POST-KATRINA Red Cross undertakes daunting overhaul

The organization is trying to get response plans in place by June 1.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Assailed for its many missteps in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross is plunging into a daunting, two-track effort to overhaul its entire disaster response system and the often cumbersome way it governs itself.
There is pressure to move quickly and convincingly.
The new hurricane season starts June 1, and the Red Cross is hurrying to get its new response plans in place before any big storms arrive. It also hopes to complete an independent audit this summer and offer governance reform proposals to Congress before skeptical politicians start pushing their own reform plans.
Painful process
"Is the process painful? Absolutely," Red Cross board of governors chairwoman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter said. "These are defining moments, defining hours for us. ... But ultimately we will have a greater American Red Cross."
Underlying both reform initiatives is a degree of self-criticism and outreach that's striking for an organization long viewed as resistant to change and outside advice. The Red Cross itself said last month that its representatives "need to be aware of their reputation for arrogance, bureaucracy and insensitivity."
The 125-year-old charity, chartered by Congress, was far the biggest player in responding to Katrina, raising $2 billion, mobilizing 235,000 volunteers and helping hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Yet it was sharply criticized for responding too slowly in some low-income minority areas, for overreliance on inexperienced staff, and for reluctance to work closely with other nonprofits. Critics included experts from overseas Red Cross groups, members of Congress and nonprofit executives.
Substantive changes
McElveen-Hunter and interim Red Cross president Jack McGuire, in a lengthy joint telephone interview, stressed that the criticism was being taken to heart and would fuel substantive changes. Some will be outlined at the annual National Hurricane Conference this week in Orlando, Fla.
One of the major reform proposals is to strengthen cooperation with other national charities and with grass-roots church and community groups, particularly in minority neighborhoods. The Salvation Army and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are among the groups that have been asked for advice.
"We want to work with partners much more broadly than ever before," McGuire said. "If the community is better benefited by them running a shelter than us, they will do so."
The NAACP's chief operating officer, the Rev. Nelson Rivers, said he had been disappointed in the past by Red Cross "sloganeering" about diversity initiatives that never materialized. But he expressed cautious optimism about the new initiative.
"It still takes them a long time to move, but they are moving," he said. "The test will be, 'How close will the action match the words?"'
McGuire said other steps to improve disaster response will include improving communications and data-collection technology, tightening documentation of aid disbursement, and recruiting major transport and delivery companies to expedite emergency supply shipments.
To better ensure that funds are well-used, the Red Cross will no longer dole out immediate aid of $1,000 or more to displaced families, McGuire said. Instead, $150 or $200 might be provided up front, with larger sums handed out only after validation of a family's need.