Gulf Coast Voices

• produced by PPH Gulfcoast Trainees
• in 2007

It's Called Renaissance Village. But don't let the name fool you. It's the largest FEMA trailer park in the country. It's located about a hundred miles north of New Orleans in Baker, Louisiana.  RIght after Hurricane Katrina and Rita, thousands were sent to live there.  PPH trainees in the Gulf Coast produced stories that were aired by the nationally syndicated program Making Contact.

• produced by Christine Lewis
• in 2008

On June 26th, a judge sentenced a Long Island couple for the abuse of two Indonesian domestic workers. Christine Lewis (Domestic Workers United) files this report for Free Speech Radio News.

• produced by SAINTS
• in 2008

In time for the March 11th Mississippi primary, youth from Radio Rootz partner group SAINTS (Students Against Infectious Diseases N Today's Society) hit the streets of their local communities to prepare this report.

• produced by Eric Walker, Rasheka London & Keyana London - Dana Solet & Cacinda Voisin
• in 2007

After Katrina many survivors were moved into large FEMA trailer parks. Two years later, they remain warehoused in these trailer parks. Renaissance Village, 100 miles from New Orleans is one such trailer park, which is the largest FEMA trailer park in the country. With 500 trailers, many residents have been stuck there for close to two years. This piece was produced by youth who live in the trailer park -- Eric Walker, Rasheka London and Keyana London, with help from youth from the United Houma Nation, Dana Solet and Cacinda Voisin.

• produced by Sharon Hanshaw & Cass Woods
• in 2008

With little government assistance, too many bureaucratic obstacles to jump through, and an insurance industry that found outs every step of the way, women from all over the gulf coast had to come together to help those in need. One group of women created "Coastal Women for Change" to fill the huge void in Biloxi, Mississippi. They began providing vital services like childcare and information that residents desperately needed but were not receiving such as their land rights and programs available to them for relief. Coastal Women for Change reporters Sharon Hanshaw and Cass Woods bring us this story.

• produced by Jason Mackenzie
• in 2008

Hurricane Katrina wiped out the coastline in Mississippi. Many folks who lived their either couldn't afford to rebuild or afford the insurance cost to stay there. So big developers moved in and bought many of the former residents' property. Now 2 years later the major development happening along the coast is coming from large casinos. And residents from the nearby African American communities say the development is changing the face of their neighborhoods. Jason Mackenzie of the North Gulfport Community Land Trust brings us this report.

• produced by La Wanda White
• in 2008

What happens when your community does not receive assistance to rebuild homes and move residents back after a huge natural disaster? What happens when the only union work available is for "able bodied men?" Well, if you are like the women of the Moore Community House in Gulfport, Mississippi, you train your community in construction work and begin doing it yourself. La Wanda White of the Moore Community House has this report from Gulfport, MI.

• produced by Anchanese Levison
• in 2008

Following the devastations of hurricane Katrina, many people were left homeless in Gulfport Mississippi. Two years later, the pace of the rebuilding process is said to be very slow, and the few lucky residents living in FEMA trailers constantly face difficulties when repair is needed. Anchanese Levison of the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, an advocacy group that helps residents in housing crisis, files this report.

Demonstrations against the demolition of public housing in New Orleans have intensified over the past weeks. Former residents and activists are trying to stop the destruction of 4,000 units of low-income housing. While the fight in New Orleans is attracting national media attention, a full-blown affordable housing crisis in neighboring Mississippi is largely being ignored.

Hurricane Katrina wiped out major residential areas in coastal regions of the state, which was already stricken with high levels of poverty. Cities like Gulfport and Biloxi were hit particularly hard. Mississippi has been allocated $5.4 billion dollars of federal funds to rebuild, but very little of that money has reached low-income families.