After hurricanes Florence and Helene, underserved communities on the North Carolina coast and in the mountains faced displacement and uncertain recoveries. But after Helene, something exciting happened: People’s phones began lighting up with offers of $1,000 and $2000 direct disaster payments.
To tell the story, Shoresides speaks with filmmaker Yolanda House about Mi Casita, her documentary following a Latino family facing the challenges of living in a Wilmington mobile home park after Florence, and with Appalachian State University professor Leah Hamilton about how some western North Carolinians received direct payments after Helene, and what those payments made possible.
We also reach out to Give Directly, the organization behind it all to ask about the extent to which those payments might again be made available to North Carolina residents when the next disaster hits.
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