ILAPA News BURST! Signs of Progress in New Orleans, Much Remains

	New Orleans is a city of neighborhoods, boasting over one hundred distinct communities. In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, however, a great transformation is underway. As the reconstruction effort moves forward, the city’s politics continue to swirl. The staging of the Mardi Gras and the Jazz Fest suggest that many tourists and residents yearn to come back to this fabled city. Still, many neighborhoods remain almost vacant. Mold is festering inside abandoned homes, and rusting-out vehicles still line some streets. More than 122,000 homes were destroyed or virtually destroyed by the flooding. Hoping to preserve and rebuild the strong neighborhood feel of New Orleans, the City Council and the Mayor’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission (BNOBC) have committed to a bottom-up comprehensive planning effort, encouraging neighborhoods to meet with professional teams of planners to develop a shared vision. Although federal and state financial commitments, including the so-called “Baker Bill,” remain hotly contested, all agree that a high level of citizen participation is essential to the rebuilding process It was in this spirit that the Tulane-Canal Neighborhood Development Corporation (T/CNDC) contacted DePaul University in September of 2005, mere weeks after one of the nation’s worst natural disasters. The Public Services Graduate Program and the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, located at DePaul University’s Loop Campus in Chicago, were a natural fit for the project as the program focuses on public services and the institute serves as a conduit for pragmatic planning information. Before Katrina, T/CNDC provided an opportunity for affordable homeownership throughout an area of approximately 4.5 square miles located near the New Orleans Central Business District and Superdome, working to transition impoverished families to better housing opportunities. The services they provided merely scratched the surface of need in the neighborhood, where annual per-capita income averaged $7,000 and blighted properties can be found on nearly every block. The organization was interested in taking stock of itself and repositioning so as to better serve future populations. Working with Dr. Gloria Simo, assistant professor in MPS and assistant director of the Chaddick institute, T/CNDC identified three major areas of concern: housing, health and human services and economic development. In December of 2005, Dr. Simo assembled and led a team of thirteen students to New Orleans, to attend several strategic planning sessions and cataloged stakeholder organizations in the neighborhood. Three members of Dr. Simo’s team visited the Tulane-Canal neighborhood once again in February, 2006, this time presenting the plan during the neighborhood’s first post-Katrina community meeting, held at a local barbershop. Further efforts took place over spring break, when Dr. Simo brought another group of students to start implementing part of the plan by identifying funding opportunities and writing grants for non-for-profit organizations in the area. Future student efforts will write business plans for these organizations and provide additional technical assistance. Although little seems certain in New Orleans at the moment, those neighborhoods that exercise leadership in organizing and planning are most likely to overcome the enormous obstacles that continue to face this troubled city.

	Joseph Kearney Program Manager Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development 243 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 9000 Chicago, IL 60604 Phone: 312.362.5731 http://www.depaul.edu/~chaddick jkearne2@depaul.edu