38 CAMPUSES HOST NATIONAL POST-KATRINA COLLEGE SUMMIT DEMAND 100,000 JOBS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Please distribute widely.

Date: Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Contact: Salena Acox at +1-408-627-0917
Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton at +1-510-508-5382 38

CAMPUSES HOST NATIONAL POST-KATRINA COLLEGE SUMMIT: STUDENTS DEMAND 100,000 JOBS FOR GULF COAST RESIDENTS
SAN JOSE, CA -- Students and faculty from thirty-eight colleges, including Xavier, Tulane, Stanford, Cal, Michigan , Indiana, NYU, Princeton, Tennessee, South Florida, and San José State are hosting a "National Post-Katrina College Summit" this Monday through Saturday.

The Post-Katrina College Summit is a nationwide, week-long effort to raise awareness about the Gulf Coast through documentary films, speakers, spoken word, blood drives, rallies, petition drives, reading the names of Katrina victims, and other events. For example, this Tuesday at the University of Michigan, Lt. General Russel Honore, the person who Mayor Ray Nagin credited with finally bringing in supplies to New Orleans, is our keynote speaker. Also, on Tuesday at Cal State University of Fullerton, a second line march and processional across campus will occur, followed by the reading of the names of 1784 Katrina victims.

The Summit is an attempt to catapult New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast back into the national consciousness and to promote federal legislation for a New Deal-style program for the Gulf Coast.

Working together as the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, students and faculty are calling for federal legislation to implement a civic works program in the Gulf Coast, creating 100,000 jobs for Gulf Coast residents to rebuild their communities. The cost of the program, which includes job training, is estimated to be $4 billion.

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Project has received support from some key allies, among which are Congressman Bennie Thompson, Chair of Homeland Security, and the New Orleans chapter of ACORN.

For more information, visit http://www.solvingpoverty.com/ ####