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In 2006/2007, the JBL Awards focused on recognizing individuals who were integral to the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast, in the devastating aftermath left by Hurricane Katrina. The need for public infrastructure systems, a social safety-net, environmental monitoring and toxic clean-up--and the crucial element of civic participation to achieve these goals--were some of the issues which these awardees incorporated into their work. The awards were expanded to include seven activists; a total of $21,000 went to seven Gulf Coast activists, advocates, and organizers; each was awarded $3,000 in recognition of their deep commitment to the public interest and the innovative approach of their work towards social change.
| Victoria Cintra Victoria Cintra was born in Cuba and migrated to the United States when she was eight years old. She is currently the Gulf Coast outreach organizer for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA), an organization that provides assistance and advocacy for immigrant workers across the state. Since Katrina, Victoria has spoken forcefully and articulately on the struggle for justice for the thousands of immigrant workers who have come to rebuild the Gulf Coast. She has become a forceful immigrant advocate with FEMA, the Red Cross, private contractors and state and local governments. Victoria has been integral in identifying health hazard issues impacting immigrant workers, disparities between ethnic groups, discriminatory practices by both government and non government agencies and testifying before international commissions. |
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| Derrick Evans Derrick Evans is a sixth-generation native of Turkey Creek, a Mississippi Gulf Coast community settled by freed slaves in 1866. Derrick founded Turkey Creek Community Initiatives to promote sustainable local development that is both environmentally and culturally sensitive. After Katrina, Derrick maxed out credit cards and loaded up a U-Haul truck with $20,000 worth of water, gas and other supplies to build a volunteer camp in Turkey Creek. Since the storm, he has been a tireless organizer and advocate for the needs and rights of coastal communities. Derrick was also one of the founding organizers of the Steps Coalition, a collaboration of groups fighting for fair and equal justice in the allocation of resources in rebuilding South Mississippi. |
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| Tanya Harris Tanya Harris was born and raised in New Orleans. Her family is deeply rooted in the Lower Ninth Ward and have been members of ACORN for over 23 years. Tanya is currently the head organizer for New Orleans ACORN and since Katrina she has been working tirelessly to organize displaced residents from New Orleans and assist them in rebuilding their lives and communities. Tanya has organized and recruited thousands of volunteers to help gut homes all across the city, saved thousands of homes from being seized by the city as public nuisance without due process, stopped land grab bills at the state legislature, and won certified water for the entire city. |
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| Rev. Jennifer Jones-Bridgett A native of Baton Rouge, LA, Reverend Jennifer Jones-Bridgett is an ordained Baptist Minister and presently the executive director of PICO Louisiana InterFaiths Together (LIFT). She believes that justice is not just a matter of putting the right policies in place or involving the community in a planning process, it means ensuring that families have the power to also define the agenda and control the future of the Gulf Coast. It means equipping historically marginalized residents to organize themselves for power. Reverend Jones-Bridgett strongly believes in community building across lines of race, class and denomination. |
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| Malik Rahim Malik Rahim, a veteran community organizer, was raised in New Orleans and has been fighting for racial, economic and environmental justice for the last thirty years. In 1970, he co-founded the Louisiana chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and the platform of the BPP has remained his guiding principles. Malik co-founded the Common Ground Collective with Sharon Johnson and Scott Crow on September 5, 2005, only days after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, Common Ground has been working to deliver services and resources to the most marginalized communities in the Greater New Orleans area. Common Ground has initiated 15 program areas that have served over half a million people in the areas of medical care, legal assistance and advocacy, food and water distribution, roof tarping, house gutting, toxic remediation, children's programs, a women's center and much more. |
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| Anne Rolfes Anne Rolfes grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana and is the founding executive director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. Since the hurricanes, the major focus of her work has been to help organize the local communities affected by the storms so that they can make informed choices regarding their health and safety. She teaches community members sampling techniques to measure toxic sediments on their homesites located in the footprint of the Murphy Oil Spill and the Katrina disaster. Anne's current project is planning a gathering called “Fenceline Neighbor Power Conference." This conference will bring together dispersed communities facing similar environmental problems to talk and work more collaboratively together. |
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| Father Vien thé Ngyuen Father Vien thé Nguyen is the pastor of Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church in East New Orleans. He has been integrally involved in the struggle and rebuilding of Versailles in New Orleans East, home to one of the largest concentration's of Vietnamese Americans in the United States. Since saving lives during the storm, he has become known throughout the city and has grown to prominence in the fight and eventual win against the Chef Menteur landfill in New Orleans East. Father Ngyuen is deeply committed to working to ensure that communities have a strong voice in determining public policies that invest in effective government systems which truly serve people. |
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In 2004, the JBL Awards recognized journalists who positively impacted public perception of environmental issues, and impacted policymaking in the U.S. "This year's recipients continue the legacy of Jane Bagley Lehman through their lasting contributions to public awareness and the understanding of environmental issues," said Idelisse Malave, Tides Foundation.
Chip Giller
Five years after its launch, Grist Magazine reaches more than a quarter of a million people through its website and news emails and millions more through partnerships with media including MSNBC.com and Salon.com. With Grist, founder and editor Chip Giller created an e-zine that speaks to a broad, growing audience that relies on the Internet for their main source of information. While half of Grist's readers say they are members of environmental groups, the other half are those not otherwise engaged in the environmental movement. Grist often pairs its new stories with opportunities for readers to take action. An example is Grist's first-to-the-punch coverage on efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to dilute the meaning of the national "organic" label. This spring, Grist was the first to report on a USDA plan that would have severely weakened the standards. One day after the story appeared, Grist partners, Working Assets and RedJellyfish.com, cited the story and began circulating electronic action alerts to hundreds of thousands of people. The USDA was beset with calls and emails expressing disapproval of the plan, and less than two weeks after the Grist story ran, the USDA bowed to public pressure and withdrew its proposal.
Amanda Griscom Little
Grist writer Amanda Griscom Little writes a twice-weekly Muckraker column that Salon.com picked up for weekly syndication to its 3 million readers. For nearly two years, Griscom Little has tracked the Bush Administration's environmental policies, Beltway shenanigans, and the people behind them. For the past year she has also been publishing a monthly interview in Grist with political leaders and environmental luminaries to bring a broad range of high-profile perspectives to the environmental discussion in an engaging, accessible way that will motivate mainstream audiences. Interviewees have included John Kerry, Howard Dean, Robert Redford, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Jim Jeffords, Joe Lieberman, John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods), as well as U.S. Department of Interior officials Lynn Scarlett and Craig Manson. Recently picked up by MSNBC.com for syndication, her interviews will now reach 10 million readers per month.
Colin Woodard
One of the few journalists specializing in overseas reporting on the environment, Woodard produces thoughtful, firsthand coverage from places that are often difficult to travel to, like the collapsing ice shelves of the Antarctic, the low-lying atolls of Micronesia, the vanishing jungles of northern Guatemala, and the abandoned chemical plants of southern Albania.Most of Woodard's work focuses on issues of national or global consequence, like marine pollution, climate change, or the development of alternative energy technologies. His articles have been cited widely in scientific and public policy papers, reports, books, and speeches, and reprinted in syndication by publications around the world. His book "Ocean's End," a critically acclaimed account of the crisis in the world's oceans, has been translated into Chinese and has influenced the recommendations of the Pew Oceans Commission and the United States Oceans Commission. His reports on new ocean management technologies helped prompt collaboration between federal, state, and provincial authorities in the U.S. and Canada. His pieces on the legacy of U.S. atomic testing in the Marshall Islands helped the people of Bikini Atoll receive compensation from Washington and may one day allow them to return to their contaminated island. His second book, "The Lobster Coast," has raised public awareness of the value of common property regimes in the management of natural resources like Maine lobster or Caribbean coral reefs. His reporting on Dutch and Danish innovations in recycling, wind power, and industrial ecology have been picked up by newspapers around the world, and in the publications of Worldwatch and the Earth Policy Institute. As a result of his writing, Colin has been invited to speak at numerous conferences around the country, including the inaugural meeting of the Pew Oceans Commission.
Jane Bagley Lehman was one of the founders of the Tides Foundation in 1976, and the Chair of the Board until her death in 1988. An unconventional philanthropist, her insatiable curiosity was matched by a willingness to take risks. Jane was most intrigued by the approaches and strategies of advocates and organizers and their willingness to challenge traditional assumptions. She also cared deeply that the results of these efforts be translated into the broader area of public policy. It is in in honor of her this spirit that the Jane Bagley Lehman Awards for Excellence in Public Advocacy were established; the "JBLs" seek to recognize individuals who have exhibited a deep commitment to the public interest and whose work demonstrates innovative approaches to social change.
