2007 PNOLA Program

February Newsletter Now Available!

We are excited to begin the new year with an expanded cast of neighbors, staff, volunteers, supporters, partners and advisors. PNOLA was founded on Nov. 28th, 2005 shortly after Hurricane Katrina. As a neighborhood recovery association we were founded as both a relief organization that would provide direct gutting and housing recovery services AND a community organization that would serve as the portal for neighbors to become active in long-term socioeconomic and quality of life issues that neighborhood associations typically offer. Tulane/Gravier is our home and focus recovery area. This is a neighborhood worthy of support from donors, volunteers and supporting organization while we build the foundation and programs for self-reliant recovery. Tulane/Gravier is a neighborhood hurt by years of socioeconomic divide, blight and now immense damage from 5 feet of flood water caused by Hurricane Katrina. If you recently saw a Dr. Phil or DIY to the Rescue show on Hurricane Katrina, one of our neighbors received a well-deserved home rebuild and our neighborhood was featured as a prime example of the long-term struggle we face in New Orleans (for more info: click here)

We held our first community organization meeting on Feb. 11th, 2006 after basic recruitment of those neighbors who were trying to return and rebuild there homes. We formed a small 3 person board of recovering residents and had 2 volunteers who would spend their weekends helping staff our community tents in the middle of our neighborhood as we tried to rally more neighbors to come together. In March, we partnered with Americorps, a federal organization of volunteers that is run by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Throughout the country, people from all different walks of life decide to dedicate a year or more to Americorps and sacrifice a normal salary and a normal life to help organizations like PNOLA. In New Orleans, a faith-based community group called Trinity Christian Communities, lead by the respected Kevin Brown, has taken the role of main administrator and program operator of a special Americorps Hurricane Katrina Recovery program that allows organizations like PNOLA to share the grant and recruit Americorps volunteers without any direct payroll burden on our new and fragile PNOLA system.

Since April 1st, 2006, our annual community service day, we have gutted and cleaned mold from 50 homes and have been a major component of the long-term planning for Tulane/Gravier. We've had roughly 400 volunteers work through PNOLA and at some points has 15 Americorps staff working full-time on gutting, planning, advocacy and community organizing. Since June, we have hosted weekly volunteers who come from all across the nation to spend a week or more helping gut homes or interact with community events. This experience has been a great thing for the community and the volunteers who help.

Now, as 2007 gets underway, PNOLA has a strong 7 person board of residents and 25 staff members composed of Americorps members, interns and long-term volunteers. We are also expecting between 10-20 weekly volunteers throughout the winter who will add great force to our projects. We have one main office and a program office as well as an operations warehouse and 4 housing units available for our staff and weekly volunteers. We operate on a $5000 monthly overhead budget and still depend on donations month-to-month. We are seeking major long-term funding but are continueing to push the envelope, providing more and robust services, even as we struggle to sustain ourselves for the future. I am confident that our work will bring the necessary support to this community. Over the next 5 years, we hope to transform this area into a beacon of sustainable, affordable self-reliance in the face of major disaster and difficult urban blight.