National FEMA Trailer Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Who:      The Gulf Coast Fund
What:     Press Conference
When:     Friday July 17, 9:30 a.m.
Where:    Coastal Response Center, 7385 Hwy. 188 Coden, AL  36523
Visual:    FEMA Trailer

Featured Speakers:
Teresa Bettis, Center for Fair Housing (AL)
Casi Callaway, Mobile Baykeeper (AL)
Genaro Rendon, Southwest Workers Union (TX)
Monique Harden, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights (LA)

To celebrate successful local initiatives funded by the grassroots-led Gulf Coast Fund, citizen groups from communities across the Gulf and nation are converging in Alabama on July 16th and 17th as part of an escalating regional movement to achieve the unfulfilled promises of recovery, justice, and genuine preparedness for future disasters in the United States.

Friday, July 17, they will visit Gulf Coast Fund-supported organizations and projects in Mobile, Coden and Bayou La Batre. Accompanying the group will be the KatrinaRitaVille Express FEMA Trailer, which has logged over 30,000 miles to carry diverse community voices and recovery lessons from the Gulf Coast to the American public.

The press conference will highlight community recovery and redevelopment issues, including:
•    Alabama’s 2-year delay of federal CBDG housing dollars intended for some 1,200 approved and deserving households
•    Construction of sewage treatment and other vital infrastructure in environmentally inappropriate areas
•    The proposed Gulf Coast Civic Works Act for creating 100,000 green jobs from south Alabama to coastal Texas
•    Overhauling the Stafford Act before another major disaster occurs on US soil

About the Gulf Coast Fund: Steered by 21 community leaders from the greater Gulf region, the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health is a collaborative grantmaking fund supporting community, state and regional efforts that engage, empower and benefit displaced and returning Gulf Coast residents, and that promote the sustainable and just rebuilding of neighborhoods, cities and ecosystems throughout the Gulf Coast. Formed immediately after Hurricane Katrina, it has granted over $2.1 million to over 130 community groups providing justice, health, renewal and hope for the Gulf South’s most vulnerable people and places.  For more information, please click www.gulfcoastfund.org.

Press Contact:
Casi Callaway:  251.433.4229 (office), 251.209.4253 (cell)
email: callaway@mobilebaykeeper.com