Turkey Creek rose

In March I learned that the W. K. Kellogg Foundation will be making a grant to support “Turkey Creek” and the launch of The Bridge Project. I’ll be posting something soon about what this will mean, but for now I’m running off to Louisiana to participate in a meeting of the Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network, where I’ll be showing work in a mini film festival and leading a workshop that will kick off The Bridge project. I’m including text from a press release below. I’ll be driving to Mississippi after the event and visiting Turkey Creek for the first time in a while. More when I return …

Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network to Convene in Plaquemines Parish May 13-15
Local groups to host community organizations from across the Gulf Coast for site visits, workshop on digital storytelling, reception and film fest.

Plaquemines Parish, LA May 8, 2009—  More than 4 dozen community leaders from some of the most vulnerable coastal communities from Alabama to Texas will convene May 13-15  in Plaquemines Parish, LA for discussions, tours and presentations focused on creating healthier, more sustainable communities.  The meeting is being convened by the Institute for Sustainable Communities, and hosted in partnership with the Committee for Plaquemines Recovery, Grand Bayou Families United, Woodlands Trail and Parks, and Zion Travelers Cooperative Center.
The participants in the Network are leaders from community-based organizations who are coming together to learn from one another, develop new strategies, and access ideas, information and resources to make their communities stronger and more resilient.  Participating organizations are from Coden, AL; East Biloxi, Lucedale, Moss Point and North Gulfport, MS; Iberville, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne Parishes and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, LA; and Port Arthur, TX.
The Sustainable Communities Network, which was launched at a kick-off meeting in North Gulfport, MS in February 2009, is addressing issues of community and environmental stewardship by engaging people in a way that is practical and relevant to their daily concerns about health, affordability and economic security – and to give them the tools to make a difference.  The Network convenes quarterly.  Meetings rotate among the different network communities and will incorporate tours and site visits to local projects, speakers and training workshops.

The May 13-15 meeting will include site visits to several communities in Plaquemines Parish (Grand Bayou, Port Sulphur, Phoenix-Bohemia, and Belle Chasse) and a workshop with documentary filmmaker Leah Mahan on digital storytelling as a tool for community development.  A reception and documentary film mini-festival will feature welcome remarks by Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.  Leah Mahan will screen her documentary “Holding Ground” and two works-in-progress: “Turkey Creek” and a sequel to “Holding Ground” and discuss her new digital initiative aimed at helping Gulf Coast communities tell their own stories.  Reverend Tyronne Edwards will show scenes from the documentary produced by his organization the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center in Plaquemines Parish “The Forgotten People:  Restoring the Missing Segment of Plaquemines Parish History.”
The following have generously provided donations for the Plaquemines Parish meeting:  Dominoes Belle Chasse, Grand Bayou Families United, Holiday Inn New Orleans West Bank, Home Depot Marrero, Lowes of Harvey, Ocean Chef Catering LLC, Save a Lot #367, Plaquemines Starbucks, Starbucks Westbank, Starbucks Harvey, Wal-Mart #1163 of Algiers, and Zion Travelers Cooperative Center.

Founded in 1991 by former Vermont governor Madeleine M. Kunin, the Institute for Sustainable Communities has managed 70 projects in 19 countries.  ISC forged a close partnership with Moss Point, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina – helping local leaders rebuild a stronger, healthier city and working with community organizations and citizens to provide the critical civic leadership that will reduce the vulnerability of their communities to future crises.  The Sustainable Communities Network is made possible with funding from the Nathan Cummings Foundation,  from NRG Systems in Vermont, and from an anonymous donor.

Contact:  Betty Weiss (202) 441-4931
bweiss@iscvt.org or
Nicole Hewitt (917) 364-7827
nhewitt@iscvt.org

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