The Saints: one battle won in a larger war for recovery

by: Jamie Beran

Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 12:00:21 PM EST

According to the New York Times "at long last, the Saints have arrived, and they brought New Orleans back with them."  And in many ways, this is true.  The game last night was amazing, even miraculous.  They came back from a 10 point deficit, tying the superbowl come-back record.  They took risk after risk, the biggest of which an onside kick to open the second half, and each payed off.  Pivotal calls fell in their favor.  And when they sealed the deal in an incredible forth quarter interception, they reminded America that New Orleans will surprise us, time and again.

My partner is a bit of a sports nut, and he regularly reminds me that sports, at their core, are not about competition and combat.  Rather they provide us an emotional escape - we get swept up in the drama and a winning franchise truly can capture the hearts and minds of a city.  Winning the Superbowl is the pinnacle of this - one game to prove to America that your team - and your city - is the best of this best.  

So the story of New Orleans winning the Superbowl, 4 1/2 years after Katrina, provides an even deeper emotional angle.  Images of the superdome filled with starving, homeless, desparate people are juxtaposed with quarterback Drew Brees holding the Lombardi trophy and all-night parties in the French Quarter. 

However, as we continue to send Service Learning groups to New Orleans as volunteers, support our Gulf Coast fellows in their organizing work, and invest in redevelopment, we know that New Orleans is not yet fully back...

Geux Gulf Fellows, Geux Saints!

by: Jeremy Burton

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 08:58:08 AM EST

Its Sunday morning and I’m on my way down to South Carolina, where I’ll hopefully be watching the Super Bowl tonight at a retreat together with the Gulf Coast Fellows for Community Transformation (GCFCT); a fellowship in support of 17 of the most amazing community organizers from across 4 states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi & Alabama), working to help their communities create a just and equitable recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. GCFCT is collaboration between JFSJ, the 21st Century Foundation and the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal, who joined forces two years ago to share our expertise and a long-term vision for the recovery.

The truth is that six months ago, when we scheduled the retreat, taking the fellows away for respite (so desperately needed by these tireless leaders) and skills building this week, we – the staff on the ground and at the sponsoring foundations – maybe lacked the imagination to foresee this Super Bowl Sunday and the monumental excitement being felt in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast today. But, despite the odds and a less than stellar track record over the last 4 decades, the Saints today are a living embodiment of the hopes, dreams and aspirations of a community that has been dealt, and dealt itself at times, a pretty bad hand over the past decades (the disaster wasn’t Katrina, it was the decades of failed leadership, lack of imagination, and poor planning that created the conditions for the storm to leave behind such destruction).

What the Saints have done this season, and what the 17 fellows do every day on the ground, is encourage and empower the people of the Gulf Coast to imagine something bigger and better. These fellows, working with immigrants, low-income communities, youth, the formerly incarcerated; working