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PND: Are people who had been
displaced by the flooding coming back
to the city? And has that made things
more difficult in terms of the recovery?
AR: Well, we wish more of the folks
who left would come back. I think a
lot of people who left probably enrolled
their kids in other school systems
and might be waiting for them
to finish middle school or high school
before they think about coming back.
Others visit their old neighborhoods
and aren’t convinced there is enough
of a critical mass of neighbors to
warrant coming back. And, of course,
some people will never come back.
That’s just the way it is.
At the same time, we’ve had an influx
of people, many of them younger,
from outside the region. There are
so many opportunities here for young
people to find meaningful, satisfying
work that they simply wouldn’t be
able to find in other cities.
PND: How are residents of the city
and region feeling about the recovery
effort? Are people optimistic? Tired?
Do they feel abandoned or forgotten?
AR: There’s an abiding anger over the
city, state, and federal responses, but
the folks I work with in the nonprofit
sector, in business, and in government
are very upbeat and hopeful. The
region has come a long way these past
four years. Long-time New Orleanians
love their city deeply and their love has
sustained the region for many generations.
Newcomers like myself share
their passion and want to contribute
to the region’s recovery. We’ve been
warmly welcomed.
There’s an organization called
504ward dedicated to helping younger
newcomers establish themselves in
the city. “Five-oh-four” by the way, is the
area code for the City of New Orleans.
The organization was founded by one of
our local heroes, Leslie Jacobs, who also
played a key role in saving and reforming
the Orleans Parish schools in the aftermath
of the storms.
PND: What have been the chief obstacles
to a speedier recovery — in
New Orleans and region-wide?
AR: Our region was poor before the
storms. The city suffered from socalled
white flight in the ’70s and
’80s, and the region as a whole, being
largely rural, suffered from years of
public underinvestment. The failure
of the levees during Katrina put 80
percent of the city under water and
devastated tens
of thousands
of homes and
other structures.
We lost
2,000 souls
to the storm.
You don’t snap
back from that in just a few years.
We have no lack of volunteers willing
to come from across the country to
help us rebuild. We’re deeply grateful
for their generosity. I don’t want to
sound crass, but what we need most
is money. Our nonprofit leaders are the
smartest and most committed you’ll
find anywhere. After the failure of the
levees, they didn’t wait for government
— local, state, or federal — to save
them and their neighborhoods. They
took action. But they can’t survive on
air. They need resources to invest in
their programs and in themselves.
Our local philanthropic institutions are
stretched to the limits. We support
many functions that are properly the
domain of government. Our public
institutions also need support as
much as they need to be challenged to
speed our recovery.
PND: Based on stories you’ve heard
since you’ve been at GNOF, which
organizations and agencies were
especially effective in responding to the
disaster and its aftermath? Which ones
could have performed better? And which
ones are still delivering the goods?
AR: Stories of heroism abound.
In the aftermath of Katrina, many
neighborhood associations sprung up
whose acts of courage and generosity
are legend. I think of organizations
like the Broadmoor Improvement
Association and the Lower 9th Ward
Neighborhood Empowerment Network
Association Mary Queen of Viet Nam,
and many others. They’re still doing
our region a world of good. There were
...On a scale of one to 10,
I’d say we’re at about a six...
many individual heroes and heroines
acting without the support of private
or public institutions as well.
Don’t get me started on FEMA or
the Army Corps of Engineers.
PND: Has the Obama administration
been responsive to the plight of New
Orleans and the Gulf Coast?
AR: We’ve had quite a few visits from
members of the administration, and
what we’ve seen during those visits
is not only incredible sensitivity to
the plight of the region, but also a
very deep background in the kind
of work the civil sector does. That’s
been refreshing. At the same time,
one of the traps we have to be careful
of not falling into is expecting that
it’s up to the Obama administration,
it’s up to a black president, to care
for black people. It’s not. It’s the
responsibility of every president and
every legislator at every level.
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