MGS Poverty Policy Experts to Speak at Carter Center on Post-Katrina Disaster Relief Issues

Center for Social Policy Director Donna Haig Friedman and Constituent Advisor/Research Assistant Julia Tripp have accepted an invitation to deliver the luncheon keynote address at the Carter Center event, “Not Meant to Live Like This," to be held in Atlanta on December 13.

Friedman and Tripp will join others in a day-long dialogue on disaster relief and renewal in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. These McCormack Graduate School poverty policy experts will join an impressive list of participants including Martin Luther King, III who will deliver the opening remarks.

As part of the conference event, there will be a book signing and conversation on the new book, Not Meant to Live Like This, which chronicles the lives of New Orleans residents since Katrina. Friedman and Tripp collaborated with the Fourth World Movement on this book. 

Friedman will also participate in a policy panel focusing on "Developing Community-based Strategies for People Living in Persistent Poverty to Become More Involved in Disaster Preparedness."

The director of the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters, Adenrele Awotona, will also be at the conference, recruiting students for his graduate and professional development certificates in post-disaster reconstruction.

This one-day conference on social justice is sponsored by the Southern Partners Fund and the Justice Fund for Disaster Relief and Renewal. Both groups help advance social change in the rural South.