California House shows how we can help the Gulf Coast

The two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina has passed -- and people around the country saw that the people of the Gulf Coast are still in deep crisis. People ask me: what can we do now?

In our recent report Blueprint for Gulf Renewal, we outline concrete steps our national leaders can take to get the Gulf Coast back on its feet and ensure justice for all Gulf residents, not just special interests.

And yesterday, the California state house showed how people across the country can help push a new agenda for the Gulf. After months of mobilizing by students and other activists, the state assembly voted to support passage of a Gulf Coast Civic Works Project -- a visionary plan to create 100,000 good-paying jobs to rebuild the region (and one of the lead recommendations of our report).

Here's the press release:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Assembly passed Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 22 today in a 44-23 vote. Students from around the state are ecstatic at this victory, as AJR 22 calls upon the California Congressional delegation to support the passing of federal legislation based on the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, which is a national effort to develop a modern-day Works Progress Administration to rebuild the Gulf.

"This vote in the California Assembly is the next step to put pressure on the California Congressional delegation to introduce and support federal legislation creating the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project," stated Rochelle Jackson Smarr, one of the student leaders from San Jose State University.

The bill now moves on to the California Senate where a vote will hopefully take place before the end of session on Friday.

This fits in with another idea gaining political steam -- the idea of expanding national service, as reported in a recent cover story in Time. President Clinton pushed the idea through his AmeriCorps program, which has logged some 3 million hours of work time in the Gulf Coast.

Expanding service opportunities like this -- especially for youth -- would be a great complement to a full-fledged jobs program like Gulf Civic Works, which would put people to work rebuilding their own communities.

Photo: California students gather signatures to support Gulf Coast Civic Works Project.

(Thanks to readers SML and MP for the tips)