On the eve of our nation’s Presidential election, I thought it was important to say once again just how important your work as a consortium is. Each week, our staff gets questions regarding this project from representatives of our state, other states, Federal agencies, and various disaster recovery organizations around the Country. They generally all want to know the same thing: How are the people impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita benefiting from case management services provided by MCMC?

These inquiries come from people who represent a wide spectrum of political affiliation. It seems that no matter which party eventually wins the election, it will be our job to continue to advocate on behalf of those that we serve. And, as evidenced by the inquiries that we receive, it appears that there will be a continued interest in our project regardless of which party is victorious. On our agency directors’ call this morning, we talked about the need to continue our efforts to ensure that our reporting process is in full swing and that data is being entered into the database. The purpose for this focus on data entry is to be able to use that data for the purpose of advocacy. With the data that we collect, we are able to focus our advocacy efforts on the areas where our clients need the most assistance. This advocacy can and does lead to policy changes that benefit the recovery effort as a whole, and our clients as individuals. Let’s do our best to  make sure that our attention to detail remains intact when it comes to data entry. Your efforts in this area strengthens our ability to advocate to those who are in charge of policy decisions. Remember, every vote in an election … and every entry into the database … counts!

Blessings,

Stephen