About RRC
Recent News

RECENT NEWS

News from New Orleans and the Rebuilding Lives Coalition

 

Local Community Organizers Mark Four-Year Anniversary
in New Orleans & Louisiana

 

AKRON, OHIO (August 7, 2009) As the four-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina nears, Akron residents Sue Lacy and Katie Fry of Round River Consulting, continue to work as community organizers throughout Louisiana and with those whose lives have been impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. Through their efforts, Fry and Lacy have succeeded in bringing citizens, community leaders, service providers, progressive elected leaders, advocacy and economic development organizations, and faith leaders together to find a powerful collective voice that can speak to decision-makers on every level.

Lacy and Fry’s work in Louisiana resulted from their close relationship as Associates with AmericaSpeaks, a national, non-partisan organization, whose mission is to reinvigorate American Democracy by engaging citizens in the public decision-making that most impacts their lives.

Chief among their recent accomplishments is their involvement with the newly formed Rebuilding Lives Coalition which has been instrumental in shaping affordable housing legislation, extending rental assistance deadlines, appealing to the Obama Administration to significantly redesign the trailer donation and purchase program and advocating for a comprehensive case management program in Louisiana. Plans are now underway to bring coastal communities together to strengthen efforts to reduce coastal land loss and rebuild wetland areas. “You would think that people without homes would cite lack of housing as the top priority, but this shows the collective wisdom of a community” said Fry. “Residents have realized that rebuilding is not possible without first addressing the most obvious yet challenging issue that threatens the entire southern coast—coastal land loss” concluded Fry.

Since the start of their work in Louisiana, Lacy and Fry witnessed firsthand the devastation in the coastal areas of LA following the hurricanes. They have also witnessed the strength and the power of citizens to work towards common solutions. “In the midst of it all, the people themselves found the strength to get through it with as much dignity and grace as possible. That is the guiding principle that continues to shape our work today … that given the proper support, individuals and communities can collectively identify and work towards sustainable solutions where their dignity is restored and their potential is maximized to meet any challenge,” said Lacy.

In addition to their work in Louisiana, Fry and Lacy have traveled across the country to facilitate resident input on a number of other significant issues. Two years ago, Fry worked in northern California mobilizing residents and other stakeholders to participate in a statewide meeting on health care reform. Lacy was site manager in San Diego which was one of 8 cities involved in the meeting connected via satellite. They were both back in Los Angeles last September (2008) for Equal Voices for America’s Families where they managed a floor of facilitators who were working with over 6,000 meeting participants speaking 11 languages. Closer to home, Lacy worked on outreach for the North East Ohio Voices and Choices project, a community engagement process aimed at improving economic development in our region. That project engaged over 20,000 northeast Ohio’s residents in shaping priorities for spurring regional economic development across 16 counties. Today, the Fund for Our Economic Future and Advance Northeast Ohio are driving implementation of that plan focusing on four key priority areas: Business Growth & Attraction; Talent Development; Growth Through Racial & Economic Inclusion; and Government Collaboration & Efficiency.

Katie Fry ’s work as an educator, trainer, researcher and curriculum development specialist led her to work with Sue Lacy to create a consulting firm in 2002. Sue Lacy has worked as a community organizer for over twenty five years. Beginning as a canvasser for the Ohio Public Interest Campaign in 1982 and continuing as a staff organizer, she led a campaign mobilizing farmers in northwestern Ohio to win a $20 million settlement with Waste Management to clean up a hazardous waste site that was contaminating groundwater. Lacy eventually worked as a senior staff member and National Training Director of the Gamaliel Foundation, the same organizing network with which President Obama was affiliated. Both Lacy and Fry were instrumental in working with community leaders to launch “This City Reads!” in Summit County.

To learn more about community organizing and about the work of Sue Lacy and Katie Fry you can visit their Round River Consulting LLC website at www.roundriverconsulting.com. To learn more about the work of AmericaSpeaks visit www.americaspeaks.org and to learn more about the Rebuilding Lives Coalition in New Orleans, you can visit their website at: www.rebuildinglivestogether.com. (website coming soon)

  

###