"Robbing Louisiana Ratepayers And Other Energy Issues"

from: 

Saturday March 9. 2013

Featuring:

Casey DeMoss Roberts

Executive Director of The Alliance for Affordable Energy

Casey's experience has ranged from working in the United States Peace Corps to the Gulf Restoration Network, and has spent her career working to solve human health, economic, and other problems related to poor environmental management.

She is a highly sought after speaker following the successful talk at the TEDxOilSpill conference. She earned her Master’s in Public Health, focus in Biostatistics from Tulane University. A Louisiana native, Ms. Roberts is dedicated to the principles of fair, affordable,  environmentally responsible, community-based energy for all Louisiana residents. (You can watch her TED talk HERE)

Casey updated us on the Louisiana Public Service Commission's recent reversal of their former adoption of Energy Efficiency Rules plus other efforts under way to curtail energy efficiency in Louisiana. As she put it in a recent article, 

"What happened today (February 27) is a travesty and represents a government out of control," says Casey DeMoss Roberts Executive Director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy. "The Louisiana Public Service Commission took the unprecedented step of reversing itself for no other reason than they got a new Commissioner. Rehearing an issue this way is a slippery slope and sends a scary signal to business interests. Who would invest big dollars in a state with an indecisive regulatory body?"

As you will hear in the recorded presentation, Ms Roberts talk sparked a lively discussion and we are grateful for the information she shared with us. We hope to get her back in future for updates on the work of the Alliance. 

"Uncharitable Behavior: The Dismantling of Louisiana’s Charity Hospital and Public Mental Health Safety Net"

From:

 Saturday, January 12, 2013

Featuring:

K. Brad Ott

Advocates for Louisiana Public Healthcare

Long-time New Orleans progressive community social justice activist K. Brad Ott suffered a DVT/Stroke in October 2003 from sitting too long on a trip. Paralysis that occurred was substantially reversed (as well as discovery of a congenital heart defect!) thanks to the quick intervention of Rev. Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital Emergency Department. Out of this experience he became an advocate for the uninsured and to support Louisiana's iconic but much-neglected public Charity Hospital system.

Ott served as Legislative Chair for Advocates for Louisiana Public Healthcare (ALPH) in its original incarnation between 2004-2005. He was also appointed Consumer Representative representing the uninsured in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes under Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's Health Care Reform regional consortium process. Following Hurricane Katrina, he co-founded the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital and served as its co-chair from 2007-2011. Most recently he co-founded the Committee to Save Southeast Louisiana Hospital (Save SELH) and serves on its labor/legal subcommittee. And to challenge the recently proposed LSU Charity system privatization, he has revived Advocates for Louisiana Public Healthcare.

Returning to the University of New Orleans under a partial Louisiana Rehabilitation Services grant, Brad completed his Sociology Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007 and his Master of Arts degree in 2012. His Master's thesis on the closure of New Orleans' Charity Hospital currently is amongst the most requested articles in the "Health Services Administration Commons": 

http://network.bepress.com/medicine-and-health-sciences/public-health/health-services-administration/. 

To read his thesis, go to http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1472/.

Human Trafficking is Modern Day Slavery: Greater New Orleans, United States, and Global Manifestations

From:

Saturday, December 8, 2012*

Featuring:

Lindsey Boettinger

Case Manager for the Catholic Charities Refugee Services Program, and an Outreach Specialist for the Rescue and Restore Human Trafficking Program

and

Sue Weishar

Migration Specialist, Jesuit Social Research Institute of Loyola University

Lindsey Boettinger has worked with the refugee population from various countries since she lived in Cairo, Egypt in 2006.  After returning to the United States in 2007, she has worked in differing capacities with survivors of foreign conflict, natural and man-made disasters, and survivors of human trafficking in Washington, DC, Silver Spring, MD,  and New Orleans, LA.  She is a member of FreeNola and the New Orleans Human Trafficking Working Group, and is dedicated to spreading public awareness about human trafficking in order to engage the community on ways to identify and prevent it. 

In the recording, Lindsey will be leading the discussion about disturbing current trends in human trafficking with the assistance of Sue Weishar who is currently a Migration Specialist/Fellow with the Jesuit Social Research Institute. 

Sue previously spent fourteen years as Director of Immigration and Refugee Services with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (1991-2005) and earlier worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa and as a teacher in Guatemala. Most recently, in the years since Katrina, she served as project manager for the Louisiana Refugee Services Collaborative to implement a new state-wide refugee services collaborative, administrator for the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), Gulf Coast Coordinator for the Mississippi Center for Nonprofits, and Director of Development for UNITY of Greater New Orleans.

Also, Sue and programs which she directed have been honored by Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (for Alternatives to Detention), the National Crime Prevention Council (for the Asian Youth Services Program), and the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (for the Immigrant Domestic Violence Services Program). 

*Ben Gordon of Pax Christie facilitated the presentation for the Community Breakfast.

"2012 Post Election Roundtable Forum"

From:

Saturday, November 10, 2012:

Moderated by:

 Maureen Shea 

Associate Professor at Tulane University

A discussion of the 2012 elections in a moderated, roundtable format. We welcomed all political persuasions, all parties, the unaffiliated, and the conscientious abstainers. Many differing opinions were shared, compared, and analyzed. Give a listen to the lively discussion!

"TimeBanking in New Orleans: the Nola TimeBank Community -An Alternative Economy"

From: 
Saturday, September 8, 2012

Featuring:

Gretchen Zalkind

Coordinator, Nola TimeBank

Originally from Portland, OR, Gretchen spent 20 years in Los Angeles before moving to New Orleans last summer. According to her, she "was a very happy member of the Echo Park Time Bank in Los Angeles and (is) happy to be helping the NOLA TimeBank get up and running."

Timebanking is an alternative economy which has no monetary basis and instead values all labor equally so that an hour of any service is valued the same as any other service, which is then "banked" upon completion into a pool of service hours from which one can withdraw when necessary.  

Listen to Gretchen elaborating on this concept as well as on the local chapter in New Orleans, and informing us of how to become a member and where and when upcoming workshops will be held. 

"Pax Christi's Role in Opposing the Current Trend of U.S. Militarism"

From Saturday, July 14, 2012:

Featuring:

Kevin Cahalan

Former Peace Corps Volunteer and U.S. Marine, 

now a  Pacifist with Pax Christi

Listen to Kevin's discussion about how Pax Christi's endeavors to end war and nurture peace among nations contrasts with current U.S. militaristic policies, or, in his words, 

"...the folly of current American military adventures in light of their guarantee of failure, their cost when weighed against what we must sacrifice in terms of human lives destroyed and the economic trade-offs we must make, and our dismal current economic situation." 

"Solidarity Economy Committee of New Orleans Explores Local Alternatives to the Dominant Economic Model"

Our presentation from Saturday, June 9, 2012

Featuring:

Jordan Bantuelle

Member, 
Solidarity Economy Committee of New Orleans


Listen to his talk about the available alternatives to traditional economic models, including cooperative businesses, timebanking, and housing co-ops.   

For more info, you can visit the Solidarity Economy Facebook Page HERE 

"Big Oil in Louisiana: Make ‘em Pay!"

From Saturday, February 12, 2012:

Featuring: 

Anne Rolfes

Founding Director

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Iris Brown Carter

Community Liaison

Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Hear about Iris's own experiences with Shell Oil and her exodus from Norco, plus ongoing campaigns of the Bucket Brigade in its efforts to force oil companies to be more accountable and responsible to their neighboring communities, while holding the EPA and DEQ accountable for enforcing their mandates.

"Voice of the Ex-Offender: Challenges and Opportunities"

From Saturday January 14, 2012:

Speaker:

Norris Henderson
 Executive Director, V.O.T.E.

(Voice of the Ex-Offender)

Long time activist and advocate for ex-offenders, listen while Norris talks about the difficulties facing people after being released from prison, and the programs and efforts to help them make the transition. He also discusses the role politics and other agendas play in the perpetuation of obstacles and prejudices facing ex-ofenders. 

"Winners and Losers: The Privatization of Public Ed"

From December 10, 2011:
Lee Barrios M.Ed., NBCT

Founding Member, Coalition for Public Education; Louisiana state coordinator, Save Our Schools

A retired teacher and advocate for public education, Lee discussed her take on the corporatization of public schools and its effects on both students and teachers, and the forces behind the "education reform movement". She recently lost her bid for a seat on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to the incumbent who is in favor of this movement. Anyone who is concerned about children and their education and wants to learn more about the future of public education should listen to this presentation.

"Radical Hope, Radical Challenges: The First Weeks of Occupy NOLA"

From November 12, 2011:

featuring Kezia Kamenetz and Jordan Bantuelle,  Participants in the Occupy New Orleans Movement.

Jordan Bantuelle (L), Kezia Kamenitz (R)

"Iron Rail Rides Again!"

From June 11, 2011:
The Death of a Community Space:
The Closure / Reopening of
The Iron Rail Book Collective
Speaker:

Jules Bentley,
Long-time member of the Iron Rail Book Collective

"What’s Up With The F-Word"

From Saturday, November 13, 2010:
Activists

Charlotte Klasson

and

Chris Day

Discussing the status of feminism and the New Orleans chapter of the National Organization of Women

"Katrina Turns Five"

From August 14, 2010:

Memories of Hurricane Katrina

on the Fifth Anniversary

Presenters:

(and where they were on August 29, 2005)

Mildred Fossier

(Bay St. Louis/Kiln)

Mary Gehman

(Mid-City)

Mark Holian

(Lower Ninth Ward)

Randy Poindexter

(Lafitte)

Delia Montoya-Palgrave and Chris Palgrave

(Gentilly)

George and Maria Andrews

(Charity Hospital)

Ben Gordon

(University Hospital)

Kit Senter, Moderator

(Alexandria)