Micah pushes voter registration

“The Hands and Feet of God” is the voter registration and Hurricane Laura relief campaign launched Sept. 10 by the nonprofit Micah Project.

Deacon Allen Stevens, who serves at St. Peter Claver Parish and is the new interim executive director of the Micah Project, said his Catholic faith propelled his ministry to the poor. Since Jesus walks on earth today through his followers, Deacon Stevens said, every person has a responsibility to rally for the least among us.

Deacon Stevens led a Zoom conversation detailing the Micah Project’s campaign – to help those devastated by Hurricane Laura and to stress the importance of exercising voting rights and participating in the census.

He was joined by Alena Boucree, Micah Project board chair and a St. Peter Claver parishioner; Josephite Father Anthony Bozeman, pastor of St. Raymond-St. Leo the Great and a Micah board member; Rev. Debra Morton, pastor of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church; and Marina Ardoin, a Lake Charles evacuee living in New Orleans.

“Our focus here is to organize to help the people of God that we are responsible for,” Deacon Stevens said. “‘The measure of what you measure others will be measured back to you.’ All of us are God’s children, and that’s where our ministry needs to be.”

Deacon Stevens urged everyone to pray for and reach out to the 11,000 evacuees from Hurricane Laura who were brought to safety in New Orleans.

“(Using) your talent, you can help them rebuild their homes,” Deacon Stevens said. “Be willing to help us help them.”

Right to vote

With deadlines for voter registration for the presidential election approaching this October, Rev. Morton, a Micah member, mentioned in the opening prayer the importance of individuals realizing their worth since they were created by God and created in his image and likeness.

“I learned that voting is one way we express our worth and our power,” Rev. Morton said. She mentioned the Sept. 18 launch of National Black Voters’ Day (46 days prior to the Nov. 3 presidential election).

“We are rallying all of our resources and the relationships … to reclaim our vote,” she said. Her church has voter registration assistance every Thursday. “Faith without works is dead. Let’s make sure our power is known by getting together ... to cast our vote.”

Filling out the census is another way a community embraces its worth, she said. Sept. 30 is the census deadline. To participate, visit www.my20census.gov.

“Our ancestors fought for this right to be counted,” she said. The census data determines federal resources for such things as schools, hospitals, libraries, safety-net programs and even roads and bridges, and it affects voting district boundaries and the electoral college.

“Communities who don’t fill out the census are left out for a generation,” Rev. Morton said. “If you don’t value yourself, if you don’t feel you are worth filling out something that will benefit you, your community or your offspring for a generation, then nobody else will value you.”

What is the Micah Project?

Deacon Stevens says the Micah Project in New Orleans evolved in 2008 from All Congregations Together. It is named for the prophet Micah, who said, “What does the Lord God require of you? Justice, kindness and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Part of the nationwide Faith in Action network, the Micah Project works with community members to fight for important issues.

Micah’s effectiveness is the diversity of its 10 to 12 active organizations from different faith and ethnic backgrounds that work one-on-one with communities in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, he said. In addition to St. Peter Claver, Catholic parishes that participate in Micah are Our Lady Star of the Sea, St. Mary of the Angels, Blessed Sacrament-St. Joan of Arc and Corpus Christi-Epiphany.

“The concern is the quality of life of the people living in our community – to improve whatever their issues are (education, crime, de-incarceration and recidivism, drugs, infrastructure of streets, wages),” Deacon Stevens said. “We became a viable resource for people in the community, and we would point them in the right direction and hold their hand.”

He mentioned how Micah, after Hurricane Katrina, worked with Treme residents to turn a failing school – Phillis Wheatley Community School – into a top-notch facility that was rebuilt and managed to fulfill current needs.

Currently, Micah, with assistance from Baptist Community Ministries, has linked 22 evacuees with mentors for job placement and housing. The Micah Project also is inviting the community to have conversations about voting with people on their contact lists in an effort called “The 5,000 Holy Conversations Project.”

“It’s time for us to put our faith into action and to use our hands and our feet,” Boucree said.

Hurricane Laura reminded her fellow parishioners of New Orleans’ devastation from Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago and the response to their needs. It is now her parish’s desire to return the favor to Laura evacuees by corralling food, diapers, medications and donations.

Lake Charles evacuee Marina Ardoin discussed her struggles having a disabled mother with her in New Orleans and her extended family scattered.

“As a community organizer, I not only think about our family, but the people I have touched as a social worker over the years,” she said, adding that evacuees need gift cards for essential needs and access to counseling.

Ardoin thought her emotions were in check until she returned home to devastation.

“The pictures do not give justice to what is really going on,” she said. “I wasn’t affected until I went there. Then the depression set in.”

She thanked Micah for helping.

“The Micah Project is wonderful,” she said.

‘catholic’ more than Catholic

Deacon Stevens said community extends beyond Sunday Mass attendees.

“It is critical that we come together to work on all our community’s problems,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we treat only Catholics with dignity, we respect only Christians. … We need to raise up the people who are oppressed the most. Jesus’ ministry was to the oppressed. ‘Whatever you do to the least of our brothers, you do unto me’” (Matthew 25:40).

Father Bozeman reiterated that if Christians believe everyone is created in God’s image and likeness, they should act.

“That divinity inspires us in Micah and Faith in Action ... to humanity and justice,” he said. “We organize to expand the power of the ballot box, to be full participants.”

It’s not only COVID-19, but systemic racism, voter suppression, unjust voter ID laws and manipulation of mail-in ballots that “gives people the idea that their vote doesn’t count,” especially in the black and brown communities, he said.

“We must make sure that all communities are fully equipped to cast their ballots,” he said. “If we are truly American citizens, we have an obligation to fight for the right to vote for everyone. It is part of our human divinity, according to the Gospel, to make sure we take care of our sisters and brothers. It is our job, our opportunity to be a witness.”

To get involved in Micah, call (504) 528-9996 or visit www.micahpico.org. Both Faithinaction.org and Micah Project are collecting Hurricane Laura relief donations.

cbordelon@clarionherald.org