Oprah’s Angel Network

Stallworth

Bill Stallworth is the executive director of the East Biloxi Coordination, Relief and Redevelopment Agency.

© 2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photo by Cheryl Gerber

Bill Stallworth will always remember the day he walked out of a flooded East Biloxi grocery store, covered in mud and clutching all the canned goods he could carry back to the sick and hungry.

Since that moment three years ago, Stallworth has experienced a series of what he calls “divine appointments.” These appointments led him to the people who would work at and fund the Hope Coordination Center, which houses Stallworth’s East Biloxi Coordination, Relief and Redevelopment Agency (EBCRRA), Architecture for Humanity, the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and other volunteer groups.

As he left that grocery store, Stallworth—who also serves on the East Biloxi City Council and has deep ties to the low-income community in Ward 2—ran into two volunteers from OxFam America, an organization usually dedicated only to international relief. The volunteers asked Stallworth what they could do. Beyond exhaustion and discouraged because of the lack of any visible federal help, Stallworth told them what he needed. The next day OxFam had put some seed money into an account, and Stallworth soon began the Herculean task of rebuilding a community that literally no longer existed.

“I went to Lowe’s and Wal-Mart where they had some temporary generators and they were letting in a few people at a time. I picked up some tables, some chairs, a few computers and a generator,” Stallworth recalled. “And we found a little old building that was full of mud and we got some volunteers and we cleaned it out and set up shop. It just took off (because) people were … desperately trying to find some place to plug into.”

During these daunting first few days, Stallworth met Sherry-Lea Bloodworth, who had come from Alabama to help people evacuate.

“I met Bill during the evacuation,” said Bloodworth. “He was giving out food and water and I came back to Bill with Kate Stohr (co-founder of Architecture for Humanity) and I said, ‘Look, he’s a great community partner.’”

This second divine appointment—meeting Bloodworth—introduced Stallworth to Architecture for Humanity and eventually Mississippi State’s Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. Both organizations offered their technical expertise to design and build homes. Combined with Stallworth’s leadership skills and strong understanding of the community, the new organization suddenly had the framework to become a powerful agent for self-recovery.

As Stallworth pressed forward, his first objective was to provide hope for those made homeless by the storm.

“At first we were just locating people, getting rid of all the debris and the bodies—that was the first priority,” he said. “We were then able to get the residents involved by first taking care of things like food and water.”

Just surviving, however, was not Stallworth’s ultimate goal. More than a shepherd of hope, he wanted to rebuild his community. That desire required substantial amounts of money for tools, materials, design plans, engineers and construction workers.

And that’s when another divine appointment happened. Oprah’s Angel Network vetted the situation and arrived in East Biloxi with a $3.3 million dollar grant.

“None of this would be possible without the support of those millions of Angels throughout the nation who see and trust that (the Network) will do the right thing with their money,” said Stallworth, whose organization used the grant as a springboard to raise $37 million.

With the cash infusion, Stallworth set out on his goal to rebuild as many homes as he could and to provide no-interest, forgivable loans (residents must live in the house 10 years for these conditions to apply) to low-income families. Stallworth’s center also moved to a new location where people could experience a “one-stop-shop” with case workers assisting them out of a FEMA trailer and into a rebuilt or refurbished home.

© 2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photo by Cheryl Gerber

© 2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photo by Cheryl Gerber

© 2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photo by Cheryl Gerber

©2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photograph by Cheryl Gerber

Map courtesy of City of Biloxi; online at biloxi.ms.us

The Hope Coordination Center houses the EBCRRA, the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and Architecture for Humanity.

A construction worker helps build out a new house's frame.

A construction worker drills into an elevated floor.

A newly built house made possible by the Hope Coordination Center.

A map of the city of Biloxi. Stallworth's ward is color-coded light green, in the bottom right-hand corner.

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An Uphill Fight

The new money and expertise made Stallworth’s vision possible, but several factors complicated matters. After the hurricane, restrictions on casino development were lifted in an effort to stimulate the battered economy. Casinos could now be built on land as long as they were within 800 feet of the coast. The revision in the law had unintended consequences.

It threatened the community-rebuilding process, as developers offered to buy out landowners who lacked sufficient funds to rebuild. It also limited the stock of affordable rental properties. Additionally, new elevation requirements proposed by FEMA added $30,000 to $50,000 to rebuilding costs, and new city building codes further complicated the rebuilding process. Worse, people without proper insurance were denied federal assistance.

Yet Stallworth’s organization proved resourceful. Three years later it has served more than 1,000 cases, coordinated the completion of more than 600 homes, and has 60 home rehabs and 25 new home projects currently underway. In fact, his organization has been so successful that other communities in Mississippi and Louisiana have adopted its cooperative model.

House

Architecture for Humanity and the Hope Coordination Center teamed up to build this house.

© 2008 Oprah’s Angel Network, photo by Cheryl Gerber

Stallworth’s own hard work has paid off in other ways, too. This summer he was named city council president, and was recently recognized by a local news station as a Southern Mississippi hero. More important to Stallworth, he has witnessed a community rebirth and seen people in his ward become active in local issues.

Still, Stallworth knows a lot of work remains. “At this point everybody thinks the job is done,” he said. “But it’s like starfish on the beach. When the tide is in, the water is there and they are OK. But as the water recedes they can get stranded on the beach. (Without continued support) . . . what we face here are still literally thousands of people being left homeless.”