11/5: Bay Area Caravan to New Orleans Meeting

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ROADTRIP FOR RELIEF, BAY AREA CARAVAN TO NEW ORLEANS

Rebuilding the 9th Ward is both relief work and a
political act.
If you are interested in participating, in any way, in
the Bay Area Caravan to help rebuild/repair/clean-up
the 9th Ward, please come to one of the volunteer
meetings this week....

ALL VOLUNTEER MEETING

This WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND AT 7:30PM we are having
an important meeting for all volunteers interested in
participating in any way in the Bay Area caravan to
New Orleans. All volunteers should do their best to
make it to this meeting. For folks who cannot make it
to this meeting, there is a meeting scheduled for
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH AT 11:00AM at the same address
(see below). In order to make this caravan the biggest
success possible, it is preferrable that you attend
Wednesday's meeting, if you can, as time is ticking
fast and we can accomplish more together by meeting
sooner than later. The rough agenda for the meeting:

1. Background on Common Ground and the 9th Ward
2. What the Roadtrip and the on-the-ground work will
look like
3. What volunteers need to know
4. Make goals and action plans for raising money and
supplies
5. Match riders with drivers, get leads on vehicles
6. Communication plan for Bay Area volunteers
7. Determine location, date, and time of the send-off
gathering

The meeting location is: The Green Party office in San
Francisco, 1028A Howard Street, between 6th and 7th
Streets. (The Green Party is allowing us use of their
space)

ANTI –RACIST TRAINING
Sunday, November 13 from 4:00pm-8:30pm, an anti-racist
training, especially for white folks, will be held at
the same Green Party location noted above. It is
helpful if you notify us to let us know in advance
that you’ll be attending. The training will be led by
long-time anit-racist trainer, Sharon Martinas. It’s
BYOB, Bring Your Own Burrito.

For more info, please contact:
sfcaravan [at] mutualaid.org
800-743-3808 ext. 350 (Global Exchange donated this
phone line)
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/roadtrip/
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/2005/10/road_trip_for_relief_reclaim_t_1.html#more


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JOIN THE ROADTRIP FOR RELIEF!!
CLEAN-UP, REPAIR, REBUILD IN THE 9TH WARD
WITH COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE
November 20-27

Common Ground Collective has called a National Caravan
to arrive in New Orleans on November 20th and work
over the week of Thanksgiving until November 27th.
That’s coming up fast!!!

What: Common Ground wants 300 volunteers from all
around the country to converge in New Orleans with
donated funds and building & clearning supplies.
Volunteers will work on a particular section of the
9th Ward picking up yard debris, cleaning the streets,
tarping rooftops, etc. For nearly a month, Common
Ground has been organizing and meeting folks in the
neighborhood as they return. A community center was
just established which will soon be the site of
another Common Ground distribution center of needed
goods.

Why: The poor neighborhoods of the city don’t have
electricity and are not being cleaned up or repaired,
while the French Quarter and other predominantly white
areas are relatively clean and quite functional. This
seems to be a purposeful effort to keep poor and black
residents from feeling any hope of being able to
recreate their lives in New Orleans. While residents
are returning, many poor folks are now living in a
vast diaspora around the country, away from their
homes, communities, jobs, families and friends. The
concentrated efforts of this caravan will bring hope
to people in that diaspora as they see that it is
possible to clean-up their neighborhoods and rebuild
their lives. The work of the caravan will be a
demostration of what is possible.

Who: You. Your organization. Self-sustained groups
that can organize themselves. We also need volunteers
with specific skills: electricians, mechanics,
plumbers, mold abaters, roofers, construction workers,
carpenters, tree workers, lawyers, cooks –and people
who can train other volunteers and residents in these
skills.

When: We’re asking folks to arrive in New Orleans on
November 20th and work through the Thanksgiving week
until Novmeber 27th. Of course, volunteers are needed
continuously and can arrive anytime.

How you can help: Get on the bus. Donate a bus.
Organize a bus. Donate $$$$. Donate supplies (see the
list below). Help raise funds, plan a fundraiser, ask
your network to donate. Help spread the word.

To get plugged-in: sfcaravan [at] mutualaid.org or
800-743-3808 ext.350


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DONATIONS FOR COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE

Monetary donations. Please write and send
tax-deductible checks to Common Ground’s fiscal
sponsor:

Community Futures/ Common Ground Relief (please note
“Bay Area” in memo)
221 Idora Ave.
Vallejo, CA 94591
(707) 644-6575

Supplies. Supplies can be delivered with the caravan
or sent to the address noted below.

A beginning needs list: (please donate supplies in
good condition that are ready to use)
Tarps (for roofing, 30’x 20/50’)
Electrical supplies for rewiring houses (wire,
outlets, breakers, etc.)
12 Amp, 100 foot extension cords
Sheetrock
Good quality tools
Tents (12’x 20/30’), Domes
Ready to run computers
Generators!!
Trucks/Tractors
Mobile Kitchens
Liquid vacs (wet/dry vacs)
Chainsaws
Respirators
N95 face masks
Shovels
Brooms
Mops
Hammers and nails
Sledgehammers
Drills and thick screws

To send supplies directly to Common Ground, please
mail to:
Common Ground Relief Center
331 Atlantic Ave
New Orleans, LA 70114

Medical: To support Common Ground’s Free Medical
Clinics, please refer to:
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/2005/09/info_for_volunteers_at_common.html#more
AND http://www.commongroundrelief.org/wish_list/


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Compiled by Susan King, a Common Ground Volunteer
10/25/05
CURRENT COMMON GROUND PROGRAMS

Distribution of food and supplies: There are still
very few open stores in the greater New Orleans area,
and even in communities that were not flooded, there
is a need for food and supplies. To date, the Common
Ground Collective has provided over 60 tons of food,
water, cleaning supplies, diapers, health and hygene
goods and other necessities to more than 15,000 people
in Algiers, Houma and other locations. This week, they
will open a distribution center in the 9th Ward.
People are starting to come back to this community,
and we are working to ensure that they have the basic
provisions that they will need. More on the 9th Ward
below.

Free Medical Clinic: Located in Algiers, with a mobile
unit that goes to other communities, this clinic
provides a range of medical support, including
treatments for respiratory illness, infections and
other ailments directly related to exposure to toxins
from the flood. The clinic also provides regular
medical check ups, prescriptions and medications,
mental health services, drug and alcohol diversion
programs and alternative healing treatments such as
homeopathic medications, massage, and acupuncture.
Over 100 people per day line up for services, which
are provided from 8 am to 8pm six days per week. Many
visitors to the clinic have not seen a doctor or
medical professional for years, which underscores the
neglect and unmet needs of this community. Plans are
underway to open permanent medical facilities in
Algiers, the 9th Ward, and other low income areas.

Emergency Home Repair: Ensuring access to housing
remains a critical need, and volunteers are working
around the clock to assist residents in making their
damaged homes livable and safe to occupy. Immediate
work includes: Roof Tarping for damaged roofs, Debris
Removal, Tree Trimming and removal and Mold
Abatement. Focus is on assisting home bound
individuals and others not being served by FEMA, the
Red Cross and other official relief efforts. It is
not surprising to see that the official relief efforts
have been focused on middle and upper class
neighborhoods. The longer formerly submerged houses go
untreated, the less likely that they will be
salvageable, that is why the urgent repair work
focused on the 9th Ward and other low income
communities is so critical.

Legal Support: There have been literally thousands of
incidents of police brutality and abuse since the
hurricanes hit the gulf. Hundreds of African Americans
have been routinely harrassed arrested and detained
for questionable offenses. There are still no clear
reports on how many young men have been slain by the
police (who are shipped in from cities around the US).
Common Ground has a working group that is focused on
Copwatch/Police Brutality issues and provides
documentation and legal support. The other major legal
issue is eviction defense. Rent increases and
evictions are happening at an alarming pace as
low-income residents in undamaged homes are being
moved out to house those able to pay more. Common
Ground provides legal support, monitors incidents of
evictions and is providing support and solidarity for
tenant advocates working on these issues.

Housing Advocacy: Common Ground is part of a larger ad
hoc advocacy collective working to ensure the right to
return for residents of public housing. Subsidized
housing in New Orleans has been eroding for many
years, and housing advocates fear (rightfully, IMHO)
that housing agencies will use the hurricanes to
justify the continued gentrification of New Orleans.
HANO, the HUD controlled housing agency, is stalling
the re-opening of habitable public housing units.
Developers stack the official "Bring Back New Orleans"
Committee, which further challenges efforts to
rebuild New Orleans in a just and sustainable way.
Common Grounds efforts include the organizing of legal
clinics for tenants and working closely with tenant
leadership to ensure that they are supported in
bringing the 14,000 or so public housing residents
back home.

Communications/Information services: Common Ground
operates a local low-power radio station, Radio
Algiers, which provides information, interviews with
residents, tapes of national radio shows as well as a
range of music, including live performances to the
residents of Algiers. Common Ground operates a free
drop-in wireless computer lab in its HQ and has set up
five mobile computer labs in New Orleans for
residents. Mesh Wireless Network is setting up a free
wireless service for the entire Algiers area. Common
Ground produces and distributes a range of vital
information to residents and provides assistance in
filling out FEMA applications, insurance forms and
other applications.

9th Ward Cleanup and advocacy: The 9th Ward has gained
international media attention due to the severity of
the flooding and the exposure of long-standing human
rights violations and neglect the residents have
endured. Damage in the 9th Ward is severe because of
the proximity to the broken levee, the quality of the
housing before the levees broke and the fact that it
was flooded twice following both hurricanes Katrina
and Rita. Despite this, there are many homes and
buildings that are worth repairing. Of the two
sections of the 9th Ward, upper and lower, over half
of the structures were flooded with 4 feet of water or
less, which means that the chances are very good that
these homes can be salvaged if they are repaired in
time. Common Ground has prioritized the clean-up and
immediate repairs in this area.

Advocacy: It is critical that this community not be
bulldozed, and official reports vary on the assessment
of the damage and the plans for repair vs. razing.
Advocacy work focuses on supporting residents demands
to return and for the immediate restoration services
(trash removal, electricity and plumbing) to habitable
parts of this area.

Roof Tarping: The first step in repairing involves
tarping damaged roofs so that the building interiors
will remain dry when the rains come.

Debris Removal: City officials are now beginning the
first phase of removing large trash heaps from the
area, and Common Ground volunteers are working to
ensure that this area receives attention and support
provided to other regions of the city.

Mold abatement is also critical, and Common Ground
will begin a Mold Abatement Training Program for
residents to learn to repair their own homes and gain
tangible job skills to participate in official paid
clean up operations.

Health/Environmental Monitoring: Common Ground has
recruited skilled volunteers to do Water/Soil
Sampling, coordinate the sharing of this data with
government health organizations and to create and
distribute pertinent information to the public on
potential hazards.