For Immediate Release

	September 14, 2005 NBA CONTINUES MOBILIZATION EFFORTS TO AID VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA Update from National Bar Association President Reginald M. Turner, Jr. WASHINGTON, DC – (9/13/2005) The National Bar Association (NBA) is continuing its efforts to assist Americans in the Gulf Coast region to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Prompted by the obvious need of Gulf Coast residents and my recent visit to Birmingham, Alabama where I met with the Alabama Lawyers Association and toured disaster relief operations, the NBA Hurricane Relief Task Force has been established to coordinate short and long tern plans to assist victims of Katrina. NBA Vice Presidents Vanita Banks and Marlon Primes are the task force co-chairs. Thousands of Gulf Coast evacuees have been transported to Birmingham in recent days, and the city, state and federal governments, the American Red Cross, and many local churches and community organizations are working together to address their needs. Although the Birmingham Convention Center was packed with evacuees just a few days ago, the relief effort has been very effective in obtaining short and long term housing arrangements so that as of Saturday, less than 100 persons remained, most of whom had arrived in the last 48 hours. Families have been moved into rented houses and apartments, hotels and public housing facilities. FEMA has set up a one-stop center in a city building with multiple city, state and federal agencies on hand to meet with victims and provide access to medical care, job placement, benefits, and other administrative services. Unaccompanied minors, the most vulnerable victims of Katrina, are not faring as well because of the unconscionable failure of FEMA to document relocation activities properly. Many of these children are in foster homes in the Birmingham area. Unfortunately, this predicament also exists in other states across the country. The National Bar Association demands that FEMA correct this problem immediately through the development and implementation of effective efforts to document the whereabouts of separated family members, and transport parents to reunite them with their children. The NBA also encourages its members to serve as guardian ad litem to protect these children and aggressively advocate for reunification of families. The fact that many of Katrina's victims are African Americans and/or low-income families causes us to suspect that the slow and inadequate response to the destruction was not simply incompetence. The people of the Gulf Coast region, regardless of race and economic status, deserve the best America can offer, and we have not seen that to date. The NBA will continue to monitor relief efforts closely and we will demand action to redress disparate treatment of people of color and low economic status. We will also participate in the investigations commenced by Congress and the Bush Administration to ensure that they receive information that will allow the American people and the world to see how we serve our people in times of crisis, and how to improve that service in the future. The NBA Hurricane Katrina Task Force is charged with completing its preliminary plan of action in the coming week so that our Affiliates and members across the nation can receive timely information on pro bono legal assistance opportunities. In addition, the Task Force will help identify the best avenues for monetary donation to ensure that assistance is provided to all victims in an efficient manner and on an equitable basis. Many NBA affiliates around the country have sprung into action, including affiliates in the Gulf Coast Region such as the J.L. Turner Legal Association of Dallas, Texas and Houston Black Lawyers Association of Houston, Texas whose relief efforts are already underway as they tend to the specific needs of people victimized by Hurricane Katrina. There are already some amazing stories of NBA members providing extraordinary assistance to families in need. Like Judge Cynthia Stephens of Detroit, Michigan, the NBA Chaplain, who diverted from her vacation to go to Houston to minister to the spiritual and earthly needs of families transplanted from New Orleans. Like Attorney Russell Wilson of Texas, who personally provided food, water, clothing and shelter for a stranded family of nine people, paying for them to continue to stay in temporary housing from which they were about to be evicted. NBA Region V Director Goodwille Pierre has been inspiring with his leadership of relief efforts in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and particularly in Houston, where his daily visits to the Astrodome have prompted better treatment of the evacuees housed there. The NBA is mobilizing the maximum resources available within our organization to assist. We call upon our members to contribute to the relief efforts of the American Red Cross, and other local, state and national humanitarian agencies providing food, water, shelter and other basic necessities to hurricane victims. Each NBA member, affiliate chapter, section and division is requested to contact the American Red Cross by calling (800) HELP-NOW or by visiting its website at http://www.redcross.org. We ask that NBA members identify on calls or web responses their membership in the National Bar Association so that we may stand in unity with them in their relief effort. Many NBA affiliates around the country have sprung into action, including affiliates in the Gulf Coast Region such as the J.L. Turner Legal Association of Dallas, Texas and Houston Black Lawyers Association of Houston, Texas whose relief efforts are already underway as they tend to the specific needs of people victimized by Hurricane Katrina. The NBA is also joining with the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to help lawyers re-establish practices disrupted by the hurricane. Details regarding these efforts will be posted in the coming days on the NBA (www.nationalbar.org), LCCRUL (www.lawyerscomm.org) and ABA (www.abanet.org) websites. We encourage you to visit these sites to help you determine ways that you can be of assistance. The NBA is the oldest and largest organization of attorneys and judges of color in the world. The NBA was founded in 1925, and today represents over 20,000 lawyers, judges, legal scholars and law students internationally.