Sandy Rosenthal is an American civic activist and founder of Levees.Org, an organization created in October 2005 to educate the American public about the cause of the levee failures and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.Levees.or
Mission and Goals
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Before August 2005

Rosenthal was born in Massachusetts and graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United State ...

in 1979. She settled in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Hurricane Katrina forced Rosenthal to abandon her home and she began to offer assistance to similarly displaced fellow alumnae.

Levees.Org

Rosenthal began organizing in response to the official narrative and response to the flooding and evacuation of New Orleans. With the help of her son Stanford Rosenthal, levees.org launched on December 5, 2005, and has since been viewed more than 900,000 times. Rosenthal recruited actors

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a membe ...

and

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, a ...

(both longtime residents of New Orleans), to assist with outreach for the group's message. Using video, social media, letter-writing teams and numerous other means, Levees.Org has educated people worldwide on the facts surrounding the 2005 flooding. Rosenthal has been a blogger with the Huffington Post since 2009.

Accolades

The

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

A. B. Freeman School of Business The A. B. Freeman School of Business is the business school of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The school offers undergraduate programs, a full-time MBA program and other master's programs, a doctora ...

honored Sandy Rosenthal as the Tulane Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year for 2018. In 2016, Rosenthal was awarded the Pioneer of Purpose Award from Dillard University. In 2015, she received the Diana Lewis Citizen Participation Award from the Committee for a Better New Orleans, the Heroes of the Recovery Award by New Orleans Magazine and also the Partner in Justice Award by AVODAH. In 2012, she was recognized as a “Most Influential Woman” by

, and was named “Outstanding Citizen Diplomat” by the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council. That same year she was also named as a “Role Model” by the Young Leadership Council and was honored as a “First Responder, Post Katrina” by the Southern Dominican Province. She has received the "Award of Merit" from the Citizens and Victims against Crime, Inc. (2009), the "Service Above Self" by The Rotary Club of New Orleans (2009), and the "Alumnae Loyalty Award" from

(2009). In 2008, she was inducted, along with

real estate broker A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

Kitty DeGree Kitty or Kittie may refer to: Animals * Cat, a small, domesticated carnivorous mammal ** Kitten, a young cat Film * Kitty Films, an anime production company in Japan * ''Kitty'' (1929 film), based on the Deeping novel; the first British talk ...

West Monroe West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The two cities are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana. Its populati ...

, into the Hall of Fame of the Louisiana Center for Women and Government at

Nicholls State University Nicholls State University is a public university in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Founded in 1948, Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System. Originally named Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the university is named for Francis T. Nicho ...

in Thibodaux. In 2006 she was one of the "Women of the Year" honored by City Business.

''Words Whispered in Water''

In her book ''Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina'' Rosenthal gives a first-person narrative of the 2005 flooding and its aftermath that thrust her into her role as a leading voice for fact-based responses to flood threats. She describes her transformation into an advocate for education on the history of flood control failures after Hurricane Katrina had moved inland, and her subsequent work as a watchdog tracking the responses of government and media in the hours, weeks, and years after the floodwalls first gave way. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' cited
Words Whispered in Water: Why the Levees Broke in Hurricane Katrina
' as a Fall 2020 selection in ''Politics & Current Events''.

References

External links

Levees.Org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Sandy 1957 births People from North Attleborough, Massachusetts Living people American activists Mount Holyoke College alumni Tulane University alumni