Linfield College's Post-Katrina Awareness week

Submitted by Jess Wilson of Linfield College

Linfield College's Post-Katrina Awareness week had two main goals:

1. 1. promote awareness about the current circumstances in the Gulf Coast region, and
   
   2. to spread the word and gain support about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project and it's proposal.

We accomplished these goals in several ways. First, we had informational tables setup during the week for petition signing, discussion, and to talk about our events.

Our initial event was a photo spread of different times post-Katrina, and included some original (as close as we can get) New Orleans food. This event was aimed at discussion and was fairly informal.

We had a sleep out for three nights to focus on the housing issues and show the activist side of the efforts.

We brought a musical group, Jesse and the Nights, of which the front man was a displaced resident of Louisiana to share the music and for people to hear first hand how Katrina affected some one's life.

We also had a panel of individuals speak about various issues going on in Louisiana and specifically New Orleans. The panel consisted of 2 Chief Justices, 2 Judges and one non-profit individual, all Louisianans who all had different stories to tell.