Programs & Services
The Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP) envisions land and culture of Gulf South communities protected and maintained through sustainable economies and the achievement of justice for all. To reach that vision GCCLP has a mission to advance structural shifts toward Climate Justice + Ecological Equity in Gulf South communities of color on the frontlines of climate change. GCCLP’s programming effectively engages community leaders, elected officials, national allies and supporters to understand the impacts of race, power, and privilege in the US South and advance local, state and regional initiatives that advance the organizational mission.
GCCLP programming
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advances equity and human rights in climate disaster recovery;
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creates models of sustainable communities through energy democracy and sustainable economic practices;
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advocates for water equity and climate resilience; and,
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connects grassroots efforts around land and labor toward a just transition from extractive economies.
GCCLP’s 4 core programs advance equity in communities impacted by the extraction economy and the new climate reality. GCCLP programming grows local leadership, builds movement infrastructure and advances equity in communities across five states. Using a human rights and equity lens, GCCLP programs address the root-causes, intersection and the consequences the climate crisis by addressing anti-black racism, structural discrimination, extractive economies and environmental degradation.
GCCLP offered its first programming by combining legal and movement building work to advance a just and equitable recovery in the aftermath of Katrina. Post-Katrina experiences of residents in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana confirmed that disaster recovery happened along racial and economic lines. First-hand experience with Human Rights violations that occur in the aftermath and recovery from disaster became actionable items for movement building. Long-term displacement impacted democratic processes and institutions along with exclusionary rebuilding and planning processes affirmed and revitalized the impact of historic discrimination. The fight for equity in climate disaster recovery would require legal power strategically and purposefully linked to people power in order to achieve justice.
GCCLP’s beginnings are rooted in climate disaster recovery throughout the Gulf Coast. Lessons learned in the recovery of hurricanes, oil drilling disasters, rain events, hundred year floods, and droughts in the Gulf South act as foundational elements of GCCLP’s disaster recovery work. Today, GCCLP’s programming is used build self-determination, collective power and sustainable solutions among Gulf South communities of color on the frontline of climate change.
GCCLP supports and co-anchors local and regional formations in partnership with local and national partners. These formations advance the vision for ecological equity and social justice. In addition, GCCLP represents a community-informed Gulf South perspective within national formations advancing human rights, climate justice and economic transformation. In addition to disaster legal services provided by the Disaster Law Network, anchored at GCCLP, programming is geared specifically to deal with the changing climate reality in the Gulf South.
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