NAACP, Habitat Partner in ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ to Build Homes

Habitat for Humanity International and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are partnering together for “Love Thy Neighbor”, a project that will build at least 25 new homes – and perhaps as many as 100 – with families affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The collaboration was announced Monday, Feb. 6, as volunteers from the NAACP and Habitat joined NAACP President and CEO Bruce Gordon and Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford in north Gulfport, Miss., to raise walls on the first Habitat house to be built along the Mississippi coast after Katrina roared ashore in late August 2005.

"Habitat and the NAACP have such similar values and principles that this is a natural partnership,” said Reckford. “Both are committed to giving people a hand up, to social justice issues, to ensuring that everyone has equal access and opportunity, whether it is to housing or anything else.”

Reckford also pointed to the strength of the union and the importance of building a bridge between the two organizations as reason to celebrate the collaboration.

“The NAACP Habitat partnership will play an integral role in the resurrection of these devastated communities,” Gordon added. “I am excited to be partnering with an organization that has done so much to provide decent affordable housing for families throughout the world.

“From the time Katrina struck, the NAACP’s goal has been to extend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters in their time of need. This is part of our effort to give the survivors hope and to help restore their sense of dignity and well-being.”

Twenty of the homes will be built in Gulfport, and five homes will be built in Houston, Texas, with families that have relocated to that city following the hurricanes.

The announcement is also the beginning of what Gordon and Reckford are counting on being a long-term relationship between the global nonprofit homebuilder and the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, not only in hurricane-affected areas but in opportunities where both organizations can partner to strengthen communities.