When the spotlight fades: Katrina a powerful lens for seeing response to poverty
When the spotlight fades: Katrina a powerful lens for seeing response to poverty: Battling poverty: For some, the hurricane just compounded problems, such as lack of job skills, that already existed
03/01/2006
By Carey Hamilton,
Kirsten Stewart
and Brian R. Friedman
NEW ORLEANS - Wearing surgical masks to avoid contamination, Edwa and Louis Towns took unsteady steps last week through their rented house in New Orleans, treasure-hunting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Inside the small, shotgun home in Orleans Parrish, the couple retrieved a few heirlooms that weren't destroyed - a punch bowl, a green church hat and matching dress that had belonged to Edwa's late mother. Edwa rescued two favorite drinking mugs that depict New Orleans and other great American cities, and her "angel of protection," a doll with wings and a halo.
Losing new living room furniture and a washer and dryer, purchased just before the deadly storm, "was hurtful, hurtful, hurtful," she said.
The Townses were among roughly 600 evacuees flown to Utah in September in the nation's hurricane relief effort. They were met with a charitable outpouring of support and an economy flush with jobs.
But evacuees, and those who came on their own, faced adapting to a starkly different culture and climate. As the six-month mark approaches, with a hint of spring, many are returning home or relocating; half a dozen families shipped out Tuesday morning.
Some are thriving and plan to stay in Utah. Others are still jobless, homesick and isolated in their apartments, according to outreach workers. News reports document a handful turning to drugs or crime.
The Townses looked like an immediate success story, with new friends, a Salt Lake City apartment and a donated car. But they have since struggled, losing their jobs and temporarily separating. Louis, 50, returned to New Orleans, where Edwa, 39, met him in mid-February when she flew back to bury her grandfather.
The stories of Hurricane Katrina survivors provide a powerful lens for viewing this country's response to poverty. Whether former Gulf Coast residents were impoverished before the storm, many fit the criteria now. "Katrina victims are what we've termed in social work circles the undeserving poor. The hurricane hits and they become the symbol for how we focus our resources. They were in the headlines, and we could see their poverty and their need," said Mary Jane Taylor, a University of Utah social work professor.
"The question then becomes how soon are they going to become invisible, sent to the back of the line and become the deserving poor again?"
Poverty's problems run deep: The solutions to poverty are as varied as the people who live in its shadows, Taylor believes, after spending years tracking more than 3,000 Utahns in the wake of welfare reform. Clothing and food drives are helpful but superficial fixes, Taylor said.
For Katrina survivors, "A lack of job skills, education and those kinds of problems are not systemic to living in New Orleans," she said. "They need to be addressed no matter where they live."
Utah's relief effort got early high marks from evacuees at Camp Williams. State officials and charities worked to quickly move people into more stable, government-subsidized apartments scattered along the Wasatch Front.
But soon after the leases were signed, communication faltered. Evacuees complained of never receiving furniture, household goods and the federal emergency aid they were promised. Traumatized and living in a strange place with no reliable transportation, some evacuees had no idea who to turn to for help in navigating federal and local aid programs.
Even keeping tabs on survivors has proved difficult. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports 517 Katrina survivors registered in Utah. Utah housing officials have records of only 383 living in state-leased apartments.
Red Cross chapters throughout the state report hundreds more who came to Utah on their own, including dozens in Ogden and Provo, to live with family or pursue job opportunities.
State officials say they have done their best to reach out, mailing survivors information and setting up a support group at Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City.
"Utah has done a great job helping, as far as I can tell," said Ernest Timmons, an evacuee hired by Calvary for outreach work. "We've mailed, phoned or personally visited everyone we know about. . . . Help is there for the taking."
What helps after a disaster? To oversee the long-term recovery of Utah's Katrina survivors, charities and faith-based groups have created a committee that will "ensure that people don't fall through the cracks," said Chairman Josh Pederson, director of Utah's 211 referral hot line for public assistance.
"Some [evacuees,] we've been able to help. For others, the hurricane just compounded problems that already existed," Pederson said.
"Our challenge is to help them navigate the system. Sometimes there are waiting lists for help. They will encounter the same frustrations as anyone."
Why, then, are some evacuees thriving?
It's a question that researchers at Harvard Medical School are trying to answer.
Last month, Harvard began recruiting hurricane victims to serve in a 2,000-person advisory group. Researchers will track the group for two years, interviewing members every three months about their health, mental outlook and pace of recovery.
The interviews will be used to create an oral history to "help policymakers monitor the unmet needs of people whose lives were, and may continue to be, severely impacted by this unprecedented disaster," said Ronald Kessler, the project's director.
No such study is under way in Utah.
"A sociological study would be fascinating," said Pederson. "But we need to tread with caution. They're Utahns now, and we need to respect them as such. In the news it was reported that eight people were busted for drugs and three were Katrina evacuees. Well, where were the other five born? Were they from San Diego or Sandy?"
"I'd like to stay." Edwa Towns returned to Louisiana last week to bury her grandfather. The United Way, through a roundabout process, paid for her airfare. "I was so upset," she said. "I thought I wouldn't be able to make it to his funeral because I couldn't afford a ticket."
After the hurricane, the Townses were stuck for days in New Orleans' chaotic Convention Center. On arrival in Utah, both were briefly hospitalized at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. The hospital temporarily hired Edwa and paid for her education as a certified nursing assistant.
Louis got a job as a custodian at Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City that paid $10.50 an hour, double his wages operating a forklift in New Orleans. The spiritual couple found a welcoming church and befriended the pastor and his wife.
But in December, things began to unravel.
Edwa traces their troubles to a Dec. 10 car accident that left them both with minor injuries.
Their donated car was slammed; the driver of the other vehicle was cited for failure to yield and having no proof of insurance. Louis took time off work and was eventually let go. Edwa didn't take her final nursing test, and couldn't return to her hospital job without passing it.
"He was drinking and depressed after he got laid off," Edwa said. "He told me he was unhappy in Utah. He felt like he couldn't provide for us anymore."
Louis took a Greyhound bus back to Louisiana in January.
Now, the couple plan to reunite in Utah. Edwa, who was scheduled to fly back to Salt Lake City on Tuesday evening, said Louis has promised not to drink and he wants to get back into a church routine. He plans to hop a bus this week.
But many challenges lie ahead, such as how to pay rent. Edwa said she is not receiving her federal rental assistance.
"We have to find some full-time jobs so we can keep a roof over our heads," said Edwa, now working part time at Salt Lake City's Main Library. "I'd like to stay in Utah."
chamilton@sltrib.com
kstewart@sltrib.com
Katrina evacuee help by the numbers
* 517 Utah evacuees registered with FEMA
* 383 Evacuees in apartments leased by state of Utah
* 159 Self-evacuees helped by Salt Lake Red Cross
* 102 Self-evacuees helped by Provo Red Cross
* 63 Self-evacuees helped by the Northern Utah Red Cross
* 10 Self-evacuees helped by Logan Red Cross
http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3557146
