Katrina Aid Today: A Church-side View

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the humanitarian relief and rehabilitation agency of The United Methodist Church and a unit of the church’s General Board of Global Ministries, is the lead agency in a federally-funded program to assist large numbers of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane struck the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico on August 29, affecting an area of more than 90,000 square miles in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

This Question and Answer paper is intended to describe and interpret Katrina Aid Today for United Methodist Church leaders and members and other religious audiences.

I. Definitions and Scope

Q. 1 What is Katrina Aid Today?

A. Katrina Aid (formally: Katrina Aid Today: A National Case Management Consortium) is an effort to help qualifying families achieve long-term recovery from the hurricane’s devastation. The program provides individual workers to help individual families resolve the complicated problems and needs preventing full recovery. Unmet needs addressed may include housing, employment, healthcare, childcare, insurance counseling, and access to public and private assistance funds. The approach is comprehensive and may involve multiple services and referrals. The program does not provide direct aid; rather, it assesses needs and helps families find solutions.

Q. 2 Why is such a program needed?

A. Hurricane Katrina is the most destructive storm to ever hit the United States. Its impact was so widespread and so intense that it left an unprecedented number of Americans in acute distress and destroyed communities beyond their ability to recover on their own. Many individuals and families were evacuated to places hundreds, even thousands of miles from home; others remain nearer home, often in temporary housing. For numerous people, the sheer complexity of their situations is overwhelming.

Q. 3 How many people will Katrina Aid assist, and where?

A. Katrina Aid is designed to serve 100,000 families, or approximately 300,000 persons both in their home states and across the country.

Q. 4 How long does it last?

A. For two years starting in late 2005 and early 2006, with about 22 months of operational time; extension may be possible as continuing needs are evaluated.

Q. 5 Where is the funding from, and how much?

A. From the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a unit of the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA is providing $66 million for the two years. This particular money is from that contributed by foreign governments to post-Katrina rehabilitation.

Q. 6 How will Katrina Aid Today work?

A. UMCOR, as the lead agency, will manage the grant, of which $60 million will be passed through to other organizations also equipped to organize the “case management” (see below for definition) that can advance the recovery process. Between six and twelve other agencies will form the consortium of providers. Consortium members will employ case mangers who will work directly with families. (See below for more information on Operations and Expected Outcomes.)

II. Church Relations

Q. 7 How and why was UMCOR selected as lead agency?

A. The goal of sixty-five year-old UMCOR is to alleviate human suffering, providing practical and proactive support to the most vulnerable survivors of chronic or temporary emergencies natural or civil. Deliberations within an existing coalition, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD), of which UMCOR is a part, showed the need for extra efforts to help Katrina survivors through case management. With NVOAD’s cooperation, UMCOR submitted a proposal to FEMA for what developed into Katrina Aid Today. UMCOR was a logical lead because of its extensive experience in working with disaster survivors in the USA and around the world. It was already working with FEMA in training post-Katrina case managers for evacuees being housed on a large ship in the Gulf of Mexico. It has worked in the past and currently with several United Methodist annual (regional) conferences in post-disaster case management. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, UMCOR did case management with families and individuals through a large church-funded program called Love in the Midst of Tragedy.

UMCOR’s “Guiding Values for Humanitarian Relief Work” are appended to this document.

Q. 8 Is it unusual for a church-related agency to receive a government grant for humanitarian work?

A. No. Post-Katrina efforts are themselves unusual, but it is not unprecedented or surprising for UMCOR and other church-related humanitarian agencies to receive government funds for programs that assist the general public. It happens frequently in both the USA and other places. Building on initiatives started with church dollars, UMCOR in the past has received funds from government agencies not only in the USA but also in Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and from the Council of Europe. Funders for humanitarian services look for capacity and performance.

No church-related agency doing relief and rehabilitation could survive on grants from governments. Gifts contributed by church members and friends are essential not only for emergency services following disasters but also for response to long-term human needs not covered by government and other sources. The Katrina Aid Today grant does not diminish the continuing need for voluntary support of UMCOR, which itself get a relatively small part of the total allocation.

Q. 9 Is there a theological rationale for United Methodist involvement through UMCOR in Katrina Aid?

A. Yes. The United Methodist Church, reflecting the teachings of John Wesley, the 18th century founder of Methodism, takes seriously Jesus’ admonition to attend to both friends and strangers in physical and emotional distress. The Church believes that “God is love” and tries to live accordingly. Managing Katrina Aid Today illustrates the United Methodist understanding of the Gospel’s mandate to care for persons in need.

Q. 10 Is Katrina Aid designed to promote the United Methodist Church?

A. No. Katrina Aid is nonsectarian. UMCOR never engages in religious proselytization in the guise of humanitarian assistance. The United Methodist Church never conditions humanitarian aid on religious affiliation or sentiment. Should persons served by Katrina Aid request an introduction to a faith community, the consortium member in charge may make referrals as they might to social service providers.

Q. 11 Can church- or religion-related organizations apply for participation in the case management consortium?

A. Yes. Many of the members of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD) are themselves related to religious groups and some can be expected to become consortium members and implementers. In addition, non-NVOAD organizations can apply if they have a national scope in relief work. In the case of UMCOR, case management implementation will be carried out not by the agency itself but through annual conference disaster organizations, some of which are already doing case management. This regranting is possible because United Methodist annual conferences in the USA are each separately incorporated not-for-profit organizations and can accept pass-through funds.

Q. 12 Are any church funds involved?

A. Yes. Each member of the consortium, including UMCOR, will provide in-kind services and are themselves engaged in post-Katrina assistance using their own money. Consortium members are expected to contribute some $35 million to case management of the kind offered by Katrina Aid. UMCOR has set aside $5 million of the funds contributed by church members to help annual conferences and other United Methodist agencies that want to engage or strengthen post-Katrina case management. This is related to but distinct from Katrina Aid Today. The overall effect will greatly enhance the long-term recovery of Katrina survivors.

Q. 13 How can faith-motivated persons be involved?

A. Several ways: 1) spreading the word of the program in areas where Katrina survivors are currently living, 2) applying when qualified to become staff or volunteer case managers (see below), 3) supporting volunteer humanitarian organizations engaged in the program, 4) and praying in their own ways for the future welfare of hurricane survivors.

III. Operations and Expected Outcomes

Q. 13 Just what is case management?

A. The term “case” comes from the field of social service. It names a family or individual who needs face-to-face encounters with a trained “case manager” to overcome obstacles to self-sufficiency or accomplish certain goals. It involves a range of activities and referrals. In disaster response settings, a caring case manager helps survivors understand services and benefits to which they may be entitled or for which they may apply; provides guidance in the steps to full recovery; and continues support until the families or persons are able to stand or their own.

Q. 14 How will the families served be identified and selected?

A. Likely participants will learn about Katrina Aid Today through the news media, advertisements, word of mouth, door-to-door canvasses, referrals by other agencies, and announcements at religious and community events. Many of the organizations that will implement Katrina Aid are already offering some type of post-hurricane care and know of unmet needs. Many evacuees are concentrated in particular locales. An intake process will establish that loss and distress were the result of Hurricane Katrina. This program does not serve survivors of other 2005 hurricanes.

Q. 15 How will the onsite work be done?

A. The organizations selected as members of the National Case Management Consortium will employ some 600 professional and recruit 2,400 volunteer case managers. A typical model would be that each professional manager would work with four volunteers. These managers will live in the communities they serve and will have access to local assistance resources both Katrina-related and general, governmental and private. UMCOR is responsible for Katrina Aid case management training. Not every qualified family will be served immediately because that would require a vast number of managers. Need priorities will be set and managers will take new cases as older ones are resolved.

Q. 16. What are the responsibilities of the survivors?

A. They must commit themselves to the case management process, which includes working with the manager in making a plan of action for disaster recovery.

Q. 17 When and how will consortium members (the implementers) be selected?

A. An application and selection process will be completed by December 9, 2005. They will be selected by a panel of specialists from organizations that are not applying. Those chosen must be not for profit corporations with 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service. All faith-based partners must adhere to the principle of the non-proselytization of beneficiaries. They must agree to federally-stipulated reporting requirements.

Q. 18 Will new organizations be set up to take advantage of the program?

A. No. Katrina Aid Today is not a training ground for new players in relief and rehabilitation. It requires experience and know-how in working with persons in distress through the case management approach.

Q. 19 Is it realistic to think that $66 million can get 100,000 hurricane-devastated families on their feet in two years?

A. Yes. The locations of many of the survivors with unmet and continuing needs are already known and the kinds of organizations that will do the implementation have strong case management skills. A built-in process of evaluation will indicate whether more time may be needed for some survivors in especially challenging situations.

IV. For additional Information:

Online at:
Katrina Aid Today: www.katrinaaidtoday.org
United Methodist Committee on Relief: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters: www.nvoad.org

E-mail:
umcor@gbgm-umc.org

Telephone (as of November 17, 2005): 212 870-3815

Mail (as of November 17, 2005)
Katrina Aid Today
475 Riverside Drive, Room 330,
New York, NY 10115

When fully operational, Katrina Aid will have an administrative office in Washington, DC, and a media office at the New York address.

The United Methodist Church in Service
The United Methodist Church--through its annual conferences and its agencies, including UMCOR--provides a wide spectrum of services to disaster-affected communities, families and individuals. This is seen as “mission,” as a good gift of God, a welcomed privilege to witness to our Christian faith. That government recognizes the capacity of our Church to help in a broad social way expresses confidence in our historic experience and skill. While the Katrina response continues, The United Methodist Church and its people will also be fully engaged in similar acts of service around the globe. We thank God for every opportunity to serve brothers and sisters in the human family.

Paul Dirdak
Deputy General Secretary
United Methodist Committee on Relief
General Board of Global Ministries
The United Methodist Church


UMCOR’s Guiding Values for Humanitarian Relief

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church, a worldwide denomination. For 65 years UMCOR has responded internationally to natural or human made disasters—those interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own.

UMCOR’s mission is to alleviate human suffering. We provide practical, proactive support to the most vulnerable survivors of chronic or temporary emergencies due to natural or civil causes.

UMCOR honors cultural differences. We deliver aid to people without regard to race, religion, politics, or gender. We seek input from local communities in identifying needs. All people have dignity and worth. The most essential partner in UMCOR’s work is the beneficiary, the ultimate end-user of our service. There are no “victims” in our vocabulary. There are only survivors whose courage, along with a humanitarian helping hand, can transform communities.

UMCOR always works with partners—usually in local settings. Civic organizations, faith communities, school leaders and other local resources are great assets to sustainable recovery and development, particularly after massive traumatic events. They exist close to the beneficiary and will continue to serve as positive influences in the community after UMCOR’s work is complete.

UMCOR is a good steward of our gifts and grants. Private donors can designate their gifts to our programs with the assurance that100 percent is spent on the programs. The 8.5 million members of the United Methodist Church assure our ability to guarantee this through undesignated giving that underwrites our general administrative expenses.

UMCOR manages its public grants with equal care, spending less than 10 percent on administrative costs.

UMCOR avoids tying the promise of its relief and development activity to any religious or political viewpoint.

UMCOR welcomes the good efforts of countless individuals and churches who support us through gifts and prayers and service. We incorporate volunteer action everywhere we can and ask our supporters to accept that sometimes it is not appropriate. We appeal to all volunteers to keep learning as their first objective so that the consequences of their service may become a true benefit.

(Katrina Aid Today Q&A 1, November 17, 2005)