About Voices from the Gulf
Voices from the Gulf is a place where survivors of Hurricane Katrina can tell their stories, unfiltered, for the world to hear and see. Anyone can participate -- by signing up to videotape someone's story, or signing up to tell their own. The goal is to help people from all walks of life connect with those stories, in a real and direct way.
Why?
Two years after the storm, the Gulf Coast is still struggling to get back on it's feet. Every once in a while, we hear about the problems facing the Gulf. We hear about thousands still living in trailers, millions in wasted government dollars, massive bureaucracies, failed policies. We also hear about some positive developments: large numbers of people and businesses coming back; houses being rebuilt by volunteers; more money being set aside to help. Over time, we hear less and less.
Lost in all this are the personal stories of what life is like now for people who call the Gulf Coast home. By providing an outlet for those stories, we want to create real connections between people. The failures during Hurricane Katrina were a failure of America as a community. But the stories of people reaching out, connecting, and helping one another during and immediately after the storm showed Americans at our best. If America doesn't want to fail the Gulf Coast again -- if we want to help -- we have to stay connected. We can connect best by hearing directly from people who are still experiencing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Voices from the Gulf is about making this connection happen.
How?
Anyone can submit a video to Voices from the Gulf (if you're interested in submitting a video, click here). Folks from the Gulf Coast who have stories to tell but don't have a video camera can sign up to be interviewed. Folks with video cameras can also sign up to participate, and we match people who are in the same area.
Once a video is up on on VoicesFromTheGulf.com, it's also placed automatically on YouTube, where it's available to a community of millions, and can be embedded on any website, or shared easily by email, on MySpace, Facebook, and other social networks. The videos will draw people back to VoicesFromTheGulf.com, where they can see more videos or sign up to participate.
Voices from the Gulf is launching with 10 videos produced by filmmakers Luisa Dantas and Micheal Boedigheimer.
Voices from the Gulf is a project of:
