Common Ground Collective

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Common Ground Collective is a volunteer organization offering support to the residents of New Orleans. It was formed in the Algiers neighborhood of the city by Malik Rahim and Scott Crow in the days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.^[1]

Common Ground distribution center tents in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans

Common Ground started with delivery of basic aid (food, water, and supplies) and an emergency clinic in Algiers. The effort expanded to providing assistance to homeowners and residents trying to move back into other areas of the city and region—such as the Lower Ninth Ward, St. Bernard Parish, and Houma—where flood-protection infrastructure failed after the hurricane. ^[2]

Common Ground Collective initiated a number of programs and projects following its inception in September 2005, using an organizing philosophy dubbed "Solidarity Not Charity." Some of the projects that are free to residents include debris removal, aid distribution centers, roving medical clinics, bioremediation for toxic areas, house-gutting, roof-tarping, building neighborhood computer centers, stopping home demolitions in the Lower 9th Ward, anti-racist training for volunteers, tree service, and legal counseling services. In early 2006, Common Ground volunteers effected an unauthorized clean-up of Martin Luther King Elementary School in the Lower 9th Ward. ^[3]

Common Ground eventually became two separate organizations—Common Ground Relief and Common Ground Health Clinic. Volunteers include medical and health care providers, aid workers, community organizers, and legal representatives. The clinic was especially helpful to remaining residents of New Orleans immediately after the hurricane since Charity Hospital and other emergency care providers were not available.^[4]

Common Ground Health Clinic had its beginnings when four young street medics, who had heard Malik Rahim's plea for support, showed up in Algiers a few days after the hurricane. They began riding around on bicycles asking residents if they needed medical attention. Locals were apparently surprised to be approached in this way, since no representatives of government agencies or of the Red Cross had appeared up to that point. The medics offered first aid, took blood pressure, tested for diabetes, and asked about symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other disease.^[5]

After forming as a more cohesive organization, Common Ground began recruiting volunteers to help rebuild homes and provide other free services in the Lower Ninth Ward, across the Mississippi River from Algiers. Thousands of people have volunteered for various lengths of time, creating an unusual social situation in the predominantly black neighborhoods, since most of the volunteers have been young white people from elsewhere.^[6] An ABC News Nightline report described the volunteers as "mostly young people filled with energy and idealism, and untainted by cynicism and despair, and mostly white, [who] have come from across America and from countries as far away as Indonesia."

In addition to providing free food, water, cleaning supplies, protective gear, diapers, and health and hygiene goods, Common Ground has offered legal assistance, day care, tutoring, soil and water testing, and Internet access.^[6] Although much of their housing remediation work has been in the Lower Ninth Ward, they have a larger station across the Industrial Canal in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans.