When the Cameras Stop Rolling, Nonprofits Remain

Grassroots Organizations Respond Heroically to Hurricane Devastation

When Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast on August 29 and just three weeks later Hurricane Rita cut a deadly path through Florida, Texas and Louisiana, community-based organizations from across the United States were the first to respond.  While government agencies pointed fingers and took the “blame game” to new lows, these same grassroots nonprofits hired buses, drove trucks and organized caravans to reach the affected areas and provide shelter, food and compassion for the victims.

For example, The Ordinary Peoples Society (TOPS), a prison ministry in Dothan, Ala., founded and staffed by ex-offenders, mobilized to get food and supplies to Mobile, Ala., as soon as news about the devastation reached them. In collaboration with a second organization of formerly incarcerated men, TOPS distributed the goods to victims, not one of whom had seen or heard from the government or national relief organizations.   

When large nongovernmental organizations and government agencies finally began to reach those hardest hit by the storms, nonprofit organizations, joined by foundations, became staunch advocates for increased aid and services for the affected regions. Later, as some semblance of order began to arise from the chaos, nonprofits began to advocate for the involvement of local people, especially those nonprofits in the rebuilding effort.

The rest of the nation – and the world – learned something about the critical role that U.S. community-based nonprofits play in the fabric of our nation during those terrible weeks. Those of us in the nonprofit world – and those whose life we’ve touched – have long known that community-based organizations are often the first to provide support for people and communities in trouble. And our nonprofit colleagues remain a constant presence long after the individuals and communities affected are back on their feet.

Nonprofit Response

Like the rest of the nation, TSNE watched the devastation in the Gulf Coast unfold and saw the confusion in Texas and Florida and wanted to support the nonprofit response. We encouraged our staff, fiscal sponsorship clients and tenants of the NonProfit Center to donate to the relief effort, offering to match their contributions to the Red Cross, ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

We all know the important work that has been done by the Red Cross. But some of you may not know the work that was done to support victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by the Greater Boston Food Bank or by ACORN, the largest community-based organization of low-income families in New Orleans and the nation. Their work exemplifies the special role that grassroots organizations play in meeting the needs of their communities by engaging their constituents.

A Heroic Response

Dealing with the aftermath of the hurricanes was truly heroic for ACORN’s staff, as the organization is headquartered in New Orleans. Immediately responding to the Hurricane Katrina, ACORN began to:

• Locate and assist displaced members. ACORN immediately reached out to displaced New Orleans ACORN members through text messages and public service announcements and by organizing teams at shelters to connect displaced people with ACORN families who opened their homes to hurricane survivors.
• Service the housing and credit needs of their constituents. The nonprofit’s housing staff is continuing to help evacuees with their housing needs, including helping homeowners to contact their mortgage servicers to arrange for forbearance of mortgage payments.
• Amplify the voice of constituents for social change. To ensure that low-income neighborhoods and families have a voice in decisions about rebuilding, ACORN has developed a set of proposals for a federal policy response that reflects the needs and issues of communities, with much of the supporting data coming from Town Hall Meetings in over 30 cities where the experiences of hurricane survivors were heard.
• Organizing public actions. ACORN organized a march through the 9th Ward by residents declaring their right of return. It also formed the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, the first nationwide organization of displaced New Orleans residents. And the nonprofit sponsored a Community Forum in Baton Rouge on November 7 and 8 on Rebuilding New Orleans and ensuring the views of all citizens, including the most marginalized, be incorporated in the rebuilding process.

Although having to work out of temporary offices in Baton Rouge, ACORN’s support to the victims of Hurricane Rita was equally comprehensive. Through community organizing and public actions the work by staff and members has resulted in:

• A food assistance program and improvements in FEMA services in Houston
• Increased housing assistance in Dallas

A Network Responds

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the Boston-area affiliate of America’s Second Harvest-The Nations Food Bank Network. One hundred percent of donations made in response to the hurricanes go to relief and recovery efforts. By the end of November, more than 1,900 truckloads of badly needed food and grocery products had been dispatched to 30 network food banks in the Gulf Coast area and several others in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and surrounding states, such as Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee, where hundreds of thousands of evacuees have moved. This translates into:

• 58.9 million pounds of food and grocery products
• 46 million meals
• Food and products with an estimated value of nearly $90 million

In addition, The Greater Boston Food Bank has helped with supply logistics for several hundred evacuees housed at Camp Edwards-Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

The Long Road Ahead

While the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by these grassroots and others has been remarkable, it is important for all of us in the third sector, nonprofits and capacity builders alike, to realize that much of the regions’ nonprofit infrastructure has been devastated by the storms. What local nonprofits need most from us are collaboration, support and advocacy to ensure that they have a decision-making role in rebuilding the regions affected. It is unacceptable to recreate the region as it was. That is simply a formula for a repetition of the disasters in the future.

With community-based groups at the table, people of color, low-income people, those outside of the inner political circles and marginalized communities can be an integral part of the rebuilding effort. As we have learned at TSNE, when every part of the community is involved, a better future can be created for everyone in the region.  

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