– The cable industry will participate in a national housing database to assist cable employees displaced by Hurricane Katrina in their search for transitional housing by matching them with cable families willing to volunteer space in their homes, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) said today.
With the assistance of the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA), NCTA has partnered with the not-for-profit organization KatrinaHousing.org, a 501 (c) (3) organization founded to provide a searchable database to identify transitional housing for families displaced by the catastrophe.
KatrinaHousing.org has dedicated a section of its database exclusively to the cable industry and will accept offers of housing from cable industry families across the U.S. Housing made available through KatrinaHousing.org won't be limited to those areas directly impacted by the hurricane. Cable human resource professionals will be able to log-in to volunteer space from cable families at their companies, or to assist affected employees seeking housing.
Cable industry companies interested in participating can obtain a pass code for the cable portion of the KatrinaHousing.org website by contacting the NCTA Communications & Public Affairs Department at 202/775-3629.
The commitment to assist with transitional housing for cable employees affected by Hurricane Katrina is part of the cable industry's overall efforts to provide recovery and relief assistance to the Gulf Coast region. Earlier this month, NCTA announced the creation of the Cable Hope Fund, a charitable fund designed to help cable industry employees and other hurricane victims recover from the effects of the storm. Donations to the Cable Hope Fund can be made online at http://www.ncta.com/cablehopefund/. More than $500,000 already has been committed by industry companies to the Cable Hope Fund. Also, dozens of cable industry companies and cable employees have donated money or raised funds for relief, through telethons, special programming and other activities.
In addition, Cable in the Classroom (CIC), the industry's nonprofit education foundation, has been working to provide educational resources for students, educators and families displaced by Katrina. These efforts include launching the VSKOOL.org initiative to offer online classes, tutoring and other educational technology solutions for students displaced by the Hurricane.
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