On April 20, 2010 following the tragic explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the Gulf Coast collectively held its breath, as we waited to see how this unprecedented disaster would affect our coast and our communities. Shortly after the spill, the Greater New Orleans Foundation launched into action with the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, which serves as a conduit between the donor community and our nonprofit partners. Through the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, we put philanthropic dollars back into the affected communities by making emergency grants to nonprofit organizations that aid victims of the oil spill. We also work to address the long-term economic, environmental, and cultural effects of the disaster, while simultaneously focusing on strengthening coastal communities against future environmental catastrophes.

WHAT WE HAVE FUNDED

The Alliance Institute

The Alliance Institute brings together an experienced team of professionals and grassroots leaders to advocate for social and economic justice in the towns and neighborhoods of coastal Louisiana. A grant of $18,000.00 from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will be used by the institute to establish health clinics designed to provide emergency health care and oil clean-up training in the coastal communities of Barataria, Crown Point and Lafitte, Louisiana. These clinics will be equipped to provide training and health resources to hazardous materials workers who are working with oil spill clean-up.

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans

The purpose of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund grant is to convene commercial fishers from multiple racial, ethnic and geographic groups in our region in an effort to create a more unified voice for this industry and to create a comprehensive resiliency plan for the entire commercial fishing industry in our service area. A grant of $75,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation will go to the above efforts.

Coastal Communities Consulting

In reference to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, Coastal Communities Consulting is working to expand the provision of business and oil spill related consulting services to the rapidly growing number of Latino and primarily Spanish-speaking commercial fishers, as well as to offer business-related consulting services to all commercial fishers in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Orleans, Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes. A grant of $52,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation has been to support the Latino fishing communities in the above parishes.

GNO, Inc.

GNO, Inc. is launching the Greater New Orleans Marine Training & Certification Program with the help from the $50,000 grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund.

Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership

The Disaster Recovery Partnership’s goal in alliance with the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund is to support a regional approach to long-term recovery and preparedness for commercial fishers and others affected by the oil spill. A grant of $15,000 has been made to the Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership.

Healing Hearts for Community Development

The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund has granted $15,460 to Healing Hearts for mental health support to the communities of Greater New Orleans. Their services include: Mental Health Counseling, Substance Abuse Treatment, Case Management, Counselor Training, and Journey to Freedom (a recovery assistance program).

Just the Right Attitude

Just the Right Attitude (JTRA) was founded by Debra W. South in 2001 as a food bank serving the people of New Orleans East and Gentilly Communities. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund granted JTRA $1,095 to support their community food pantry.

Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (LPBF) is dedicated to restoring and preserving the water quality, coast, and habitats of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. A grant of $25,000.00 from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will finance personnel, boat, and mileage costs associated with LPBF’s oil spill response work. LBPF has set up 16 field monitoring and data collection points to monitor the affects of the spill on the basin. This grant will enable them to archive and analyze pertinent data from these collection points, and coordinate their ongoing collaboration with federal, state and parish agencies to mitigate the effects of the oil spill.

LA SPCA

Because of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, families are taking their pets to the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LA/SPCA) because they simply cannot afford to care for them. If there was ever a time for families to keep their pets, it would be now because pets provide much-needed comfort. A grant of $15,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will allow families to feed and treat their pets free of charge in an effort to encourage owners to keep their pets and to prevent companion animals from being abandoned.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Since the oil spill, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade is training additional local volunteers to sample the air quality in the coastal parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and lower Jefferson. Equipped with EPA-approved ‘buckets,’ the volunteers monitor and report the quality of air in their communities. With a grant of $49,990 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade will train interested residents in the environmental health impacts of oil and dispersants, and the proper use of respirators and protective equipment.

Louisiana Justice Institute

With the support from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, the Louisiana Justice Institute’s goal is to support the salary of a paid organizer to provide education, outreach, organizing and hands-on legal assistance with claims processing to affected fishermen, concentrating in the African American and Native American Communities. With a grant of $30,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Louisiana Justice Institute will support their salary.

Louisiana Universities Marine Corsortium

The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) was formed in 1979 to coordinate and stimulate Louisiana’s activities in marine research and education. LUMCON provides coastal laboratory facilities to Louisiana universities, and conducts research and educational programs in the marine sciences. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund grant of $35,721 assesses the resilience of salt march ecosystems following an environmental catastrophe.

Market Umbrella

Market Umbrella is launching a pilot Community Supported Fisheries social enterprise during Lent 2011 for crabs and finfish to increase consumption of local seafood on Fridays. A grant of $35,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation will go to help launch Market Umbrella’s pilot Lent program.

Tulane Institute on Water Resources, Law & Policy

The Tulane Institute on Water Resources and Policy works to develop laws and policies that allow for improved stewardship and sustainable management of water resources. Since the oil spill, the Institute has been working with national and local water resource professionals to determine to affect of the oil spill on water resources. A $50,000.00 grant from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will enable the Institute to organize three community-level meetings to inform the public about oil spill response and the legal and policy framework that is controlling it. The Institute will also organize two meetings with the National Resource Damage Assessment department and coastal restoration professionals to consider ways of integrating the natural resource damage response to the spill with the broader coastal restoration efforts that are already underway in Louisiana.

Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association (VAYLA)

VAYLA is a youth-led community-based organization dedicated to empowering Vietnamese Americans. A grant of $10,000 from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund will provide legal education on fishers’ rights in Vietnamese, create documentation on the ongoing impact to the Vietnamese fishing community, and sponsor town hall meetings to share information on clean-up efforts for the Vietnamese community.

Seedco Financial

As southeast Louisiana’s fishing communities watched the ongoing oil disaster threaten their economy and way of life, the Greater New Orleans Foundation made a grant from its Gulf Oil Spill Fund to help support critical services to fishermen—such as the Seedco Financial’s Southeast Fisheries Assistance Center.

If you would like to learn more about the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, please call Josephine Everly at (504) 598-4663 or josephine@gnof.org.