After the Storm: Working Through the Implications of Hurricane Katrina

Public Agenda.

The aftermath of Katrina raises questions about poverty, race, energy policy, the federal budget, in fact just about every corner of American society and the purpose of government itself. Public Agenda Issue Guides or ?“Citizen Choicework Guides?” contain background information on the topic and present three different approaches to the issue for people to deliberate.

Resource Link: http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/katrina/katrina.cfm

Citizen Corps: A Guide for Local Officials

Citizen Corps, 2002.

Citizen Corps is the component of USA Freedom Corps that creates opportunities for individuals to volunteer to help their communities prepare for and respond to emergencies by bringing together local leaders, citizen volunteers and the network of first responder organizations, such as fire departments, police departments and emergency medical personnel. The goal is to have all citizens participate in making their communities safer, stronger, and better prepared for preventing and handling threats of terrorism, crime, and disasters of all kinds.

Resource Link: http://www.citizencorps.gov/pdf/council.pdf

Coalescing Effective Community Disaster Response: Simulation and Virtual Communities of Practice

Ed Jewett.

This paper discusses the inclusive blend of simulations, models and games and other digital and/or online technologies with local/regional "virtual communities" and communities of practice as a potentially powerful and effective approach to comprehensive community emergency preparedness. It broadly scans a range of important theories, publications, software tools, commercial products and prototypes.

Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building

Maggie Potapchuk (MP Associates) and Sally Leiderman (Center for Assessment and Policy Development), with Donna Bivens (Women's Theological Center) and Barbara Major (St. Thomas Health Clinic). MP Associates, Inc. and the Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD), 2005.

Flipping the Script is a 156-page monograph designed for people who work in communities to identify and address issues of white privilege, oppression, racism and power as they play out in this work. It is for community builders, grant makers, technical assistance providers and others who are trying to develop more equitable and thoughtful partnerships with community residents and organizations.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/Potapchuk_Flipping.pdf

Global Facilitator Service Corps

Through our support of volunteer facilitators worldwide, GFSC helps communities build their capacity to work through their challenges and create sustainable solutions. GFSC is dedicated to helping communities, groups and institutions address their needs, help people learn how to resolve their differences, care for themselves, solve problems and create sustainable solutions. We mentor, coach and share tools and techniques with volunteer facilitators in local communities, encouraging and supporting the use of local resources to meet local needs.

Resource Link: http://globalfacilitators.org

What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, and the State of the Nation

South End Press Collective (editors); Afterword by Joy James, 2007.

This 200-page fundraising book for progressive hurricane relief efforts offers readers a different and, distressingly, rare approach to understanding the storm: let the people who have survived, helped, and agitated for justice speak for themselves. Short and accessible, this collection assembles a powerful jury, exploring the complexity of what is at once business as usual and the site of what could be a fundamental turning point in US history.

Resource Link: http://www.southendpress.org/2006/items/87670