Community-Wealth City: New Orleans, Louisiana

Five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans, more than halving the city's population from 455,000 right before the storm to about 210,000 residents right after, the Big Easy is making a comeback. According to the most recent data from the U.S. census, in July 2009, New Orleans' population has recovered to slightly more than 350,000. Demographically, according to the 2008 American Community Survey, the population is 61 percent African American, 30 percent white, 6 percent Latino, and 3 percent Asian.

Out of this natural disaster, the residents of New Orleans have rallied and responded to the crisis, not only seeking to rebuild their city but also addressing structurally historical, social and racial disparities and inequalities. Community wealth building initiatives are playing an important role in this process.

In March 2010, former Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor of New Orleans, winning with two thirds of the vote.  As Lieutenant Governor, Landrieu founded Louisiana's Office of Social Entrepreneurship, dedicated to helping replace services and organizations lost from the 2005 hurricanes with socially responsible enterprises. Additionally, the office sought to help existing nonprofits transition to a more sustainable business model, generating their own revenue streams to support their missions. Five days after he was elected mayor, Landrieu launched Transition New Orleans, creating 17 task forces and seeking public input from hundreds of experts and community leaders on how to best move forward with the revitalization of New Orleans.

Other changes have had an impact on the future direction of the city as well. In 2008, city residents voted to adopt a new master plan - an initiative that stresses quality of life, affordable housing, human services, historic preservation, a more transparent and organized community input process.  In 2009, the City Council approved funds for a quasi-public New Orleans Economic Development Corporation to help implement this plan.  This year, efforts are underway to develop a New Orleans community land trust to act as a steward of commercial property in "Main Street" (small business) corridor neighborhoods.

New Orleans has long suffered from blighted or dilapidated properties, a problem considerably worsened after the storms. However, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center - a nonprofit that gathers, analyzes and disseminates data - the amount of blighted residential properties is decreasing rapidly. In 2008, there were more than 65,000 such properties; by March 2010, there were only slightly more than 50,000 - a 23 percent drop in just two years. Clearly, there is still work to be done, but the progress is significant - a substantial amount of it achieved by community-wealth building organizations.

An overview of community wealth building efforts follows:

Anchor Institutions

Bayou District Foundation
www.bayoudistrictfoundation.org
Formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to restore the areas in and around New Orleans City Park, the Bayou District Foundation started large, breaking ground on one of the largest urban renewal projects currently underway in the nation. Started in 2008, Phase I of this project included 465 mixed-income housing units, constructed on the site of the former St. Bernard Public Housing Development. Phase II has also already started, introducing commercial assets that have not been rebuilt since the storm, such as a grocery store, a small pharmacy, and a laundry.  Finally, Phase III will include nearly 900 more units of mixed-income housing.

Greater New Orleans Foundation
www.gnof.org
The Greater New Orleans Foundation started in 1983 with just $4 million in assets. Now with more $170 million in assets, the Foundation, to date, has invested more than $100 million into the community. Since Hurricane Katrina, the Foundation has dedicated $25 million towards addressing the shortage of affordable housing and is acting to help establish the New Orleans Community Land Trust Initiative to promote permanently affordable housing.

Providence Community Housing
www.providencecommunityhousing.org
Established by representatives from local faith-based organizations after Hurricane Katrina, Providence Community Housing is the product of these joint resources, providing affordable, mixed-income housing and support services for the local community.  Providence Community Housing's five year goal is to bring home 20,000 victims of Katrina by re-establishing 1,500 affordable apartments for seniors, repairing and rebuilding 1,200 homes for low-income individuals, and developing 500 units of supportive housing for special needs populations, 2,600 mixed-income apartments, and 1,200 affordable homes.

Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
www.louisianahelp.org
Founded just six days after Hurricane Katrina came ashore, the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF) insists on an equitable and inclusive approach that improves the quality of life in historically disenfranchised communities - either by racial discrimination or economic hardship.  Focusing its resources on long-term improvement instead of temporary fixes, to date, the LDRF has granted more than $29 million to 144 organizations, including aiding small businesses and placing more than 2500 families back into homes.

Community Development Corporations

Faubourg St. Roch Project
www.strochproject.org
The Faubourg St. Roch Project is revitalizing the St. Roch neighborhood in New Orleans, incorporating community participation, new building, restoration, and sustainable technology.  Working through partnerships with other non-profit groups, the Project has defined a nine-block segment of St. Roch Ave., which includes 139 house lots, nine commercial lots, a two-square block neighborhood park, and important community sites, such as the St. Roch Cemetery and Our Lady Star of the Sea Church. On the Neutral Ground of St. Roch Ave (the area that splits the road down the middle) the Project plans to construct an Artwalk.

Mary Queen of Vietnam CDC
www.mqvncdc.org
Assisting Vietnamese-Americans in New Orleans East rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, the Mary Queen of Vietnam (MQVN) CDC has developed a trailer site that provided 199 trailer homes to hundreds of returnees, secured $12.5 million in State Tax Credits to develop 84-units of affordable senior housing, and mobilized over 500 community members to participate in the Unified New Orleans Planning process. Some of the CDC's other major accomplishments include having been approved to open a Charter school, organizing 500 Vietnamese American residents to help shut down a local land fill, providing social services to more than 1,200 community members, and securing $2 million in capital to help local, small businesses.

New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative
www.nondc.org
Focused on revitalizing the Central City neighborhood, the New Orleans Neighborhood Collaborative helps build assets for low-income families through providing affordable housing in the community.  NONDC partnered with the National Vacant Properties Campaign and worked with the city to improve the efficiency of the process for returning blighted properties to use.  To date, it has been a partner in restoring at least 25 vacant and decaying properties (seven of which it directly developed). NONDC is also currently working in collaboration with several non-profit developers in central City to restore 53 additional properties (14 of which NONDC will develop directly).

Ponchatrain Park Community Development Corporation (PRCDC)
www.pontchartrainpark.org
The Ponchatrain Park CDC's mission is to restore and maintain the Ponchatrain Park Community - the first subdivision built in New Orleans during the time of segregation specifically for the expanding middle class African American community.  PRCDC accomplishes this through the purchase of all vacant properties in the Road Home program and by ensuring that the Joseph Bartholomew Golf Course - a fixture of the community - remains municipally owned. Additionally, PRCDC has coordinated with the city, state, and federal government to create a scale redevelopment, building geo-thermal, solar homes, and establishing an endowment to finance an assisted living program for Seniors and education fund for the community's youth.

Preservation Resource Center (PRC) of New Orleans
www.prcno.org
Founded in 1974, the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans strives to preserve and restore the city's historic neighborhoods. One of PRC's projects, started in 1998, - Rebuilding Together New Orleans (RTNO) - has changed dramatically since Katrina, becoming the largest home rehabilitation non-profit organization in the city. Targeting specifically low-income families, the goal is to help bring them back to the city.  Another project, Preserving Green, will revitalize a historic house in the Holy Cross district (a lower income neighborhood part of the Lower 9th Ward) into a LEED certified-platinum community center for the area.   This project expands upon the PRC's commitment to the Holy Cross neighborhood, where they have invested more than $2 million into renovating properties since the storm.

Project Home Again
www.projecthomeagain.net
Created by The Leonard and Louise Riggio Foundation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Project Home Again (PHA) is a non-profit, constructing high-quality, energy-efficient homes for low and moderate-income, New Orleans homeowners.  PHA has developed a program by which families who cannot rebuild may exchange their old damaged house for a new PHA home.  To date, PHA has completed more than 40 homes in the Gentilly neighborhood.

Community Development Financial Institutions

ASI Federal Credit Union
www.asifcu.org
Chartered in 1961, ASI Federal Credit Union serves more than 74,000 working class members - 60 percent of which live below the poverty line - in New Orleans and surrounding areas of the city.  In 2006, ASI was awarded a $100,000 grant by the National Credit Union Foundation to establish an Individual Development Account (IDA) program that provides down payment assistance targeted to low-income families in an area damaged by Hurricane Katrina. ASI's non-profit community development arm, A Shared Initiative, Inc., founded in 2005, has been given, to date, 10 blighted and flooded properties by the city to redevelop in the St. Claude community. The group plans to sells the discounted homes to low-income homebuyers, who can receive an affordable mortgage through low interest loans and join the credit union's IDA program.

Gulf Coast Housing Partnership
www.gchp.net
Found in 2006 through seed capital from the Housing Partnership Network and Enterprise Community Partners to rebuild those communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Gulf Cost Housing Partnership focuses on providing affordable housing in the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.  Among the projects financed through GCHP are over 500 units of affordable housing in New Orleans and the historic renovation and expansion of Café Reconile, which will enable the social enterprise to double its workforce training enrollment and incorporate a family learning center, small business accelerator program, banquet hall, catering kitchen, and expanded restaurant.

Cooperatives

New Orleans Food Co-op
www.nolafoodcoop.org
Opening its first cooperative store in early 2011, the New Orleans Food Co-op currently operates a Buying Club (store functions without a physical location) and a Sunday Grocery. To date, with more than 500 members and hopes of at least a1000 members by store opening, the Food Co-op's mission is to provide access to healthy food at a fair price, promote local and regional food production, keep capital and jobs in the community and function as a center of community activity.  A market study estimates gross revenue of $1.85 million for the first year of operations with up to $4.4 million by the fourth year of operations.

Tipitina's Music Office Co-op
www.tipitinasfoundation.org
Part of the Tipitina Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting Louisiana and New Orlean's music community, Tiptina's Music Office Co-op provides fully-equipped work space for musicians and other digital media professionals, who otherwise would not be able to afford it, and has grown from an initial 60 members in 2003 to more than 1,000 today.  For just $10 a month (or a $100 a year), membership benefits also include on-site technical support, volunteer production assistance, access to their network of music business professionals, and a library of specialized information resources. Based on a 2006 survey of members, the estimated economic impact of the co-op is $1.24 million and return on investment for this project was greater than 10:1.

Cross Sectoral

Hollygrove Market & Farm
www.hollygrovemarket.com
Started in 2008, Hollygrove Market & Farm is a non-profit urban agriculture-training farm and produce market located in the heart of New Orleans.  Currently, Hollygrove runs the city's only Community Support Agriculture (CSA) program, coordinating and providing a stable market for more than 50 local - rural and urban - farms.  As of 2009, Hollygrove had redeveloped an acre of blighted property into community garden plots, composted several thousands pounds of unmarketable material, given more than $5,000 in edible donations, and purchased more than $168,000 in local produce.

Lower 9th Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA)
www.9thwardnena.org
Lower 9th Ward NENA works to redevelop the Lower 9th Ward through projects and programs in affordable housing, economic development, and community education. To date, NENA has delivered more than 500 housing consultations and 500 budget and financial planning sessions to residents and is working to create and capitalize a Loan Fund to provide forgivable and low-interest loans to homeowners who require gap financing in order to rebuild.  Also, NENA is exploring the founding of the Lower 9th Ward Community Land Trust to help provide permanent, affordable housing in the community.

Green Collar Jobs

Latino Farmers Cooperative of Louisiana
www.latinofarmerscoop.org
The Latino Farmers Cooperative of Louisiana is a non-profit network of farmers, gardeners, and consumers working to increase healthy food access, decrease urban blight, and address the socioeconomic issues of the Latino community in New Orleans through the development of urban farms. The Co-op runs a Farm Incubator Project, which helps start micro sustainable urban farms by providing participants in the program with a plot of land in their community garden and access to produce from farming partners in the greater New Orleans area. Currently, more than 15 Latino farmers participate in this program.

Life is Art Foundation
www.kkprojects.org
Located in six previously abandoned structures in the St. Roch neighborhood, Life is Art Foundation provides art exhibitions by local and international artists for the local community.  Integrated into the art spaces, in the structures' abandoned rooms and yards, is a self-sustaining urban farm that provides an additional medium for art and helps create jobs for local youth.  Three days a week, neighborhood children harvest organic produce and deliver them to many of the city's best restaurants, keeping all earnings and dividing profit according to participation.

Program Related Investment (PRI)

Capital Access Project
www.capitalaccessproject.org
With a $100,000 PRI from the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Capital Access Project (CAP) will be able to fund its new Access Bonding Program, which will increase the surety bonding capacity of small, disadvantaged, minority and women-owned construction.  Founded in 2001, CAP supports the creation of viable small, disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned firms in New Orleans through a variety of business development assistance programs.

Good Work Network
www.goodworknetwork.org
Aided by a $300,000 PRI from the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Good Work Network (GWN) will rehabilitate and relocate to a new headquarters along the Oretha Castle Haley Blvd corridor in New Orleans, expanding its capacity and providing stabilization to an area that has been declining. Since its founding in 2001, GWN has provided support to more than 1900 individuals, helping start 300 minority or women owned businesses and assisting clients acquire more than $2 million in business capital.

Social Enterprise

Build Now
www.buildnownola.com
Founded in 2008, Build Now is a non-profit that helps families overcome the obstacles preventing them from rebuilding their homes in New Orleans.  Taking care of all the steps in the rebuilding process, Build Now constructs houses in one of fourteen traditional New Orleans architectural-styled, includes sidewalk, driveway, and landscaping free of charge, and guarantees that they will never charge above the contracted price. They also regularly partner with neighborhood associations, local universities, and other non-profits to host educational forums and seminars focused on rebuilding. Opening their first model home in May 2008, to date, Build Now has completed or underway more than 30 houses.

Reconcile New Orleans
www.reconcileneworleans.org
Focused on addressing the system of generational poverty, violence and neglect in the New Orleans area, Reconcile New Orleans assists youth, ages 16-22, through its jobs training program in its nonprofit restaurant, Café Reconcile.  Located in the Central City neighborhood, Café Reconcile admits 75 students (150 starting Fall 2010) annually and has graduated from its program and placed in jobs more than 500 young people since it began in 1996.  Reconcile New Orleans is currently expanding to include family learning services, a banquet hall and expanded catering service, a business accelerator center, an institute for social innovation and a construction job-training program.

YA/YA (Young Aspirations Young Artists)
www.yayainc.com
Providing education experiences and apprenticeships in the arts to low-income, young people (as early as age 13), YA/YA hopes to encourage entrepreneurship and provide long-term stability and self-sufficiency.  Sales of artwork, during YA/YA's annual fundraiser, created by those in the program, help contribute to the non-profit's operating budget. Since its founding in 1988, 98 percent of students who join YA/YA have graduated from high school, 40 percent have continued their artistic development beyond high school, and most took their first trip outside of Louisiana through YA/YA.  Additionally, most YA/YA artists sell their first piece of artwork within their first year of joining, three of five full-time staff members are YA/YA alumni, and YA/YA has inspired the creation of 20 similar organizations around the country.

State and Local Innovations

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center
www.gnocdc.org 
Formed in 1997 by Nonprofit Knowledge Works, the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC) is a nonprofit that gathers, analyzes and disseminates data to help nonprofit and civic leaders work more effectively. Publishing the Housing in New Orleans Metro report, in partnership with the Urban Institute, which quantifies housing availability and adequacy, and the New Orleans Index, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, which reports on key factors in post-Katrina recovery, GNOCDC is one of only two-dozen organizations nationwide to be chosen as a National Neighborhood Indicators Partner - a local data expert dedicated to community change. GNOCDC receives more than 500 print media mentions and 100,000 website visitors each year.

Sweet Home New Orleans
www.sweethomeneworleans.org
Founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO) provides services and economic development programs to individuals and organizations that contribute to New Orleans' musical and cultural traditions, including local musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members.  To date, SHNO has provided over $2.5 million to more than 2,400 of the city's music community, through job creation, job training and other programs.  In August 2008, SHNO published its first State of the New Orleans Music Community Report, providing a comprehensive look at demographic and economic data of this important local community.

Transit-Oriented Development

Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation (RNDC)
www.rndcnola.org
Locally managed and governed by Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans, a subsidiary of Volunteers of America National Service, Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation is developing 1,000 units of transit-oriented workforce housing, serving working households in key service sectors, in Post-Katrina New Orleans.  This housing will be proximate to jobs and employment opportunities, have good access to basic commercial services, and be well-served by public transportation.  To date, RNDC has constructed 200 units of senior housing, 150 apartments, and 18 single-family homes.