Derrick Evans and Bishop James Black with the KatrinaRitaVille Express in Coden, Alabama.

It has been a busy time as the post-production of TURKEY CREEK has gone into high gear and the development of The Bridge Project has become a major focus.

I have been working with the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health to lay the groundwork for The Bridge Project. In July I met with advisors and grantees of the Fund during a convening in Alabama. I joined representatives of more than 60 social and environmental justice community groups from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas for two days of collaborative education and advocacy for gulf coast human rights and community renewal. These groups were convened by The Gulf Coast Fund, the Gulf States Human Rights Working Group and the Gulf Coast Fellowships for Community Transformation.

We visited organizations and projects supported by the Gulf Coast Fund in Mobile, Coden and Bayou La Batre. The tour was accompanied by the  KatrinaRitaVille Express FEMA Trailer, which has logged over 30,000 miles to carry diverse community voices and recovery lessons from the Gulf Coast to the American public.

We visited the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic just days after President Obama nominated its founder, Dr. Regina Benjamin, as U.S. Surgeon General.

“We know the problems in the Gulf Coast didn’t start or end with Hurricane Katrina – that those problems were highlighted and then came more into the national news after the hurricane … The Gulf Coast can be a catalyst for change in this country. We’re beginning to see that with people here in the Gulf Coast coming together, crisscrossing issues. You know, we’ve had a tendency in history and within our work to defend our issue. We defend environmental justice. We defend housing. We defend youth rights. We are building a movement of the Gulf Coast that brings all these different issues, brings different communities, brings different races together. Even brings different regions and states together to really fight for that change that we’re about.”

– Genaro Rendon, Gulf Coast Fund Advisory Group

With input from these networks of organizations, we are working to create a digital storytelling resource that will contribute to a just, sustainable future for the Gulf Coast.