We all watched Hurricane Katrina devastate New Orleans in August 2005. The storm killed 1245 people and caused $108 billion in damage. 20,229 housing units were destroyed in St. Bernard Parish when the navigation channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet breached the levee in fifty different places flooding 80% of New Orleans and lingering for weeks. Homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, described the aftermath as “the worst catastrophe in American history.”
What most of us did not note, however, was that an entire culture was displaced when 81% of St. Bernard parish became homeless refugees. Most of the displaced families had lived in St. Bernard public housing for generations, dating back to Reconstruction. Corrupt authorities in New Orleans and incompetent Federal authorities delayed responding to the greatest domestic refugee crisis since the Civil War. And, as is so often the case, the news cycle rolled on and the American public lost track of an entire sub-culture that was left to fend for themselves with few reasonable options.
RESURRECTION
In 2006, The Bayou District Foundation was formed by dedicated social workers and community organizers to break the cycle of poverty in the former St. Bernard public housing community. This public/private partnership has spent the last ten years working tirelessly to resurrect a neighborhood, a people, a generation, an entire culture. Nearly $400 million of public and private investment in comprehensive, holistic, neighborhood redevelopment initiatives is now anchored by the recently opened 685 mixed-income household residential community spanning 13 city blocks called Columbia Parc. Fellow Americans neglected and oppressed since the Civil War have been noticed, respected, and assisted in bringing their community back to life.
SALVATION
The Bayou District Foundation partnered with federal agencies to establish the nationally recognized Educare early childhood learning center, a new KIPP K-8 public charter school, a community garden and recreation field, an affordable single family home purchase program, new retail stores, and the St. Thomas Community Health Center, all present within the Columbia Parc neighborhood footprint.
“It’s the dawn of a new day,” says J.T. Hannan, the director of public and governmental affairs for The Bayou District Foundation. In addition to the housing units and neighborhood services, the foundation matched $15 million of public money with $9 million of private contributions to establish a 1,300-acre city park located in the heart of New Orleans. Bayou Oaks, a new municipal golf course designed by Rees Jones, is the crown jewel of this public/private project. The golf course is being compared to preeminent public courses like Bethpage Black on Long Island and Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California. The hope is that the course will revive tourism, an essential industry in New Orleans.
REDEMPTION
First, we watched horrified as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, then we looked away as dedicated social workers and community organizers went to work to resurrect a forgotten people. Thanks to these tireless social workers, New Orleans, a great American city, has been saved from the trash heap of history. They tell me there is much more to do, and they will not rest until the city is finally safe in the hands of its residents.
