the same page. Don’t assume everybody got the memo.”
Hanshaw is inviting her neighbors to attend a training session on advocacy, where they’ll learn how to make their voices heard both locally and in Washington, DC. Her group will also continue their core work on hurricane preparedness through a series of workshops, where locals learn how to assemble preparedness kits and create evacuation plans.
“Now we have to address the spill too, because that’s a form of preparedness also,” she says. “We want to help people understand that this is big. We have to get ready. And we don’t know what’s going to happen. We just don’t know.”
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Keep this guide handy as you read the paper or watch the news. In a glance, it will allow you to become a more active participant in your local, county, state or federal government. Inside, you will find contact information for the elected officials who represent the six counties of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, from the president down to your local city council member. A quick description of the purpose and function of the different branches and levels of government will make it easier to determine the best person to contact when an issue moves you to action. Colorful maps will help you locate your ward or legislative district, and photos of your elected officials will make their faces more familiar.
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But a hungry child exists in a larger context: if we nourish communities, they can nourish their own children.
The woman on our cover, Fatou Doumbia, and other women in her village in Mali, pooled their resources last year. They set aside nearly a ton of millet as a defense against the hunger they’d seen as food prices spiked. Hers is another face of hunger: determined, resourceful.
After the last harvest, Oxfam reached out to supporters to respond to the food crisis. We’ve devoted much of this issue to looking at what communities have done to avoid the kinds of hardships they confronted. When people living in poverty are hit by a food crisis or natural disaster, they lack resources to tide them over.
Oxfam works to help people build their resilience. Let respect and hope fuel your efforts to support women like Doumbia.
]]>Historically, studies about climate hazards and social vulnerability have been conducted in separate silos. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) is the first study of its kind to examine both the potential impact of natural hazards and which populations are most likely to be negatively affected. The SoVI statistically examines the underlying social and demographic characteristics of the population and how they impact certain segments of the population in disabling ways when it comes to climate change-related hazards.
This research, commissioned by Oxfam America, includes a series of layered maps that depict social and climate change-related hazard vulnerability. The maps assist in identifying hotspots in the US Southeast, which are at significant risk in the face of four particular climate change-related hazards: drought, flooding, hurricane force winds, and sea-level rise.
The specific region of focus is the 13-state region of the US Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Roughly 80 percent of all US counties that experience persistent poverty (defined as a county in which at least 20 percent of the population experiences poverty for three decades or more) lie in this region.
For more details and to view interactive maps, visit oxfamamerica.org/adapt.
]]>"This study will be an especially useful tool to Louisiana legislators, activists and philanthropists because it provides an evidence-based portrait of living conditions in the state. It looks at our health, our education and our economic status, leading to important conclusions about how we must proceed to create a better Louisiana that is characterized by communities of opportunity," said Flozell Daniels Jr., President and CEO of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. "The report makes it clear that we cannot forge ahead while leaving so many people behind. It is not only unjust; it is also ineffective."
"A Portrait of Louisiana" is the second state-specific report produced by the authors of The Measure of America: American Human Development Report 2008-2009 since its release last summer. It applies the American Human Development Index—a single measure of well-being for all Americans based on indicators in three key areas: health, education and income—to life in Louisiana. Using U.S. government statistics on longevity, educational attainment and enrollment, and earnings, the American Human Development Report revealed where America is today and set a benchmark against which we will be able to assess where we are tomorrow. In countries around the world where similar studies have been done, Human Development Index findings have proven that strategic investments in health, education and employment boost people's well-being as well as national prosperity.
Some surprising findings of "A Portrait of Louisiana" include the following:
"This report explores actions needed to build an infrastructure of opportunity so that all in Louisiana can be productive citizens and reach their full potential," said Sarah Burd-Sharps, co-author of both this report and the American Human Development Report. "Doing so is critical to the economic growth and future competitiveness of Louisiana in the knowledge-based global marketplace of tomorrow," added co-author Kristen Lewis.
"In Louisiana, where we work with 16 state and local organizations such as the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, this report clearly illustrates the conditions residents were struggling with even prior to the hurricanes of 2005—limited access to education, lower incomes, and shorter lives—and argues for a comprehensive solution for recovery," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, which helped to fund the report with the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation and the Foundation for the Mid-South. "And it comes at a crucial time, given the financial challenges facing the state and nation, to help policymakers prioritize how to use scarce funds."
"A Portrait of Louisiana," like the American Human Development Report, was published by the Social Science Research Council. Go to measureofamerica.org for the full text of the report and interactive maps of Louisiana.
]]>However, we must also soberly assess the challenges yet before Louisiana. This report paints an often troubling picture of long-standing human disparities, some of which have been exacerbated by natural/man-allowed disaster and the global economic crisis. The report's Human Development (HD) Index is a user-friendly method of comparing the condition of communities. This analysis has great potential to guide policy-making processes and to support data-driven thinking that moves beyond the assumptions of historical parochialism.
This report was developed by the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF) in partnership with Oxfam America and other organizations committed to fully recovering the lives of Gulf Coast citizens.
]]>Much has been written about the relationship between African-Americans and Latinos and the tensions that arose when they were forced to compete for the same limited resources in a post-Katrina New Orleans. But little is known about what the two groups have in common—and how those shared experiences, attitudes, and goals could bring them together to help rebuild their community.
In late 2008, Oxfam America commissioned Bright Moments, who subcontracted with Dr. Silas Lee & Associates, to conduct a survey of the racial attitudes of African-Americans and Latinos living in New Orleans. "Building Common Ground" is a summary of those findings. The purpose of the survey was to measure how African-Americans and Latinos rated the quality of their lives, race relations with each other, experiences with discrimination, perceptions of each other, support for an African-American and Latino alliance, and effective strategies for such alliances.
The results reveal that the majority of African-Americans and Latinos agreed that they face similar issues of discrimination3 and agreed that it's important for their two groups to put aside their differences and work on overcoming those issues. It is on this common ground that we seek to build.
This publication is available in English and Spanish.
]]>The new study, Building Common Ground, reveals vast similarities in the post-Katrina experiences of two groups often considered separately in discussions on hurricane recovery and rebuilding. While the study revealed many of the tensions and misconceptions that existed between the two groups, it demonstrated that there is very fertile ground upon which African Americans and Latinos can forge new relationships to combat some of the challenges they face together.
The results of the study will be presented Tuesday at 6 pm at Xavier University and will be followed by a panel discussion. Lydia Camarillo, Vice President of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project will deliver a keynote address following opening remarks from Xavier University president Dr. Norman Francis. Members of the panel include:
In one key finding, 83 percent of African Americans and 86 percent of Latinos said building alliances are important to achieving social and economic equity in New Orleans.
"Too often we talk about tensions between African-Americans and Latinos," said Ilana Scherl, Gulf Coast Field Representative for Oxfam America. "This study demonstrates that African Americans and Latinos face common challenges which limit their opportunities to succeed in society."
The study's results were driven from a survey conducted in late 2008 by Dr. Silas Lee & Associates of African Americans and Latinos living in New Orleans. Hundreds of residents were interviewed and participated in focus groups to gauge the issues and concerns affecting these communities.
The study found striking similarities, including:
The report also identified some of the obstacles and opportunities for working together on the issues both groups experience:
Most importantly, both groups recognized the importance of working together on common issues, with one focus group participant saying "We have to be here, and we have to get along. How can we start the dialogue?"
"This survey goes a long way to deconstructing some of the myths that have sprung up after Katrina," said Dr. Silas Lee. "Contrary to popular belief, significant percentages of both African Americans and Latinos not only believe that the two groups can and should work together, but are willing to take steps to continue to the process of recovery together now."
"Building Common Ground: How shared attitudes and concerns can create alliances between African Americans and Latinos in a post-Katrina New Orleans," was published by Oxfam America. Read the full text of the report and detailed results of the survey.
]]>What is most surprising is not all of Mississippi is poor, or last in every development category. There are regions in Mississippi that rank on par with the richest state in America (Connecticut), and there are regions that rank on par with the least developed countries in the world.
This study illuminates the sharp disparities in opportunity between regions and between races within the state. The report forces us to acknowledge who is thriving, and who is being shut out. It is clear that we cannot forge ahead while leaving so many people behind.
"In Mississippi, where we work with 13 state and local organizations such as the NAACP, this report clearly illustrates the conditions residents were struggling with even prior to the hurricanes of 2005—limited access to education, lower incomes, and shorter lives—and argues for a comprehensive solution for recovery," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
Given the profound economic and social challenges facing Mississippi, and more broadly working families in the US today, this report comes at a crucial time to help policy makers use precious resources to ensure all Mississippians have access to the American Dream.
]]>Oxfam America congratulates you on your inauguration as the 44th president of the United States. This historic moment provides an occasion to reestablish the role of the US as a global leader in fighting poverty and social injustice. And we believe you will make the most of this opportunity.
We ask that you take decisive and early action to shape how we engage in the international community. At a time when the US economy is in trouble and Americans are understandably concerned about their own economic well-being, we must not forget the needs of vulnerable populations around the world. If the US leads in the fight against global poverty, we can create positive long-term change that will result in a more just, prosperous, and secure world for all.
As your administration moves forward, you face an excellent opportunity to restructure US Foreign Assistance. Our current aid system is broken, which undermines American leadership and standing in the world. We ask that you work with foreign policy leaders in Congress to fix US foreign aid—a move that will fight poverty more effectively with no additional cost to taxpayers.
We encourage you to take bold action on climate change. The world?s poorest people—who are least responsible for climate change—are often the hardest hit by its consequences. Climate change is likely to increase economic and social instability, migration and refugee crises, and conflict over natural resources, and is quickly becoming a major driver of poverty and instability around the world. It is essential that your administration re-engage in international negotiations for a post-2012 agreement that includes significant cuts in emissions and additional funds to assist developing countries adapt to climate change. World leaders cannot create the next international climate agreement without US leadership. We also urge you to help bring about strong US legislation that not only dramatically cuts US emissions, but also provides significant assistance to poor and vulnerable communities.
Internationally, numerous conflicts continue to ravage civilian populations. We ask that you serve as a leader in prioritizing the protection of civilians in foreign assistance programs and cooperating with allies to remove obstacles to peace and stability. Yours is a unique opportunity: to build a 21st-century State Department by doubling the number of core diplomatic personnel and moving more personnel to potential and ongoing conflict zones. We know that we can rely on you to work closely with Secretary of State Clinton to achieve this vision.
In the US, we encourage you to turn your attention to the failed recovery of the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The inadequate US response to the desperate calls of her own citizens must not continue. Your administration can restore faith in government by helping to provide quality jobs and affordable housing for the low- and moderate-income families still unable to return to their former lives.
We look forward to working with you and members of your administration. We firmly believe that your leadership can help to improve the plight of millions of people who suffer from hunger, injustice, and violence around the world.
Sincerely,
Raymond C. Offenheiser
President, Oxfam America