As survivors and evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continue to try and piece their lives back together two years after the devastating storms, the NAACP calls on Congress and the American people to not forget and act on their plight.
As a result of the storms, some 250,000 people are yet displaced throughout the nation because they have no homes, no jobs nor the financial means to rebuild. And reportedly, $1.175 billion in federally appropriated funds for Katrina rebuilding and relief efforts remain held up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In the next few days, Congress will return from recess with 60 days to decide on the 2008 federal budget– including continuing funds for Gulf Coast recovery efforts and assistance for Katrina survivors. The President's budget proposal does not provide adequate funding for many of the key programs that provide housing, education and health care assistance in the region.
The President's budget does not renew the $500 million Social Service Block Grant to help hurricane ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast fund child welfare, employment services, and other state and local social programs. And neither the President's budget nor any proposals from Congress include additional funds for The Road Home, a program designed to help those displaced by Katrina and Rita with housing issues.
"We are approaching a moment of truth," said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond. "In the next 60 days we'll find out if those politicians were telling the truth when they made all their campaign promises and speeches about helping people recover their lives and livelihoods, or if they were just taking advantage of the victims of Katrina for political gain."
"Congress has an opportunity to act with conviction and help hundreds of thousands put their lives back together," he said. "Let's make sure that they do just that."
Education After Katrina: Time for a New Federal Response, a study conducted by the Southern Education Foundation released yesterday (Aug. 29), notes that as many as 15,000 students who attend public schools in the region missed school last year, along with up to 35,000 college students in Louisiana and Mississippi.
"Despite the length of time that has passed since the hurricanes hit, the response of the federal government to the educational needs of children and students from preschool to higher education has been abysmal,"
said Hilary Shelton, the NAACP's chief of government affairs said. "This blatant disregard by the federal government to the plight of thousands of American children and students, despite the equal protection clause
of the U.S. Constitution, decades of civil rights laws, and volumes of
Enviroshop is maintained by dedicated NetSys Interactive Inc. owners & employees who generously contribute their time to maintenance & editing, web design, custom programming, & website hosting for Enviroshop.