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