More Than 40 Days Without Gas, Families Deal with New spectrumlocalnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from spectrumlocalnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Unfair Distribution Causes Failure in Disaster Relief to Vulnerable Populations By Jamil Donith Texas
SHARE
AUSTIN, Texas Hundreds of millions of dollars are going to disaster relief aid for Texans impacted by February’s snowstorm.
FEMA updates its distribution numbers daily on its website. As of April 5, FEMA has approved $127,957,552.41 and 41,017 individual assistance applications.
So who is getting this money? Right now, only 126 of 254 counties qualify for individual assistance through FEMA. State, city, and nonprofit agencies are providing additional public funding, but many Texans are still being left out, and they are often poor, elderly, rural residents, or people of color.
March 8, 2021 in Columns, Opinion
As record cold temperatures descended on Texas this past February, increased demand for electricity, coupled with ill-equipped utility plants, led to millions of people facing power outages.
Headlines focused on Sen. Ted Cruz’s vacation to Cancún or Gov. Greg Abbott incorrectly blaming the Green New Deal for the outages. I noticed, however, a lack of national coverage about the role nonprofits played in mitigating disaster. I get it discussing nonprofits’ role in disasters isn’t exactly the best clickbait. But, have no fear! I can highlight the outstanding work of emergency response nonprofits in the United States.
Rapper, activist and East Austin native Nook Turner at a press conference announcing the creation of the Black Austin Coalition, a group that s called on the city to formally address systemic racism in its historical policies – and invest more intentionally in Black Austin communities.
The Austin City Council has formally apologized for its role in perpetuating racist policies that contributed to historical equity, health and wealth gaps that persist for Black Austinites.
The resolution, which passed unanimously, also directs the city to quantify the impact of systemic racism in real dollars and invest in an effort to build a Black embassy in East Austin, which would serve as a resource center for Black residents.
Major Austin tech company chips in $750,000 for winter storm relief
Major Austin tech company chips in $750,000 for winter storm relief Samsung is chipping in with a big donation to Austin organizations.
Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images As it contemplates a multibillion-dollar expansion of its chipmaking operation in Northeast Austin, Samsung Austin Semiconductor is donating $750,000 for winter storm relief and recovery efforts in the Austin area. “The winter storm left many hungry, wet, financially insecure, and displaced,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler says in a March 4 news release. “Samsung Austin Semiconductor has been a great neighbor for 25 years, and this is another way they are making a positive impact [in] our community.”