Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Gulf Coast Emergency Response Fund

People in southern and southwest Louisiana have still not recovered from the back-to-back hurricanes of 2005. Much overlooked by the media this time around because New Orleans was spared, their communities have now been battered severely by Gustav, a major hurricane causing tremendous wind and water damage in communities from Florida to Texas. Low-lying areas of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes are the hardest hit, and Brenda Dardar Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation’s coordination of relief from a damaged General Store site in Raceland is crucial. Many families remain without power, access to clean water or basic supplies. Multiple tornadoes and heavy winds have brought down trees, and damage to physical infrastructure is extensive. With other storms on the horizon potentially affecting the Gulf Coast, emergency funds to respond to urgent needs are critical.

At 2pm on Saturday, September 6, Chief Robichaux officially accepted a $5,000 check from the Gulf Coast Emergency Response Fund of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health (GCF), a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors based in New York City. GCF’s first emergency response grant was presented by Gulf Coast Fund Advisory Group members Sharon Alexis, Derrick Evans and Wilma Subra.

The funds will address the immediate needs of returning members of the United Houma Nation and support tribal relief and recovery efforts necessitated by Hurricane Gustav’s devastating impact on coastal Louisiana, including 8,000 Houma people in hard-hit Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes. On behalf of GCF, several grassroots leaders from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities presented the funds to Chief Robichaux at Raceland, LA’s General Store. Arriving from an interrupted trip to the 2008 RNC to advocate for Gulf Coast recovery, the “KatrinaRitaVille Express” FEMA trailer was also presented for immediate use in coordinating tribal relief.

Background on the Gulf Coast Fund

Created shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health has distributed more than $2 million to over 100 grassroots organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. Unique among the region’s recovery grantmakers, GCF is committed to an open and transparent decision-making process led by the most affected communities themselves. The Fund operates in partnership with an inter-disciplinary Advisory Group of grassroots leaders working on the ground across the Gulf Coast and Diaspora. This group informs the grant making process and identifies needs on an ongoing basis.

The Gulf Coast Fund created the Gulf Coast Emergency Response Fund immediately after Hurricane Gustav in order to quickly distribute emergency grants of up to $5,000 to organizations working in the most vulnerable communities affected by this current hurricane and possible future disasters.

For information about the Gulf Coast Fund Emergency Response Fund application process and application form, please go to www.gulfcoastfund.org.

Funds to respond to urgent needs are critical. You can support the Gulf Coast Fund’s efforts by donating to the Gulf Coast Emergency Response Fund online at www.gulfcoastfund.org or send a check to Gulf Coast Fund at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 6 West 48 Street, 10th Fl, New York, NY 10036. To ensure your support has the deepest impact possible, RPA is waiving all administrative and financial fees thereby maximizing the benefit directed to this effort by your contribution.

Emergency Grant Application

Click here to download the Grant Application for the Gulf Coast Emergency Response Fund.

Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health

Welcome! We invite you to learn about The Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health by using the navigation menu at the side of this page.

To read “Stories from the Forgotten Coast,” interviews with Gulf Coast Fund grantees, click here.

For more information on the kinds of projects that the Fund supports, view the Request for Proposals.

For guidelines and application instructions, view the Request for Proposals.

To apply on-line go to the GCF On-line Application.

To download a PDF version of the application, click here.

Grant applications are due on June 23, 2008.
Grant decisions will be announced by September 2008.

Notice on Renewal Applications: Organizations that received a grant from the Gulf Coast Fund in the most recent grant cycle (Winter 2008) are not eligible to re-apply at this time. All other previous grant recipients may apply for renewal funding. Please note that a final grant report must be on file in order for your renewal application to be considered.

About the Fund:

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have exposed the human and ecological costs of racial discrimination and unsustainable development. The rebuilding of New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities that have been damaged by these hurricanes is an historic opportunity for philanthropic organizations to participate in the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health (the “Fund”). The Fund has been supported by a number of foundations and donors. Click here for a list of donors and supporters.

The Fund recognizes the pernicious nature of institutional racism, as evidenced by the abandonment of African Americans for days without food, water, shelter, and safety following Hurricane Katrina. The Fund also recognizes that other communities were deeply affected and continue to suffer.

The Fund is a collaborative grantmaking fund supporting community, state and regional efforts that engage, empower and benefit displaced and returning residents, and that promote the sustainable and just rebuilding of neighborhoods, cities and ecosystems throughout the Gulf Coast.

The Fund is committed to an open and transparent decision-making process that is led by the communities most affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To achieve this, the Fund operates in partnership with an Advisory Group consisting of a cross-section of leaders working on the ground across the Gulf Coast. This Advisory Group informs the grantmaking process and identifies needs on an ongoing basis. All grant recommendations will be made by rotating panels of Advisory Group members through a Panel Process. For more information on the Advisory Group, view Advisory Group Members. Final grant decisions will be made by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The Fund will support projects that strengthen and amplify local organizing, social justice concerns and movement-building, and those that address the underlying causes that contributed to the severity of the disasters in the Gulf Coast. The Fund focuses on communities that have been historically disenfranchised due to race, class, gender, and/or immigration status. The majority of Fund grantees are organizations led by people of color and/or historically disenfranchised constituencies that reflect and are grounded in the communities in which they work. Further, the Fund seeks to support the building of community-based regional power that can inform and affect local, regional and national policy. The Fund considers only those proposals that are developed by or in collaboration with residents and advocacy organizations affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Fund was launched with two grants in 2005 and in early 2006 grants were made to each of the organizations represented by Advisory Group members. To view a list of the Fund’s grants to date, view Grantees.

For more information, please contact Annie Ducmanis at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors by email at aducmanis@rockpa.org or by phone at (203) 287-1948.