New Orleans - Presidents George H. W. Bush and William J. Clinton today announced several grants from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund (The Fund) totaling $9.7 million and covering all three states impacted by Hurricane Katrina – Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The grants include funds to help build new homes, provide mental health and health care services, rebuild water, sewer and gas utilities, build shoreline improvement projects, provide community and child development services, provide financial counseling and aid in economic recovery.
“Since we were last here in New Orleans when we announced our initial areas of funding, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund has been looking at individual needs – the people and problems who had fallen through the cracks and were not getting the help they needed,” President George H. W. Bush said in remarks at the Kingsley House in New Orleans. “We were particularly interested in housing, health issues, economic self sufficiency, quality of life, and infrastructure. That last category might not seem all that personal but then we realized if your sewer system isn’t working, your quality of life is not going to be all that great.”
“President Bush and I are very grateful for the generosity of the thousands of Americans who have given to this fund. Their dollars are helping meet unmet needs, and they are helping people rebuild and restart people’s lives, which were upended by Katrina,” said President Clinton. “It won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but I am confident that the grants we announced here today, along with the initial $90 million in grants, will help this region rebuild to be even greater than it was before Katrina.”
On their initial visit to New Orleans Presidents Bush and Clinton announced the allocation of $30 million to Gulf region higher education institutions devastated by Hurricane Katrina; $20 million for local faith-based organizations; and $40 million
divided between the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for their recovery and relief funds. Since that time, 33 institutions of higher education have received grants, the grants process for religious organizations has begun and the funding for the states is being finalized.
“While we have made good progress and our fund has helped a lot of people, we know there is a long way to go and for that reason, the work of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund continues,” President Clinton said. “We are determined, through our Fund, to help the good people of the Gulf Region rebuild their lives and livelihoods, by continuing to provide the grants and funding that people need to move forward.”
President Bush concluded, “We want the people of the Gulf to know that the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund is continuing with its work in the Gulf. We are working with the American Libraries Council, to provide funding to help rebuild public libraries throughout the Gulf Coast Area, which we feel is very important in improving the quality of life for everyone, especially the young people. We are also working with Total Community Action to help rebuild housing for the elderly in this community. And we are working with the National Organization on Disability to provide grant money to help the disabled community, which was so severely affected by this disaster.”
Summary of the Grants
Housing:
Habitat for Humanity International: For the purpose of building houses in hurricane impacted areas of the Gulf Coast. The Fund grant supports Habitat’s Operation Delivery hurricane recovery program, which helps low income families affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Health:
The Children’s Health Fund: To provide mental health services through its Operation Assist program. Those served will be residents of Southern Mississippi and Louisiana, especially to low-income children of the area. A mobile unit called The Community Support Unit, staffed by a team of mental health providers, will provide one-on-one counseling and group sessions beginning this spring in Mississippi.
St. Thomas Health Services, New Orleans, LA: To support the clinic’s ability to serve it’s existing at risk population and an increasing population of newly uninsured patients with a focus on treatment and prevention of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The St. Thomas Health Services clinic, begun in 1988, is a community sponsored clinic operating in the St. Thomas/Irish Channel area of New Orleans, which reopened after the hurricane. The funds are being used to hire medical professionals, cover laboratory services and purchase equipment.
Primary Health Services Center, Monroe, LA: To continue to provide health services to Hurricane Katrina evacuees dispersed in two northern Louisiana Parishes. This non-profit medical center serve the needs of the medically underserved, low-income and predominately minority residents of the Ouachita and Morehouse Parishes. Over 8,600 evacuees fled here after the hurricane. Funds will be used for transportation services and personnel costs for a mobile health unit that will serve these evacuees, with particular focus on treatment and prevention of hypertension, diabetes and cancer.
Infrastructure:
City of Waveland, MS: To be used as matching funds for the rebuilding of a portion of its infrastructure, specifically its water, sewer, and gas utility systems.
This grant will help to cover the matching funds required from the City for these critical infrastructure projects which will be 90% funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, (FEMA). With a tax base reduced by the effects of the storm, the City did not have the resources to meet the matching requirements.
Town of Dauphin Island, AL: To provide matching funds for shoreline improvement projects. These improvements will provide safety and security from future storms for a portion of the island’s homes and businesses. It aims to improve not only the quality of life for residents but also to increase their economic opportunity. The grant covers the anticipated matching funds required from the City for this project. With a tax base reduced by the effects of the storm, the Town did not have the resources to meet these matching requirements.
Rebuilding Community Institutions/Quality of Life:
City Year-Louisiana: To recruit young adults for a year of community service, leadership development and civic engagement in the Gulf Coast. The full-time youth corps will focus on helping displaced children and families in temporary communities, and physical service projects to rebuild devastated areas resulting from the hurricanes.
Fore!Kids, New Orleans, LA: To support the efforts of local service organizations providing critically needed services to families and children. Fore!Kids will provide grants to organizations in four areas: (1) assistance for special needs families/children; (2) mental health services; (3) safety and recreation programs; and (4) childcare and early childhood education.
Economic Self Sufficiency:
Operation Hope: To provide critical financial expertise in order to increase economic and social development throughout the Gulf. Through Operation Hope centers opening in New Orleans and Houma, LA, and Gulfport and the Delta cities of Mississippi, hurricane victims will be offered a triage of economic services including financial case management, ongoing financial counseling and disaster preparedness, and tax preparation, and small business technical assistance.
City of Bayou La Batre, AL: To assist in moving up to 23 fishing boats back to Gulf waters. Hurricane Katrina swept boats inland in and near Bayou La Batre, some as much as hundreds of yards from the water. THE FUND funds are being used to aid Bayou La Batre’s efforts to get as many boats as possible back in the water so that their owners can return to their livelihoods.
The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund seeks to make a distinctive impact on unmet needs in the Gulf region through grants helping to create financial self sufficiency for individuals and communities, foster economic opportunity for the people and organizations in the Gulf, and improve the quality of life for persons impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
For more information on the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund visit: www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org . Inquiries can also be made directly to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund; 1301 K Street, NW, Suite 800 East; Washington, DC 20005; 202-289-2732, fax: 202-289-1487.
