Tee Shirt Design Contest

If you can draw, sketch, or design, we want you! It's a quick turn around...so start now! :)

We are currently accepting designs for a T-shirt that will be worn by all Louisiana Winter, 2007 students. Click Here for details: http://www.solvingpoverty.com/Tee_Shirt_Contest.htm

Please email your design by December 31st to gulfcoastcivicworks@gmail.com, and we will make sure that it is one of the images that will appear on the web page.

Students who are participating in Louisiana Winter will vote by January 3, and the design with the most votes will win.

This contest is open to EVERYONE.

Donate to Louisiana Winter

Dear friends, (and if you are reading this blog, please consider yourself a friend!)

The last thing I want to do is ask my friends for money, but at the same time, I know that most all of you care for our youth, and so I am going to give you this opportunity to financially support them. Click here to donate.

As you may know, we have put out a national call to students to travel to the Gulf Coast from January 14-20, 2007 to participate in "Louisiana Winter". The goals of Louisiana Winter are: to turn the nation’s attention to the Gulf Coast; to have students witness first-hand the social suffering that is occurring; and to promote the immediate passage of federal legislation to implement the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, which if passed by Congress would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and the surrounding region.

We currently have 93 students from 17 colleges registered to participate, and we have just begun organizing. Tonight, we are doing a fund raiser at our house tonight at 7 pm for 20 SJSU students who will be participating in “Louisiana Winter.”

And while it is probably too late (or too far!) for any of you to change your schedules, I would like to invite you to make an on-line donation (tax deductible) to support the students. (If you can make it, we would be thrilled. Call me to get directions; I live 2 blocks from campus.)

The price of the airfare is about $260, and we have 20 students, so we are hoping to raise $4,000 tonight. Also, we want to help any student who is traveling from around the country, but may not be able to afford it, be able to participate.

Last Thursday, we held a 3-city press conference (New Orleans, Gulfport, MS, and San Jose) which was very successful.

• Representative Bill Jefferson appeared in person and voiced enthusiastic support, pledging to work with Congressman Bennie Thompson from Mississippi (who is also a supporter of the ideas of a Civic Works Project.
  
• Governor Blanco sent one of her top executive assistants to speak in support of the program, as did an aide to Senator Mary Landrieu and the New Orleans City Council Vice President.
  
• In California, Assembly person Sally Lieber, the Pro Tempore of the California State Legislature spoke out in support of the project, and Leslie Bar-Ness, co-director of Governor Schwarzenegger's Bay Area Regional Office, said it was her "most proud day to be an alumni of SJSU."
  
• Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren released a press statement in support of the Louisiana Winter students and an the idea for a Civic Works Project.
  
• In Mississippi, Brian Carriere, President of the Gulfport City Council spoke out in support. (Go to http://www.solvingpoverty.com/ to see the newspaper articles and hear the news coverage.)

I hope you can help the SJSU students, as well as students from around the country, participate in this generation's "Mississippi Summer." Please share this with others during these holy days.

best, scott

Scott Myers-Lipton, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Sociology Department Community Change Concentration
San José State University
http://www.SolvingPoverty.com

New Orleans, Gulfport, and San Jose Press Conferences

RE: the December 14, 2006 Press Conference in New Orleans:

What a wonderful event we had today. The press conference was fabulous!

Representative Bill Jefferson appeared in person and voiced enthusiastic support, pledging to work with Bennie Thompson and Zoe Lofgran on the project. Governor Blanco sent one of her top executive assistants to speak in support of the program, as did the New Orleans City Council Vice President, and Senator Mary Landrieu. Marty Rowland was fantastic and really followed-up passionately in responding to questions at the end of the press conference.

. . . you will be tickled to learn All Congregations Together and PICO/LIFT are going to partner with NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center to provide host families for the college students. We will be meeting tomorrow, and Randolph Scott has agreed to serve as the NAACP New Orleans Branch liaison on this project.

Thank you again for your hard work and initiative on this project. It is so very inspiring when we find folks from across this country will to work so hard to help the gulf coast rebuild.

---Tracie L. Washington, Esq.
Director -- NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center

RE: the December 14, 2006 Press Conference in Gulf Port, MS:
The Press Conference was as big a hit with the media as it gets on the Coast!

WLOX (the ONLY TV news station on the Coast) was there, we will be on the 10 o'clock news Thursday, Dec. 14. The Sun Herald (the only paper on the Coast with "wide circulation") sent a reporter, our article will be published Friday, December 15. Ella Kliger, independent film maker and television producer was there to videotape the event for possible inclusion in a documentary.

MGCCC-IR sent Bill Snyder to take photographs of the event. Bill also assured me that smaller newspapers on the Coast will quote from our press release for their articles.

Speakers included: Brian Carriere, social studies instructor and President of the Gulfport City Council, Todd Avera, Michael Rasmussen, SHAC Treasurer, Amber Hartfield, Sean Brazil, SHAC President and Cindy Lamb Director of Development for the Interfaith Disaster Task Force, James Skinner, SHAC Historian, was there for much needed moral support and acted as official SHAC photographer.

Thanks to all the aforementioned for their hard work, bravery (the WLOX camera is a scary thing!) and dedication to SHAC and to the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project! (SHAC is Student Humanitarians for Advancement and Change)

---LeeAnn Gunn-Rasmussen,
Social Studies Instructor, Veterans' History Project

RE: the December 14, 2006 Press Conference in San Jose, CA:
Today, we had a great press conference in San Jose. There were over 100 people present. The event was covered by KGO and KCBS radio stations (the 2 top news radio shows in San Francisco/San Jose), by KNTV channel 2 (top news show at 10 am), and by the San Jose Mercury Newspaper. Check out the students' statements from our press conference. They were truly inspirational. (http://www.solvingpoverty.com/Press_Room.htm)

As you will see from the press packet, Sally Lieber, the Pro Tempore of the California State Legislature spoke, as well as Leslie Bar-Ness, co-director of Governor Schwarzenegger's Bay Area Regional Office. Congresswoman Lofgren released a press statement in support of the idea for Louisiana Winter and the Gulf Coast Civics Work Project.

The president of San José State University, Don Kassing, reminded the students of the efforts of Tommie Smith and John Carlos (SJSU alum) who raised their fists against racism and poverty in Mexico City at the Summer Olympics in 1968, and reminded the students how they were a part of this tradition of activism at SJSU. Pastor Michael-Ray Mathews, who's father's family goes back many generations in Louisiana, encouraged the students to have love at the center of their work in the Gulf Coast. He asked them, "who do you love?....black, brown, white, rich, poor...who do you love?"

Thank you to all who worked so hard to make these press conferences a success. Now, let the great work begin.

---Scott Myers-Lipton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology Department Community Change Concentration San José State University

Louisiana Winter: Media Mentions

Two articles about Louisiana Winter are recommended for a read.

First, an excellent piece posted by Sue Sturgis on the Institute for Southern Studies' blog "Facing South" entitled As FEMA squanders storm aid, New Deal-type project proposed for Gulf is a great mention and coupling. Browse the entire site - very valuable information. Especially important read is the report: "One Year after Katrina"

Second, the SJSU student paper did an article interviewing the students and announcing the upcoming press conference. Written by Stefanie Chase it is entitled: SJSU students hope to bring attention to Gulf Coast.

There is so much more to post about the going-ons as we prepare for Louisiana Winter, Jan 14 - 20th, 2007, I hope to make time to keep you updated.

Until then visit the web site for the latest. Best, scott