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Media Spokespeople
These individuals agreed to serve as media spokespeople for the Season of Prayer and Call to Action.
Please contact Allison Conyers from McKinney & Associates for more information.
E-mail: Allison@mckpr.com
Phone: (202) 833 - 9771 Ext. 104Gulf Region Advocates
Muriel Lewis (LA): Chief Operating Executive Officer, National Association for Katrina Evacuees (NAKE); right to return, evacuees rights, need to participate in rebuilding decisions, jobs and housing needs of evacuees
Jaribu Hill, Esq. (MS): Executive Director, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights; disparities in treatment by race regarding relief allocation; need for affordable housing plan for working poor, especially renters; need for more participation by evacuees in rebuilding planning
Monique Harden (LA): Co-Director, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights; New Orleans based attorney; negotiated settlement against Shell Oil on behalf of toxic polluted residents of Norco, LA; right to return to environmentally safe communities
Dr. Beverly Wright (LA): Founder and Director, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice; Monitors environmental and toxic conditions with emphasis on human health; right to return, environmental health, worker training, race and class equality in rebuilding
Brenda Dardar-Robichaux (LA): Chief, United Houma Nation; Director/Cultural Resource Specialist, Lafourche Parish School Board, Indian Education & Supportive Services Program; Board Member, Inter- Tribal Council of LA; education, tribal issues, Native American women, Indian Education
Tracie Washington (LA): Director, NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center; Civil Rights Attorney, New Orleans based, representing evacuees who are staying in hotels and facing eviction; post-Katrina reconstruction, equality, civil rights. Alternate: Steven Jupiter, Outreach Policy Manager, NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center
Researchers
Jared Bernstein (DC): Director, Living Standards Program, Economic Policy Institute; former Deputy Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor; author All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy (2006); co-author of semi-annual editions “State of Working America” (2006-2007); economic impact and analysis of poverty, unemployment among Katrina victims, wages and inequality
Maya Wiley (NY): Founder and Director, Center for Social Inclusion; civil rights attorney; will be issuing community rebuilding report; assessment of infrastructure by race and major New Orleans neighborhoods; equality, federal rebuilding policy analysis, infrastructure needs, civil rights, human rights
Amy Liu (DC): Deputy Director and Co-Founder, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution; Author "The Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Recovery", "Housing Families Displaced by Katrina: A Review of the Federal Response to Date", "Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita and Wilma"; metropolitan growth, economic competitiveness, affordable housing, public housing
Jim Brandt (LA): President, Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana; assessment of rebuilding progress according to jurisdiction; economy, infrastructure, governmental finance, state and local tax issues, public administration, governmental structure and organization
Sara K. Gould (NY): President, Ms. Foundation for Women; more than 20 years experience in pioneering programs that create economic opportunities for women and their families; or Julia Beatty (NY): Program Officer, Young Women’s Leadership, MS Foundation for Women; economic security for women and families, ways to help women after Katrina
john a. powell (OH): Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Ohio State University; Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University; researcher of racial and geographic patterns of disparity; civil-rights oriented perspective on crime; metropolitan equity issues, such as concentrated poverty, education, economic viability and urban sprawl
Jason Reece, AICP (OH): Senior Research Associate, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Ohio State University. Researcher specializing in GIS, demographics, geographic dimensions of racial and regional disparities, housing policy, metropolitan equity issues and policy, economic development and urban sprawl. Addition: Opinion editorials in regional and national newspapers.
Sharda Sekaran (NY): Associate Director, National Economic & Social Rights Initiative; U.S. Program Fellow, Center for Economic and Social Rights; right to return, equality, social justice, economic equality, economic rights, health care reform, human rights
Clergy
Dr. Iva Carruthers (IL): General Secretary, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.; Founder/Director of Lois House urban retreat center; Professor Emeritus/Former Chairperson, Sociology Department, Northeastern Illinois University; author "The Church and Reparations: An African American Perspective"; theology, African American church, social justice, civil rights
Rev. Cheryl Rivera (IL): Director, African American Leadership Commission, Gamaliel Foundation (60 affiliated churches working for social justice, multi-racial); African American leadership, poverty and opportunity in America, lack of opportunity predating Katrina exists in many communities
National Advocates
Melanie Campbell (DC): Executive Director and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; author, “Politics & Progress: A Presidential Platform for 2004”; civic leader, public administrator, political strategist, civil rights and youth advocate; black civic participation, election reform, voting rights, coalition building
Miles Rapoport (NY): President, DEMOS; Secretary of State for Conneticut, 1995-1999; Founder, Northeast Action (leading political reform organization); serves on Boards of Directors for DemocracyWorks, the Paul J. Aicher Foundation, the Center for Policy Alternatives (Board Secretary), Northeast Action and the Independent Sector Civic Engagement Task Force; access to equal opportunity, poverty, democracy, political institutions and equal opportunity
Damon Hewitt (NY): Assistant Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; Attorney; Board Member, Safe Streets/Strong Communities, Hurricane Information Relief Network and Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity; equality, civil rights, human rights, voting rights, education, discipline, women leadership, social justice, Katrina, internally displaced persons, criminal justice system
Janet Murguía (DC): President and CEO, National Council of La Raza; Latino issues, hispanic issues, immigrant workers in post-Katrina gulf, equality, policy analysis, foreign affairs, international policy analysis, governmental affairs. Alternates: Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation; Lisa Navarrete: Vice President, Office of Public Information
Chicago Area Advocates
Dr. Sid Mohn (IL): President, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights; President, Heartland Housing, Inc., Heartland Health Outreach, Inc. and Heartland Human Care Services, Inc.; member, Board of Directors of International Social Services U.S. Committee for Refugees, Chicago Commission on Human Relations, Global Chicago; human rights, human services, human needs, poverty
John Bouman (IL): Director of Advocacy, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; led successful statewide effort to create “FamilyCare” program to provide health insurance to up to 300,000 working poor parents of minor children; Poverty law, poverty, low wage workers, equality, opportunity
Hannah Rosenthal (IL): Executive Director, Chicago Foundation for Women; former Clinton appointee, Department of Health & Human Services; former Executive Director , Jewish Council for Public Affairs; poverty, equality, reproductive rights, women's healthcare, domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sex trafficking, violence prevention, healthcare, policy analysis