President Obama arrives in New Orleans today for his first visit to the Gulf Coast since he won the presidency. In a letter released to coincide with his visit, more than 50 leading religious leaders and faith-based groups call on the Obama administration to take action to address challenges in the region.
Faith and community leaders cite "significant gaps" towards meeting federal promises to Gulf Coast communities, and urge the president to focus on long-term hurricane recovery policy to tackle poverty, coastal erosion and climate change, according to the press statement.
As the Institute for Southern Studies' explored in our 2008 report "Faith in the Gulf" [pdf], following the failed federal response to the 2005 disaster, it was community, nonprofit and faith groups that mounted an unprecedented response that made them the go-to resource for tens of thousands of storm victims in the aftermath of the hurricanes.
The letter was organized by two such Louisiana-based interfaith coalitions -- All Congregations Together (ACT) and Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO). Mary Fontenot, executive director of the New Orleans chapter of ACT told Facing South that many faith and community leaders are very optimistic that Obama will hear their calls for action. ACT was one of the groups that helped to coordinate two of Obama's prior visits to storm-ravaged communities like the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans following Katrina.
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