This year I was very excited to represent Joy Corporation of Baton Rouge at Regional Equity '08: The Third National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth on March 5-7, 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans. The summit, by PolicyLink, brought together over 1500 people from all across the world to collaborate and share their ideas on topics ranging from Using Research for Community-Driving Policy Change to Building an Inclusive Regional Equity Movement.
Here are some of my personal highlights from the conference:
1. Site Visit: Crescent City Connections: Creating Careers, Jobs, and a New Middle Class
I arrived at the Regional Equity '08 a day early to get involved in some pre-summit activities. The focus of Crescent City Connections was to introduce ways to combine low income residents with opportunities focusing on job readiness, career achievement, and entrance into a new middle class. For years economist have been warning that the middle class is declining. The social class ratio in New Orleans is a case study to consider. Normally, the middle class makes up the largest economic group in society, however, in New Orleans, low-income residents are the largest population. To show how this problem is being combated, our host, Marie Lee, from Gulf Coast Career Centers (GCCC) showed us how GCCC was combating this problem using the booming construction trade in New Orleans. To end the site visit Marie Lee showed new "green" housing that was being built that provided healthier living conditions for residents moving back home. The 1st picture below shows a two story condo across the street from New Orleans Festival Grounds. The frame of the condo is made of steel and all appliances are energy efficient. Additionally, the structure and ornaments will also be environmentally friendly. The second picture shows rebuilt houses in the upper 9th ward.
2. Welcome and Opening Remarks & Building Bridges for Infrastructure Equity
My favorite activist for social change, Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder & CEO of PolicyLink, opened the summit by welcoming everyone to New Orleans and kicking off the first important topic of the conference, Building Bridges for Infrastructure Equity. Joining her were Ronald C. Sims (Executive, King County, Washington), Richard D. Baron, (Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO, McCormak Baron Salazar, Inc.), and The Honorable Victor Lopez (Mayor, City of Orange Cove, California). I was disappointed not to see our state senator, Mary Landrieu, absent from the panel. The panel focused on how important bridges, tunnels, sewer and other infrastructure developments are to advancing social equity in low-income communities. On video, The Honorable Cory Booker, Mayor, City of Newark, New Jersey, talked about the devastation of the bridge collapse in their city and how important infrastructure was to the safety of all humans.
3. Take The Noose Off Of Affordable Housing
One of the more interesting points of the conference was the protests going on throughout the city of New Orleans. The protest captured below shows community leaders and their disgust with the slow response to public housing agendas post Hurricane Katrina. This particular protest attracted a large group of onlookers as well as media attention.
The conference was a great opportunity for community organizers, community based organizations, community colleges, educators, activist, and students to come together and combine resources to create a better America, a better community, and a better home. For more information on how you can make a difference or more about the conference visit the Equity Blog at www.equityblog.org. Also below is a video from Angela Glover Blackwell where she talks about the summit and encourages all of us to get involved.
Tierra Montgomery
VP of Training & IT Development
No comments:
Post a Comment