Calvert Giving Fund
Columbia Tribune
February 20, 2007
With help, good times can roll once again in Big Easy
By Sundance Banks
Of the more than 5,600 words in President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address, two important words were missing - New Orleans. The president’s failure to even mention New Orleans, let alone propose any new programs to strengthen the rebuilding effort, is sad news for the people of the Crescent City. Unfortunately, many of the rest of us have also forgotten about the promises we made as a nation to help the city and region rebuild.
Recent news from New Orleans has not been good. Crime has dramatically increased, and New Orleans has become the per capita murder capital of the nation. With worsening crime statistics and continually decreasing interest from Congress and Bush, the city’s future looks bleak without a change in course.
Not only do the people of the Gulf Coast region need the help of the rest of the country; they expect it. And why shouldn’t they? As a nation, we promised it to them. As we watched the daily footage of the hurricane’s aftermath in horror, we said, "We want to help, we need to help and we promise to help."
In light of our promises, do we really know what it means to forget New Orleans? It means that we, as a nation, will have let people suffer even more than necessary after already facing the tragedy of Katrina. It means our earlier promises to help will have become nothing more than bitter lies, and it means we simply don’t care enough to help out a neighbor in need. If the government continues to take insufficient efforts to secure the city, once again the Americans fill the gap.
To call for a renewal of recovery efforts, this Mardi Gras, law students across the nation will join in a day of solidarity to remember our promise and duty to the people of New Orleans. Through a volunteer organization called the Student Hurricane Network, more than 1,700 law students have volunteered to assist with the ever-growing legal backload in New Orleans during the summer and on school holidays since the hurricane hit. But, as is evident from the worsening crime statistics and legal backlog, the task is far from complete.
Many might wonder how to help without moving to New Orleans. Besides donating to not-for-profits such as the Student Hurricane Network or Habitat for Humanity, there are also many other ways to help:
- Take a vacation to New Orleans. Every penny spent eating crawfish in the French Quarter or at Jazz Fest helps sustain local jobs and businesses in a major way.
- Volunteer in the rebuilding effort. Whether making a "volunteer vacation" to the Crescent City or volunteering your services from afar, not-for-profit groups such as Hands On New Orleans and Mardi Gras Service Corps are in great need of volunteers.
- Invest in a low-interest Hurricane Recovery Fund to help finance small-business loans. The Calvert Foundation, for instance, offers the Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative Note, which gives investors a below-market rate of return while using the fund’s capital to offer entrepreneurs and small businesses low-interest loans.
- Contact your representatives in Congress and vote on this issue. The federal government is in the best position to make long-term changes to the region but might not take the needed action unless people keep this issue in mind when voting.
There might not be as many people living in New Orleans now as there were pre-Katrina, but the vast majority of people who came home after the hurricane are a special breed who believe in community and who want to rebuild a great city. If they could do it on their own, they certainly would. But the task is simply too great and the price tag too large.
On Mardi Gras, New Orleaneans will put on their beads and smile and dance as they invariably do this time of year. Life is always good on Mardi Gras, but it only comes around once a year. The unanswered question is what life will be like on the other 364 days of the year, and that question will only be answered by what the rest of us do to make sure our neighbors down in the Big Easy are safely sheltered from future storms.
Sundance Banks is a second-year law student at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a member of the Student Hurricane Network.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Feb/20070220Comm007.asp
