NeighborWorks® Organizations Band Together to Serve Katrina Evacuees

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For Immediate Release
Date: September 22, 2005
Contact: Phillip Raskin, 202-220-2360

NeighborWorks® Organizations Band Together to Serve Katrina Evacuees
Community Development Organizations Across the Country Provide
Emergency Relief and Longer-Term Housing Units to Evacuees

September 22, 2005—NeighborWorks community development organizations across the country, which have long worked in the low-income communities most devastated by Hurricane Katrina, quickly mobilized the resources needed to provide shelter and other vital services to evacuees. These organizations, all part of the Congressionally-supported NeighborWorks network, have so far offered more nearly 400 houses and apartments to evacuees, along with other services such as job placement assistance.

uprooted tree fallen on house
NeighborWorks America and the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta created an emergency loan fund designed to provide interim personal loans to help Gulf region residents homes that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina such as this one in Covington, Louisiana.

Lauren Anderson, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, accepts a key to a new temporary mobile office unit from NeighborWorks America Southern District Director Don Phoenix.

To support this effort, NeighborWorks America, a Congressionally-funded organization, contributed $800,000 in emergency grant assistance to nine community-based organizations in the NeighborWorks network that are either located in the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina or are serving large numbers of evacuees. NeighborWorks America is also providing other types of support to network organizations affected by the hurricane, including temporary mobile offices for Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans and Voice of Calvary Ministries of Jackson, Mississippi.

“NeighborWorks organizations have decades of experience revitalizing low-income communities by mobilizing public and private resources at the neighborhood level,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “With this experience, NeighborWorks organizations are uniquely positioned to deliver both short-term emergency relief and long-term assistance in the rebuilding effort. We know from experience that communities cannot be rebuilt overnight, and we are committed to this effort for the long haul.”

Loans to Repair Damaged Homes
NeighborWorks America and the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, a community development financing institution in Jackson, Mississippi, are partnering to create an emergency loan fund designed to provide interim personal loans to homeowners whose homes have been damaged or disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. The loans will be up to $3,000 and will assist homeowners in commencing cleanup and repairs while they await settlements from government agencies and insurance companies.

Community development organizations are already working to ensure that low-income families have a voice in how their communities are rebuilt. For example, a grant to Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith, a coalition of 81 organizations that serves areas hosting large numbers of evacuees, helped hire a community organizer to engage low-income families in rebuilding efforts. (Interfaith is affiliated with NeighborWorks America through the Success Measures Project, which provides nonprofits with tools to measure their community impact.) Interfaith began meeting immediately after hurricane with groups of evacuees in staying in shelters or attending religious services. Now Interfaith is working in partnership with other regional and local organizations to establish communities of evacuees so they can represent their own interests in the cleanup, rebuilding and resettlement of areas hit by Katrina.

Organizations are using the NeighborWorks America grant funds to make a positive difference in the lives of evacuees. Voice of Calvary Ministries of Jackson, Mississippi, will provide housing for approximately 50 evacuees who need a place to stay for 3-6 months by utilizing its study center building, which usually houses volunteer groups. The organization is also working with the Red Cross to provide health care to evacuees. With the help of volunteers, other houses in the community are being quickly renovated so they can be used by evacuee families.

In Houston, the Tejano Center for Community Concerns (TCCC) is working with several hundred Latino and other minority evacuees who face cultural, linguistic and residency issues in obtaining emergency housing assistance. TCCC is facilitating access to temporary and permanent housing facilities and providing all necessary and essential services that will enable evacuees seeking to re-settle in the Houston area. In addition, TCCC started a charter school for children displaced by Katrina.

Network organizations plan to send their project managers, housing counselors, and construction specialists to the Gulf region to provide technical support when the rebuilding begins.

NeighborWorks America, in addition to providing grant funds, is helping network organizations in need of volunteers connect with volunteers offered by other network organizations. NeighborWorks America assigned a staff member full-time to coordinate the organization’s relief efforts and to work with corporate and nonprofit partners on partnerships to marshal more resources for organizations serving evacuees.

Note: Members of the NeighborWorks Network, please log in to http://member.nw.org to post information on your specific needs and hurricane relief activities.