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Get Involved
We are asking you to support the Season of Prayer and Calls to Action and to contact your members and affiliates. Please consider posting the letter of invitation that appears in Event Info page (also available in pdf format) to your web site and listserv, sending it to the people and organizations in your database, and otherwise circulating it as you deem appropriate. Feel free to make adjustments in the letter to accommodate your particular needs.
To join our effort, please click on the Join Us button on the left. You can also add any relevant events with which you are involved to our database by clicking on the Register Your Events button. Come back and watch the list of supports and events grow.
In addition, please circulate the Petition for Fairness & Opportunity in your organization and community and return the signed petitions by September 20th. Copies of your petitions will be delieverd to the appropriate elected officials at our Washington D.C. event in September and October.
Advocating For and Supporting Hurricane Victims
- In religious services, call attention to the continued suffering of the Katrina victims and to our shared responsibility to help these individuals and families.
- Conduct discussions within your organization or religious group to create a shared understanding of the plight of the hurricane victims.
- Develop a plan of action within your organization or religious group to help the hurricane victims.
- Raise funds.
- Assist in providing needed resources to hurricane victims who have been relocated to your city or community.
- Write op-eds and letters to the editors of your local and regional newspapers calling for a greater federal response to the plight of the hurricane victims. (Lobby your Local Media Tool by Oppotunity Agenda)
- Contact organizations that are already working to bring relief to the hurricane victims to find out how your organization or religious group can assist with these efforts. (See Resources)
- Send a letter from your organization or religious group to your members of Congress or visit Congressional offices urging the federal government to step up its efforts to rebuild communities in the Gulf Coast and provide adequate assistance to the hurricane victims, including those who have been displaced. (Write to your Representatives Tool by Opportunity Agenda)
- Insist that the levees in New Orleans are rebuilt to withstand a level five hurricane.
- Insist that rebuilding in the Gulf Region must create real communities of opportunity that are healthy, stable, sustainable and economically viable.
- Insist that FEMA reimburse cities that have provided resources to displaced hurricane victims.
- Insist that the federal government provide adequate continuing assistance to hurricane victims who have been displaced.
- Launch an information campaign including engagement with local radio and television stations to inform members of your community about the magnitude of the hurricane disaster, to insist on a greater federal response and to ensure that the victims of this tragedy will not be forgotten.
Speaking Points for Media Contacts
We have prepared documents for you to use in expressing your support for the National Day of Prayer and Call to Action to potential media contacts.
Please download either a short version (3 pages) or a long version (9 pages), both in pdf format.
Other Advocacy Tools and Ways to Assist:
The Praxis Project congressional advocacy tools for Katrina.
The Common Ground Collective’s strategies to get involved in Gulf Coast recovery.
New Orleans Independent Media, call for action to stop FEMA hotel evictions.