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Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc and its allies offer a public awareness campaign around the continued violations of basic constitutional, civil and human rights in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes- the compounded result of which has been the chronological progression of depopulation throughout the Gulf Coast.
Operation Recover and Restore is a regional campaign with a mandate to advocate for residents from the Gulf Coast- still displaced by the hurricanes of 2005- to be counted by the US Census Bureau at their pre-storm residence. A failure to do so will result in billions of dollars redirected from the Gulf Coast and thereby forsaking the most vulnerable population from a full recovery. Moving Forward supports all those internally displaced persons who remain in the Katrina and Rita Diaspora to be restored to their rightful place in the Gulf Coast.
To join this Advocacy and Awareness Campaign, please e-mail your contact information to trap@movingforwardgc.org with "Join Campaign" in the subject line.
Below please find the May 15, 2009 letter to Sub-committee Chairman Clay requesting a hearing to count displaced residence at their pre-Katrina residence.
May 15, 2009
Honorable William “Lacy” Clay
Chairman
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
B-349C Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Clay:
As advocates for rebuilding strong and inclusive Gulf Coast communities in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and subsequent storms, we are very concerned about the U.S. Census Bureau’s ability to achieve an accurate count of Gulf Coast residents in the 2010 census, especially in low-income, Black, Latino, and Asian American communities. We respectfully request your consideration of a subcommittee hearing – perhaps in a Gulf Coast city, such as New Orleans -- in order to fully air and address these concerns during the final months leading up to the 2010 count.
It is well known that the decennial census is more likely to miss people of color and the poor than other demographic subgroups. The destruction of entire communities and displacement of thousands of residents along the Gulf Coast during the hurricanes of 2005, coupled with the slower pace of rebuilding and return-migration in poorer neighborhoods, compounds the usual difficulties the Census Bureau faces in enumerating so-called “hard to count” populations groups. According to the January 2009 New Orleans Index,[1] “massive destruction from Hurricane Katrina remains widespread … Hundreds of streets are still in disrepair. Tens of thousands of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings remain damaged and unoccupied.” (pg. 6) According to the Census Bureau, Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish and Orleans Parish were the nation’s fastest and third-fastest growing parishes, respectively, between 2007 and 2008, and the New Orleans metro area has reached nearly 90 percent of its pre-storm population (Index, pg. 7), but settlement patterns have shifted significantly from the pre-storm blueprint, and the number of vacant and blighted residences in other parishes has increased since last fall. (Index, pg. 12)
All of these conditions -- rapid population growth, large numbers of displaced folks, and distressed neighborhoods -- present additional significant challenges for the Census Bureau and its community and municipal partners. Mail service in blighted communities might not reach all homes in various stages of renovation, even if homeowners have started to move back in, and census takers may find it difficult to navigate unsafe and unmarked streets to reach unresponsive households and to determine correctly the occupancy status of many structures.
An accurate census is essential to all communities, but its importance is magnified in Gulf Coast communities devastated by Katrina and subsequent storms. An analysis by the Brookings Institution showed that, in Fiscal Year 2007, Louisiana received $11.6 billion; Mississippi, $5.6 billion; and Alabama, $5.9 billion in federal funds for a wide range of critical programs and services, based in whole or in part on census data. On average, states receive roughly $1,200 annually, or $12,000 over a decade, for each person counted in the census; figures for some states in distress, such as Louisiana, are as high as $2,695 per capita annually. Our communities desperately need federal support to rebuild and strengthen our transportation, education, housing, health care, and public safety infrastructure. An accurate census also offers a necessary portrait of the pace of recovery and the challenges that remain to reach our goal of long term stability and prosperity, and will help ensure that our communities are represented fairly in national and state legislatures.
Our organizations have had little contact with Census Bureau officials, and we are concerned about plans for promoting awareness and participation in communities where people remain unsettled, as well as among migrant workers and people with limited English proficiency. We would welcome the opportunity to share our concerns and propose solutions at a congressional oversight hearing.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Please feel free to contact us at 985-643-6186 or trap@movingforwardgc.org, to discuss our request further.
Sincerely,
Trupania "Trap" Bonner
Executive Director, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc.
[1] The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program and Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, The New Orleans Index: Tracking the Recovery of New Orleans & the Metro Area, January 2009 (www.gnocdc.org).
To sign on to the letter above, click the link the below:
