Select an issue... Afterschool Citizen Participation Community Foundations Community Organizing Flint Area Freshwater Ecosystems Michigan Income Security Philanthropy/Nonprofit Sector Sustainable Development Vulnerable Youth Workforce Development Select a region... Central/Eastern Europe and Russia Southeast Europe Great Lakes International Latin America South Africa United States Western Former Soviet Union

 

Looking for a specific grant?

 

 

Page Tools

Printable Version

 

January 25, 2006

Contact: Marilyn S. LeFeber, (810) 238-5651, info@mott.org

Mott Foundation Funds Long-Term Hurricane Relief Efforts

FLINT, Mich. — A package of nine grants totaling almost $1.6 million has been made by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to assist nine current or former grantee organizations serving the New Orleans area and displaced residents. The grants will assist organizations recover from storm damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita by providing support for planning, salaries, equipment, supplies and office space.

“Our staff has been in contact with a number of longtime grantees who have suffered tremendous losses and whose employees are scattered, working from their homes or temporary office space,” said Maureen H. Smyth, Senior Vice President-Programs and Communications.

“In consultation with these organizations, we have this package, which focuses on supporting grassroots organizing, advocating for environmental restoration and protection of Louisiana’s coastline, and rebuilding New Orleans’ two historically black universities.”

Another grant, to the Michigan Association of United Ways in Lansing, will support the special needs of displaced Louisiana residents living in the state.

Issues of equity, security, education, land use, jobs, housing and health care have both immediate and long-term implications for the recovery of the Gulf Coast. Citizen input is essential to this process, particularly for low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

The Mott grants are designed to help revive Louisiana’s nonprofit infrastructure, which provides one of the few avenues for residents to participate in the recovery of their neighborhoods and communities. The grants build on Mott’s long-term interests in the areas of community organizing, environmental restoration and support for historically black colleges and universities.

For more than a quarter century, Mott has supported community organizing nationally, including a number of New Orleans-based agencies, through both direct grants and grants to regional intermediary organizations.

Mott grantmaking for Louisiana coastal restoration issues is more recent, beginning in 2000.

Mott’s support for historically black colleges and universities dates to the late 1970s. Over the past 25 years, a number of endowment and programmatic grants were made to individual historically black colleges and universities.

2005 Grants for Hurricane Relief

Community Organizing

• American Institute for Social Justice, Washington, D.C. $100,000 to provide training and ongoing technical assistance for groups in the Gulf region affiliated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). New Orleans ACORN was founded 25 years ago and has concentrated its organizing and training efforts in the poorest sections of the city.
• Interfaith Education Fund, Austin, Texas. $100,000 to replace equipment, supplement salaries for organizers from local nonprofits recovering from hurricane losses, and underwrite short-term organizing efforts among the thousands of evacuees who have migrated to Texas. The Fund has been working with community organizations in Louisiana and Texas for more than a dozen years.
• Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), Oakland, California. $100,000 to replace equipment and provide salary support for organizers from local nonprofits. PICO has had an organizing presence in New Orleans since the mid-1980s through its work with All Congregations Together, as well as through a statewide organizing network, Louisiana Interfaith Together.
• People’s Institute for Recovery and Beyond, New Orleans. $50,000 to re-establish its New Orleans office, which was destroyed by flooding. The expertise and training offered through the institute is in high demand locally and nationally in discussions around race and poverty relative to the hurricane and its aftermath.

Preservation and Restoration of Coastal Waters in Louisiana

• Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Baton Rouge. $90,000 to retain staff and enable the organization to devote full attention to urgent policy work related to state and federal discussions pertaining to restoration and redevelopment in Louisiana. The coalition will refocus its core programs toward ensuring that hurricane recovery efforts are grounded in the restoration of the ecological vitality and sustainability of the coast.
• Gulf Restoration Network, New Orleans. $70,000 to ensure that environmental restoration plans are informed by rigorous public involvement. The network’s core programs address water quality, wetlands protection and restoration, and fisheries’ management in the Gulf Coast region. With its regional perspective, the network is well positioned to ensure that the conservation community’s voice is heard during the recovery planning process and that the reconstruction of Gulf Coast communities is done in a manner that is sustainable and provides protection against future storms.
• Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Baton Rouge. $30,000 to increase the scale of the organization’s water-monitoring activities and expand its information clearinghouse and networking services. The network will expand its water quality policy efforts to address issues and conditions brought on by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• Southern Education Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia. $1 million to establish a Presidential Leadership Fund benefiting Dillard and Xavier universities, two historically black institutions that closed because of extensive storm damage to their New Orleans campuses. The grant will support salaries of core administrators, faculty and staff as well as consulting costs related to damage assessment and rebuilding and restoration of campus facilities. Xavier reopened for classes in January 2006. Since 1980, the university has received grants totaling $1,342,546 from Mott. Dillard reopened in January 2006 with students residing, and classes being held, at the Hilton Riverside Hotel. Dillard also has entered into a partnership with Tulane University, another New Orleans-based university, to borrow classroom space and provide students with access to library resources and other facilities until a more permanent solution is available. Since 1981, Dillard has received grants totaling $652,800 from Mott.

Emergency Assistance

• Michigan Association of United Ways, Lansing. $50,000 to create a hurricane relief fund. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a number of individuals and families arrived in Michigan. Michigan Department of Human Services (MDHS) professionals and nonprofit relief agency staff will disperse the relief funds at the local level, allowing caseworkers the flexibility to deal with special needs of their clients.

Return to Press Releases

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation^® | Mott Foundation Building, 503 S. Saginaw Street, Suite 1200, Flint, Michigan 48502-1851

Telephone: +1-810-238-5651 | Email: info@mott.org | Content available under a Creative Commons license.