Houston Relief Money Charles D . Ellison Houston , Texas September 2017 will be wary of showing favoritism to any one demographic ; a Houston advocate hesitated in stating that GHCC was going to be a reliable source of funding for the area ' s vulnerable .
" It ' s a good cause , of course , but Mayor Turner is going to have to focus on everyone in Houston ," the advocate told The Root . " And , unfortunately , that ' s not always going to be the people hurting the most ." Worse yet , the broader national African-American community wants desperately to help brothers and sisters in need but is reluctant to put its dollars into bigbox mainstream efforts . Many , like WURD Radio President and CEO Sara Lomax Reese , have started public donation drives , but they want those dollars going to local community-based organizations instead .
" We are still trying to identify a specific local organization that we will send it to because we really want to make sure it gets to the mostvulnerable residents ," Lomax-Reese told The Root . " Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the United States , so black Philadelphians are especially empathetic to the struggles of lowincome cmrununities and individuals . We want to make sure that ' s where the money is going ."
A large part of the problem , in the case of Houston , is that the local front-line community service organizations that do focus on underserved black and brown residents were also affected by Harvey . At last check , the Houston NAACP president was living out of a
hotel with his family . The Houston Area Urban League president was out of pocket for a few days and finally surfaced-but , the entire HAUL staff has been displaced , making the offices empty for a time . The Houston Urban League typically dedicates itself to those exact needs for vulnerable residents .
On Friday , HAUL got back online , and is now accepting donations for its Harvey relief efforts . And in the meantime , sister-affiliate the Greater Washington Urban League has sprung into action to fill gaps . " Too often , during major disasters like this , the most vulnerable are ignored and left to fend for themselves ," GWUL President and CEO George H . Lambert told The Root as the organization initiated a supply and fundraising drive this week . Those resources will be relayed immediately to the Houston Urban League . " We ' re here to alleviate that burden as best we can , and look forward to helping our people in Houston do all that they can do to ensure resources reach those most in need ."
But , generally , it ' s also the continued issue of either poor planning or an inability to quickly respond by national black organizations that fail to position themselves effectively when disasters happen . " Rather than just blindly giving in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy , now is the time for networks of black fraternal and professional organizations to build a national philanthropic ann ," argued Khalilah Brown Dean , a political science professor at Quinnipiac
University . " That arm can coordinate capital and resources such as technology , communications , social services and health . We have to build infrastructure in advance of and not in the midst of tragedy ."
New York state Sen . Kevin Parker , who has seen his share of Superstorm Sandy relief-and-recovery efforts , agrees . " This is a constant concern of mine ," lsllid Parker , who has been actively highlighting climate change issues as chair of the national Council of State Govennnents ' Council of Communities of Color . " It ' s a reminder that myself and other legislators of color have an obligation to play our part by enacting legislation that will benefit the cmrununities we serve ."
Explained Vien Truong , CEO of DreamCorps , a national environmental justice project , to The Root : " For decades , poor communities in Houston have been living with extreme pollution from Houston ' s many chemical plants and refineries concentrated in black and brown neighborhoods ." " Now those same communities are being battered by climate change through extreme flooding from Harvey ," Truong contined . " The wisdom to rebuild from this storm , and from the fossil-fuel industry ' s damage , is in Houston : Communities on the front lines know best how to support their neighbors and rebuild the local economy ."