Today you're going to hear from two people we met through VAYLA: the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association. This group started in the wake of Katrina as officials were skating around environmental laws and concerns about where to dispose of the thousands of tons of debris the city was accumulating. The trash was a toxic stew and New Orleans chose a site in New Orleans East as it's dumping ground. Concerned about the effect on the community and the local environment a group of young people organized to make their voices heard. Today we have Truong-An and John to tell us more.

Katrina Stories is a documentary podcast built from first-person accounts recorded after Hurricane Katrina as part Mondo Bizarro's I-10 Witness Project. Each episode weaves together voices that reveal the human impact of the storm—stories of loss, resilience, anger and hope. The series preserves these testimonies as living history, offering listeners an intimate connection to the people and places forever changed by the disaster.

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Our theme music was composed by Peter Bowling.