Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

May 2007 Grant Cycle

Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc.
Duck Hill, MS
$12,500
To support advocacy and collaboration with a variety of groups to provide technical support and document the stories of displaced families in the Gulf Coast region; to use media as a tool to broaden the base of support and resources for regions impacted by Katrina and Rita.

American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi
Jackson, MS
$12,500
For the Access to Government Project, to train and provide assistance to community groups and individuals who want to play a greater role in decision-making and participate in state and local processes currently addressing Katrina-related issues.

Center for Environmental and Economic Justice
Biloxi, MS
$15,000
For the Environmental Justice and Health Monitoring and Stakeholder Empowerment project, to hold responsible parties accountable for environmental contamination along the Turkey Creek Basin, and to ensure impacted communities are well-informed and have a voice in government and agency decisions.

Citizens Against Widening the Industrial Canal
New Orleans, LA
$7,500
To ensure the sustainable rebuilding of the Lower 9th Ward by completing and disseminating a rigorous economic analysis that disputes the need for new lock construction along the Industrial Canal—a critical issue that neighborhood residents have fought against for years but is gaining new traction in post-Katrina rebuilding plans.

Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN)
Houston, TX
$10,000
To support a collaborative endeavor with Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS) to address environmental justice issues in Houston’s East End—a low-income, predominately minority neighborhood that contains dozens of refineries and chemical plants, and has become home to many families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Common Ground Health Clinic
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To fund a healthcare needs assessment that will promote access to healthcare for low-income and immigrant communities in New Orleans by providing culturally appropriate clinical and health education services based on communities’ self-identified needs.

Grand Bayou Community United
Port Sulphur, LA
$15,000
To continue work on establishing a fishers’ cooperative for lower Plaquemines Parish; to continue advocacy for the Atakapa Native American/Creole community of Grand Bayou and their struggles to rebuild their community, preserve their cultural heritage, and stem coastal erosion.

House of Dance and Feathers
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To fund the preservation and expansion of the collection of this neighborhood museum—based in the Lower 9th Ward—that serves as a community focal point and a way to educate others about the unique history and cultural heritage of the neighborhood, including exhibits on two hundred years of local culture and music, and an updated exhibit on “The Katrina Story.”

INCITE! New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For the New Orleans Women of Color Resource and Organizing Center, to serve as a resource and organizing hub to nurture grassroots initiatives and to link organizing efforts on a wide range of post-Katrina issues including violence against women, housing discrimination and environmental racism.

Institute for Southern Studies
Durham, NC
$10,000
For “A People’s Agenda for the Gulf Coast: the Grassroots Gulf Policy Initiative”, a new collaborative effort to ensure the voices of Gulf Coast communities are heard in the national policy debate, and to directly support Gulf Coast groups working to effect change.

Institute for Sustainable Communities/FOCUS
Pascagoula, MS
$15,000
For Sustainable Moss Point, a project serving the low-income, predominately African-American city of Moss Point, mobilizing residents to have direct input into the city’s redevelopment after Katrina and ensure that residents self-identified priorities are addressed.

Kids Rethinking New Orleans’ Schools
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For “Rethink,” a collaboration of organizations providing a multi-stage youth development project that engages low-income and African American students in planning for the future of New Orleans’ schools by providing them training and multi-media tools to articulate their ideas, and a platform to share their work with the public.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To support work in the Lower 9th Ward and the Center for Sustainable Engagement in Holy Cross, promoting green and sustainable rebuilding; with St. Bernard Citizens for Environmental Quality on environmental justice issues caused by the local oil refineries; and to promote the Fenceline Neighbors, a growing network of grassroots environmental justice groups throughout Louisiana.

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
Jackson, MS
$10,000
To support work advocating for and protecting immigrant and guest workers from violations of their civil and human rights; and to monitor and ensure that government and private contractors involved in the rebuilding process are held accountable.

Mobile Baykeeper
Mobile, AL
$7,500
To create environmental education and outreach programs in Prichard and Bayou La Batre —primarily low-income, minority fishing communities in coastal Alabama; to continue work to protect coastal wetlands and move critical infrastructure out of flood-prone areas.

National Alliance of Vietnamese-American Service Agencies
Biloxi, MS
$10,000
For the Oak Street Revitalization project, an initiative that seeks to support and empower the small businesses in the heart of the Vietnamese-American community of East Biloxi, and to provide workforce development training for the many workers displaced from the shrimp and fishing industries of the region.

New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
New Orleans, LA
$20,000
For the annual festival that hosts over 50 films made locally and internationally, empowers local social justice organizations, and provides opportunities for local communities to tell their own stories, as well as a larger international human rights framework for understanding the injustices that have taken place since Katrina.

New Orleans Kids Camera Project
New Orleans, LA
$4,000
To provide equipment and multi-media training to children in New Orleans so that they are empowered to explore their environment and utilize the power of their voices; to emphasize the value of art as a tool for self-discovery, healing and growth.

North Gulfport Community Land Trust
Gulfport, MS
$10,000
To support work to ensure the preservation of the culture and land of the historical African American communities of North Gulfport and Turkey Creek, and to address the environmental degradation, wetlands filling, land speculation and potential gentrification pressures that have increased since Hurricane Katrina.

People’s Environmental Center
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To continue operating the community-based environmental laboratory in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans that empowers residents to learn about and mitigate the environmental health hazards in their neighborhood; to undertake direct sampling and testing, research, community outreach and community-based environmental education.

People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition
New Orleans, LA
$15,000
For the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita—a project of PHRF and coalition partners—to provide testimony from survivors as well as key experts to educate and mobilize grassroots groups to pressure Congress and local agencies to support justice for survivors.

Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond
New Orleans, LA
$6,000
For the People’s Youth Agenda Freedom School, to promote inter-generational leadership development and engage New Orleans youth and their families in a process to learn about themselves, their communities, and what it takes to create a just and equitable community.

Redemption Community Development Corporation
Houston, TX
$10,000
For Transition Education Aid for Children of Katrina and Rita (TEACKR) to work in Houston area schools advocating for and assisting displaced students and their families, and ensuring relocated students have access to quality academic programs.

REJOICE, Inc.
Kenner, LA
$20,000
For the Resource Center for Families, to continue providing critical services including disaster assistance (food, clothing, school supplies), daycare, emergency care for seniors, counseling, transportation, job training, tutoring and support groups.

Southwest Workers Union
San Antonio, TX
$10,000
To convene communities along the Gulf Coast and create a common analysis and vision through multi-racial, multi-sector synergy of grassroots organizations; to address the intersecting issues of hurricane recovery, oil, energy and climate change; to play a key role in coordinating the Peoples Freedom Caravan to the US Social Forum and follow-up activities.

US Human Rights Network
Atlanta, GA
$10,000
For the “Hold the US Accountable Campaign” to support advocacy efforts of member organizations to raise human rights issues related to Hurricane Katrina; to conduct trainings and workshops for US civil society groups to promote human rights protection within the US.

Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For the Youth Development Program to promote and develop youth leadership skills within the Vietnamese-American community of New Orleans; to promote youth leadership in post-Katrina struggles such as environmental justice, quality education, and cultural preservation.

Total Grants This Cycle: $300,000

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October 2006 Grant Cycle

Back Bay Mission
Biloxi, MS
$20,000
To promote community empowerment and advocacy for the African American and immigrant communities of the MS Gulf Coast; to assess needs and identify gaps in services; and to promote equitable, sustainable long-term recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Boat People SOS
Bayou LaBatre, AL
$10,000
For the Community Technology Center to provide a gathering place and services such as English as a Second Language, computer training, and citizenship preparation to the large number of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants in coastal Alabama.

Critical Resistance
Oakland, CA
$10,000
For the Justice for Prisoners of Katrina program, focused on winning amnesty for people who were arrested for taking care of themselves and their families after the storm, including those who were unfairly charged with Katrina-related offenses such as curfew violations, illegal dumping and squatting.

Families & Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children
Lake Charles, LA
$20,000
For work in Calcasieu and Orleans Parishes to organize the returning residents most directly affected by the juvenile justice system, and to transform educational and other “feeder” institutions into systems that provide opportunities and support to youth in crisis.

Grace Harbour Christian Ministries
Buras, LA
$15,000
For the Community Technology and Economic Development Center to provide the under-served communities of Plaquemines Parish with youth after school programs; adult GED, financial training and vocational programs; and to coordinate other programs designed to rebuild the local communities devastated by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For fair housing investigation, enforcement and outreach that serves individuals and communities that may experience housing discrimination due to race, national origin or disability; and to advocate for the housing rights of these returning residents.

Hispanic/Latino Ministries of the United Methodist Church
Biloxi, MS
$25,000
To establish “El Centro de Hospitalidad” an immigrant hospitality center that will act as a welcome center, referral agency and center of advocacy for Hispanic/Latino immigrants in coastal MS communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For the Youth Academy of Healthy Community, a project to provide mental health services that are culturally sensitive and relevant to the social context of New Orleans youth; and to identify and address post-Katrina stress disorders.

Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, BISCO
Thibodaux, LA
$12,500
To empower traditionally marginalized populations in LaFourche and Terrebonne Parishes—including African American, Native American, Latino, Vietnamese, low-income and elderly residents—to advocate for the needs of their communities and build community-level power to inform and affect local, state and national policy.

Interfaith Worker Justice
Chicago, IL
$10,000
To support the Interfaith Worker Justice Center of New Orleans, a center that will focus on the African American and immigrant communities and assist workers in filing claims, advocate for increased enforcement of labor laws in the region, and provide access to job training and apprenticeship opportunities.

International Arts Foundation
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For the Children’s Global Playground, a series of educational and cultural workshops for returning youth that utilize art and music to promote recovery and multicultural community awareness, and to enhance literacy and language skills.

Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Assoc.
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To engage and mobilize current and former residents of the Lower Ninth Ward to build cohesion around advocating for supportive local policies; and to create a comprehensive planning process that focuses addressing residents’ housing, employment, and other needs.

Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities
Jackson, MS
$30,000
For the Connecting Parents and Educational Resources project, designed to support all families with a child or parent with a disability, including low-income and immigrant families; and to assist in addressing the effects of Hurricane Katrina on students and their families.

Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc.
Slidell, LA
$12,500
For the Recover & Restore: Video Advocacy Series, a series of media learning tools to empower Gulf Coast residents, particularly youth, minority and African American communities, by providing information relating to key issues in rebuilding such as housing rights, environmental health, and health care.

New Orleans Women’s Health and Justice Initiative
New Orleans, LA
$20,000
For the Women’s Health Clinic in the historic African American neighborhood of Treme, to provide a wide range of preventative health services and ensure that women and girls of color have access to affordable and safe health care services.

The Renaissance Project
New Orleans, LA
$15,000
For Students at the Center, to develop a digital media center at a predominately African American high school that will be open to both students and the community to document their hurricane-recovery stories; and to provide global exchange with youth in other displaced communities, including a refugee camp in Kenya.

Safe Streets Strong Communities
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To build power in New Orleans’ communities of color and bring the voices most affected by the failures of the criminal justice system to the forefront; to reform and improve the criminal justice system in New Orleans and establish independent monitoring and oversight.

South Bay Communities Alliance, Inc.
Coden, AL
$10,000
To provide enhance the organization’s ability to respond to the needs of its members, including continued investment in hurricane recovery and preparedness, and advocacy for the rights of communities to retain their unique character and avoid displacement, particularly the African American, Creole, Cajun, Native American and Southeast Asian communities of coastal Alabama.

Start the Adventure in Reading
New Orleans, LA
$5,000
For a literacy program to recruit and train community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring in reading and language skills to public school second grade students in danger of academic failure; and to develop the Family Reading Workshops: Helping Children Read and Recover to support families and children recovering from Katrina.

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Cleveland, OH
$10,000
For the JWM Gulf Coast Justice Initiative, a partnership with local organizations focused on a just rebuilding of the Lower Ninth Ward, environmental testing services, legal centers to assist residents, and leadership development for young adults.

Youth Empowerment Project
New Orleans, LA
$15,000
For work with New Orleans’ disadvantaged youth providing programs, primarily to African American youth, focused on mentoring, literacy, community reintegration and legal assistance.

Zion Traveler’s Cooperative Center
Braithwaite, LA
$10,000
For the Youth Technology Center, a center for the under-served youth of Plaquemines Parish, many of whom are still internally displaced. The Center will provide hands-on computer training, and a place for academic tutoring and youth-focused community events.

Total Grants This Cycle: $300,000

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June 2006 Grant Cycle

Alliance for Affordable Energy
New Orleans, LA
$15,000
For the Green Building Resource Center Outreach, a project focused on homeowner, renter, and landlord education programs and contractor training and certification on affordable, safe and energy-efficient rebuilding, with a special focus on minority and low income participants and smart rebuilding in low income neighborhoods.

Center for Environmental and Economic Justice
Biloxi, MS
$15,000
For the Community Stabilization and Redevelopment Project, to establish an information-sharing center that will provide job placement assistance, transportation, and a place where all community members—Vietnamese, Latino, African American, and Caucasian—can establish their voice in the community rebuilding process.

Common Ground Worker Education Project
New Orleans, LA
$25,000
To create multi-lingual written, audio-visual, and performance material to engage immigrant and guest workers who are most vulnerable to abuse in a wide-scale education effort to prevent labor and civil rights abuses in the rebuilding of New Orleans.

Community Advocacy, Research and Education, Inc.
Ridgeland, MS
$15,000
To increase access to mental health services in the underserved populations of MS by conducting research and education in the area of disaster mental health and working with residents on how to access resources and achieve and maintain mental well-being.

Gert Town Revival Initiative
New Orleans, LA
$30,000
For Return, Rebuild Gert Town Today, a project committed to helping residents return and restore a sense of normalcy by providing basic needs that many can not afford, such as household appliances, furniture, and building materials.

Grand Bayou Community United
Port Sulphur, LA
$15,000
To establish a co-operative that will enable its members to rebuild the local fishing community destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by providing small family fishers a viable outlet for distributing their catch in a diverse, fair-trade market.

Junebug Productions, Inc.
New Orleans, LA
$20,000
For “New Orleans’ Color Line Project: Seeking and Amplifying Katrina Stories,” a partnership among educators, artists and community organizers that uses the Story Circle process to collect and connect stories from survivors in order to strengthen their voices and engage them in forming the future of their communities.

Kids Rethinking New Orleans’ Schools
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For “Rethink,” a collaboration of organizations providing a multi-stage youth development project that engages low-income and African American students in planning for the future of New Orleans’ schools by providing them training and multi-media tools to articulate their ideas, and a platform to share their work with the public.

Lighthouse Community Development Corporation
Grant Bay, AL
$15,000
To encourage the recovery of the Bayou La Batre community by providing training and services to all community members, and an after school and summer enrichment program that will improve students’ academic skills and provide parents and guardians with free, high-quality child care.

Louisiana Bayoukeeper
Barataria, LA
$10,000
To assist coastal communities in protecting the area’s watersheds by engaging and empowering fishing communities to promote sustainable rebuilding and repair of public and private sewage treatment systems.

Louisiana Interchurch Conference
Baton Rouge, LA
$12,500
For the Sustainable Churches for South Louisiana, a project to help communities rebuild their churches using green building practices, to create and distribute information to congregants, and to provide models for rebuilding south Louisiana in ways that support the long-term health of communities and ecosystems.

Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Dev. Corp.
New Orleans, LA
$17,500
To support the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East in their fight for the right to return to their homes and their right to live in a safe and healthy environment, through grassroots leadership development and advocacy for policies to ensure lasting environmental justice for the community.

People’s Organizing Committee
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
For the New Orleans Worker Training and Neighborhood Rebuilding Program, to organize the survivors most impacted by Hurricane Katrina and provide training, skills and resources for survivors to participate in the rebuilding of their homes, schools, clinics, and other essential community infrastructure.

New Orleans Kids Camera Project
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To provide cameras, film-development, and photojournalism training to children returning to flooded neighborhoods so that they are empowered to explore their environment, express their feelings, and tell their stories.

Portersville Revival Group
Coden, AL
$15,000
To purchase a mobile unit that will house the organization and be used to conduct outreach and community advocacy and to bring legal information and referral services to the Creole, Cre-Asian, and Asian cultures of rural Alabama.

Southwest Workers Union
San Antonio, TX
$5,000
To develop a common regional vision and plan of action for addressing the intersecting issues of oil, energy and climate change through a participatory process that includes affected communities and workers and strengthens connections between Latino, African American and Indigenous communities.

US Human Rights Network
Atlanta, GA
$10,000
For the Internally Displaced Persons Human Rights Campaign to provide a vehicle for advocacy and activism on behalf of survivors displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Total Grants This Cycle: $250,000

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May 2006 Grant Cycle

Action Communication and Education Reform, Inc.
Duck Hill, MS
$10,000
For the Concerned Citizens of Montgomery project to document the stories of displaced residents, and provide technical assistance and know-your-rights education to displaced families, with a special focus on immigrant families and individuals displaced by Katrina.

American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi
Jackson, MS
$15,000
For the Access to Government Project, to train and provide assistance to community groups and individuals who want to play a greater role in decision-making and participate in state and local processes currently addressing Katrina-related issues.

Circle of Love Outreach
Selma, AL
$10,000
To continue to provide temporary housing for Katrina evacuees who are waiting to return to communities in affected areas.

Common Ground Collective
New Orleans, LA
$20,000
To purchase a bio-diesel water truck to bring potable water to the Lower 9th Ward, to be stored in water tanks placed strategically around the neighborhood to give returning residents access to safe drinking water.

Common Ground Health Clinic
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To fund operating costs of the Common Ground Health Clinic, a free clinic providing quality primary care and diagnostic services in Algiers, and its satellite clinics, including the Latino Health Outreach Program.

Community-In-Power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA)
Port Arthur, TX
$15,000
To help African American, low-income and elderly residents and displaced persons in Port Arthur recover and rebuild; and to continue ongoing community organizing to address pollution from the area’s oil refineries.

Mobile Baykeeper
Mobile, AL
$8,000
To work with citizen groups and government agencies in Bayou la Batre, AL to move critical infrastructure out of flood prone areas and ensure a rebuilding plan that focuses on public health and environmental protection.

NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To conduct trainings and outreach throughout Louisiana and Texas to inform displaced residents of housing rights and opportunities, and enable residents to fully access state and federal assistance resources.

National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness (NPACH)
New Orleans, LA
$5,000
For the Gulf South Housing Stability Project to address emergency housing needs, recover critical social services and advocacy capacity, and provide technical assistance, leadership development and enhanced coordination.

New Orleans Worker Justice Coalition
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
To foster a coalition of organizations and individuals to support workers’ rights, and build infrastructure for multi-racial worker organizing and empowerment.

Northern Louisiana Interfaith Sponsoring Committee
Monroe, LA
$15,000
For the Northern and Central Louisiana Katrina Survivors Network, to build a network of evacuees who can advocate for the needs of their families and communities, and collaborate with local organizations and networks throughout Louisiana.

People’s Environmental Center
New Orleans, LA
$37,000
To complete the first phase of a nonprofit, community-based environmental laboratory in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans that will give people direct access to environmental science and environmental health information.

People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Committee
New Orleans, LA
$5,000
For the New Orleans Neighborhood Planning Initiative, to inform and influence the planning process and to ensure a participatory and respectful process that incorporates equity, justice and community identity.

Redemption Community Development Corporation
Houston, TX
$10,000
For Transition Education Aid for Children of Katrina and Rita (TEACKR) to work in Houston area schools advocating for and assisting displaced students and their families, and ensuring relocated students have access to quality academic programs.

REJOICE, Inc.
Kenner, LA
$15,000
For the Resource Center for Families, to continue providing critical services including disaster assistance (food, clothing, school supplies), daycare, emergency care for seniors, counseling, transportation, job training, tutoring and support groups.

Texas Environmental Advocacy Services (TEJAS)
Houston, TX
$5,000
For the Community Environmental Health and Risk Outreach program, to provide educational, organizing and advocacy tools for citizens of Port Arthur & Beaumont, TX.

Total Grants This Cycle: $200,000

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April 12, 2006 Grant Cycle

Action Communication and Education Reform
Duck Hill, MS
$10,000
General support for MS-NAACP

Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
General support

Alabama Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Selma, AL
$10,000
General support for Saving OurSelves Coalition

Arkansas Institute for Social Justice
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
General support for New Orleans ACORN

BayouClinic
Bayou La Batre, AL
$10,000
General support

Center for Environmental and Economic Justice
Biloxi, MS
$10,000
General support

Concerned Citizens of Agriculture Street Landfill
Tickfaw, LA
$10,000
General support

Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Baton Rouge, LA
$10,000
General support

Greater Birmingham Ministries
Birmingham, AL
$10,000
General support

Gulf Restoration Network
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
General support

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
Baton Rouge, LA
$20,000
2 grants: $10,000 for purchase of protective gear and $10,000 for general support

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
Jackson, MS
$10,000
General support

Mississippi River Basin Alliance
Minneapolis, MN
$10,000
General support for Holy Cross Neighborhood Association

Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
Jackson, MS
$10,000
General support

National Alliance of Vietnamese-American Service Agencies
Silver Spring, MD
$10,000
To support efforts in the Gulf Coast region post hurricanes Katrina and Rita

National Center for Human Rights Education
Decatur, GA
$10,000
Support for INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence for their post-Katrina efforts

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
General support

Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles
Los Angeles, LA
$19,200
2 grants: $9,200 for Melissa Burch’s work in New Orleans with the Environmental Health & Justice Work Committee of the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and $10,000 to support the Louisiana chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility

Turkey Creek Community Initiatives
Gulfport, MS
$10,000
General support

United Houma Nation
Golden Meadow, LA
$10,000
General support

Youth Inspirational Connection
New Orleans, LA
$10,000
General support for Katrina House of Care

Total Grants This Cycle: $219,200

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