Joyner has chosen the Sunday during the celebration of the Rev.-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as the day he is encouraging pastors around the country to join him, Bishop Paul Morton and Bishop Eddie Long to help with the Tom Joyner Foundation's "Rebuilding through Education" Initiative, which Joyner kicked off on December 8th. Donations to the Foundation for this project can be made at BlackAmericaWeb.com (www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/foundation/rebuilding).

Joyner has set out to raise at least $1 million in January to assist Dillard University, Southern University of New Orleans and Xavier University, which are still recovering from the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

"We all need to stand together and make sure we take care of our own," said Joyner, whose Tom Joyner Foundation has raised more than $55 million to help keep students in historically black colleges and universities. "Everybody sees a New Orleans Saints play their game at the Super Dome and think all is well in the city. Well, I know and anyone who lives here or goes to school or teaches at any of these schools knows there's still so much work to be done."

Bishop Eddie Long, who serves as senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church with more than 25,000 members, said, "Fixing the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina is marathon and not a sprint. As we continue to run this race for our brothers and sisters whose lives were forever changed, may we not forget their struggle and their loss. I am honored to partner with Tom Joyner and others around this nation as we address the needs our HBCUs in the Gulf Coast area and ensure their long-lasting legacies of producing our future leaders."

"On Sunday, January 14th we will be taking up a special offering to provide financial assistance to the rebuilding of our great institutions of higher learning," added Bishop Long. "Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans and Xavier University need us now more than ever and we are truly blessed to be a blessing to the students, faculty and staff of these great schools."

Bishop Morton of the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church New Orleans/Atlanta shared his concern about his church's commitment to the New Orleans' schools. "I am elated to partner with the Tom Joyner Foundation in this important initiative," he said. "We have a responsibility to the city of New Orleans and to these great institutions to assist them in their rebuilding efforts. We can 'change a generation' by empowering great minds through education."

Dillard, Xavier and Southern University of New Orleans' campuses' are at varying stages of rebuilding and recovery while moving forward with their mission to educate their students. In August 2005, Joyner's foundation raised more than $1.5 million to provide $1,000 scholarships to students from the New Orleans HBCUs who had to transfer to other schools while the city was under water. In addition, each school has also received an additional $100,000 over the past year. Since 1998, the Tom Joyner Foundation has raised more than $55 million helping more than 14,000 students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Foundation's sole mission is to help keep students in school so they can complete their education.