A National Call to Students - “Louisiana Winter”

Two articles follow. The first is an announcement of a press conference about the Louisiana Winter, and the second is a lomger recruitment flyer.

A National Call to Students "Louisiana Winter"
Press Conference on Thursday, December 14, 2006. 3:00 p.m.
U.S. District Court Building 500 Poydras Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

In 1964, 800 college students from around the country came to Mississippi to register African American voters who were being denied this constitutional right. In that spirit of democracy, civil rights advocates across the country, led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton of San Jose State University, has called upon students to travel to the Gulf Coast to participate this January in I Louisiana Winter. I The NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center is proud to co-sponsor this event.

The goal of Louisiana Winter is to both witness first-hand the social suffering that is occurring and to promote the immediate passage of federal legislation to implement the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project. If passed by Congress, the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and communities in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The residents, who will be given subsidized tickets back to their neighborhoods, will setup temporary housing for themselves, and then rebuild and repair houses, schools, levees, parks, and other civic buildings and spaces. (See www.SolvingPoverty.com <http://www.SolvingPoverty.com> )

Louisiana Winter will bring the nation lS attention to the continued social suffering in the Gulf Coast during the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday celebration, and demand immediate action from Congress. Louisiana Winter will also be a learning experience that our nation 's students will never forget, as they learn first-hand about the social conditions in the Gulf Coast, and how their actions are making history since they will be actively building Dr. King's Beloved Community.

This project will work and be a tremendous success, but only if residents in our community actively participate. We must guide Congress. We must serve as the lead, telling Congress what we need in our community.
Please see attached flyers for more details on this exciting program. If you have any questions, please contract Scott Myers-Lipton at smlipton [at] sjsu [dot] edu or Tracie Washington at twashington [at] noocpnet [dot] org.

Tracie L. Washington, Esq.
Director -- NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center Suite 1400 -- 650 Poydras Street

A National Call to Students - “Louisiana Winter”

In 1964, 800 college students from around the country came to Mississippi to register African American voters who were being denied this constitutional right. In that spirit of democracy, we call upon students to travel to the Gulf Coast to participate this January in ³Louisiana Winter.² The goals of Louisiana Winter are: to turn the nation¹s attention to the Gulf Coast; to have students witness first-hand the social suffering that is occurring; and to promote the immediate passage of federal legislation to implement the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project.

If passed by Congress, the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and the surrounding region. The residents, who will be given subsidized tickets back to their neighborhoods, will set up temporary housing for themselves, and then rebuild and repair houses, schools, levees, parks, and other civic buildings. (See www.SolvingPoverty.com)

Responding to the Call: Students

If you are a student, and want to participate in Louisiana Winter, plan on being in the Gulf Coast region from January 14-20, 2007. Teams of 20-40 students will spend Monday through Friday in a different town or parish throughout the Gulf Coast. Each student team will arrive in a town or parish between 7 and 9 am; then, from 9 am-10:30 am, the local residents will tell their stories of the social suffering that has occurred and still is occurring. The students will then go from door to door and store to store between 10:30 am and 5 pm, handing out flyers and educating citizens about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, and the need to pass immediate Congressional legislation to implement it.

Each night, there will be a town hall meeting from 7-9 pm. All of the citizens that the students have met with throughout the day will be invited in order to have a more in-depth conversation about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, and to see what actions we can take together to implement it in Congress. In each town forum, the residents will be invited to attend a mass rally on Saturday, January 20th in either New Orleans or Baton Rouge.

To register your participation, please go to www.SolvingPoverty.com, and fill out the on-line student registration form. After you complete the form, we will contact you with information about your student team and where you will need to be at 3 pm, on Sunday, January 14. If you have any questions, contact Seychelle Martinez at SeychelleM [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Responding to the Call: Gulf Coast Wards, Towns, and Parishes

If you are a community group or a citizen in the Gulf Coast, and would like to invite a student team of 20-40 students to your ward, town, or parish, please go to www.SolvingPoverty.com and fill out the on-line community registration form. Here are a list of things we need for each parish or town that is interested in hosting a student team: (a) a place for the students to sleep for 1 night, (b) breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 1 day, (c) a community center that can host the morning discussion and the evening town meeting, (d) 4 or 5 community members to talk to the students in the morning, (e) assistance on where the students should go door to door and store to store, and (f) help with transportation to the next town. If you have any questions, contact Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton at smlipton [at] sjsu [dot] edu.

Responding to the Call: American Citizens

If you are an American citizen and you want to support Louisiana Winter, you can do two things: first, you can come to the rally on January 20, or hold a similar rally in your community, and second, you can make a financial contribution at www.SolvingPoverty.com to support the logistical costs.

Media Kick-Off: A national press conference to announce Louisiana Winter will be held on Thursday, December 14th, one month to the day before students arrive in the Gulf Coast, at 3pm at the Federal Building in New Orleans, Louisiana and at 1 pm at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose, California. Dignitaries and students will be in attendance.

Signed,

Brian Jupiter NAACP Chapter New Orleans

Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews Grace Baptist Church - San Jose, CA S

Scott Myers-Lipton, Associate Professor San Jose State University Bill Quigley, Professor Loyola

University New Orleans School of Law Dr. Marty Rowland, P.E., professional civil/environmental engineer, urban planner - New Orleans

Tracie L. Washington, Esq. Director - NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center