News Release

Poverty center to host expert panel
on post-Katrina progress and challenges

CHAPEL HILL - The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, based in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, will hold a panel discussion on the progress made and challenges ahead for the post-Katrina Gulf Coast on Sept. 8 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the student union on the UNC campus.

Members of the UNC community and the public are encouraged to attend.

The discussion, "Katrina Revisited: Progress Made and Challenges Ahead," will be moderated by Dr. Jesse White, director of the UNC Office of Business and Economic Development, with introductions and questions led by center director Sen. John Edwards.

Panelists will address the lessons learned in the wake of the storm, evaluate the direction of recovery efforts and discuss the vision of improved lives for Gulf Coast residents.

Panelists will include:

• Kwame Asante, state director, Louisiana National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
  
• Xavier de Souza Briggs, associate professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  
• Walter Isaacson, vice-chair, Louisiana Recovery Authority.
  
• Bob Moore, vice president of the executive board, Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
  
• Wade Rathke, founder and director, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
  

The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity brings together scholars, policymakers, lawyers, community leaders and students to further research and policymaking on issues relating to poverty, work and opportunity. Established in February 2005, the center supports monthly panels of experts, hosts discussions and conferences. The center is also filming a short documentary on the working poor, expected to be released this fall, and is sponsoring a series of policy briefs from prominent UNC faculty on various topics related to poverty.

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School of Law contact: Matt Marvin, (919) 962-4125 or mmarvin@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: Kyle York, (919) 962-8145 or kyle_york@unc.edu