San Jose State Students Join in Effort to Rebuild Gulf Region

On Thursday afternoon, December 14, a simultaneous press conference was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Gulfport, Mississippi, and San Jose, California to announce a "national call to students" to participate in Louisiana Winter this January 14-20. Louisiana Winter is being billed as this generation's Mississippi Summer, as teams of 20-40 students will spend five days educating and organizing in towns and cities throughout the Gulf Coast, culminating in a mass rally in New Orleans. In the first week of on- line registration, 80 students from 13 universities including San Jose State responded to the call. If current numbers continue, 100's of students from around the nation will participate.

The goals of Louisiana Winter are: to turn the nation's attention to the Gulf Coast; to have students witness first-hand the social suffering of post-Hurricane Katrina; and to promote the immediate passage of the GULF COAST CIVIC WORKS PROJECT. If passed by Congress, the GULF COAST CIVIC WORKS PROJECT will hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast. The residents will be provided temporary housing, and then rebuild and repair houses, schools, levees, parks, and other civic buildings.

For information on the project, click here on Gulf Coast Civic Works Project or "Louisiana Winter." See also, www.solvingpoverty.com