Reclaiming the U.S. Gulf Coast

New Orleanians and hurricane survivors Galetha and Bienville Ancar, beneficiaries of Mercy Corps' ReClaim project, stand in front of their house as it undergoes deconstruction. Photo: The Green Project

Five months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the United States Gulf Coast, a dedicated, experienced Mercy Corps team remains in the region, committed to helping survivors build back their homes and lives. Our programs, strengthened by the resolve of hurricane survivors and ingenuity of local partners, are forging innovative, comprehensive solutions that are making a difference for children and families.

Delivering immediate relief
Mercy Corps responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita because it was clear that survivors would have enormous needs that existing authorities could not meet. Our 25 years of experience responding to complex emergencies overseas makes a valuable addition to existing relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts. In this unfortunate domestic disaster, Mercy Corps saw a clear opportunity to help be a catalyst for positive change as the Gulf Coast rebuilds.

Immediately following the disaster, Mercy Corps provided food, water and emergency items for people throughout the region, directly and through partners on the ground. To date, Mercy Corps has served over 100,000 people throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Ensuring targeted support to evacuees
Mercy Corps is partnering with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) to provide much-needed cash grants to local social service agencies like the Capital Area Human Services District, Family Road and others. Mercy Corps is funding the temporary expansion of these local organizations’ capacities to provide emergency assistance and treat the deeply traumatized evacuee population. We have given $352,000 in grants to Baton Rouge service providers through BRAF and will continue to monitor the needs of the local organizations serving Katrina and Rita evacuees.

Comfort for Kids

• Mercy Corps leveraged generous private funding and its track record of youth psycho-social programming to adapt its Comfort for Kids program, first implemented in New York City after the 9/11 tragedy. We have provided materials, including guided work books, and training to caretakers in support of the psychosocial needs of tens of thousands of children affected by the hurricanes and the resulting displacement.
• Mercy Corps has provided close to 70,000 Comfort Kits to hurricane-displaced children of all ages, providing them with backpacks or duffel bags filled with school supplies, books and age-appropriate toys.
• Mercy Corps has also built a team of local mental health and education professionals to train front-line caregivers how to help children deal with the trauma they are experiencing. We are also partnering with YWCAs in Louisiana and Texas to train caregivers who deal with the substantial displaced population in places like Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. The program aims to serve hundreds of thousands of children in the region.

Revitalizing Social Services in New Orleans
In February, Mercy Corps will launch a $400,000 grant initiative in New Orleans that will help get effective, proven social service groups back on their feet and back to business helping their neighbors. In addition, Mercy Corps and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF have partnered with the Tulane University School of Social Work to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the damage to the child and youth service infrastructure of New Orleans. The study has guided the development of a U.S. Fund for UNICEF-Mercy Corps jointly funded grants mechanism to support the revitalization of youth music, arts and sports programs at daycares, schools and after-school programs in New Orleans and other hurricane-affected areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. The grant mechanism is anticipated have over $600,000 to start, and could reach as many as 100 recipient organizations.

Preserving cultural heritage through youth programming
Many of the youth returning to New Orleans have lost access to arts, music, sports and other activities central to their culture, identity and well-being. Mercy Corps and its local partners are developing a youth-focused cultural heritage program in New Orleans and other areas that will engage adolescents in activities such as drumming circles and sporting events while supporting their leadership and life skills development.

ReClaiming New Orleans through deconstruction
Thousands of homes have been condemned because of hurricane and flood damage. Homeowners, for the most part, are waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or local municipal authorities to demolish their homes and remove the debris. Mercy Corps is giving people another option. Through a partnership with local organizations like the Green Project, our ReClaim project will help preserve the historical building materials that make New Orleans’ architecture so distinctive. As homes are deconstructed, salvageable building materials are either given to the homeowner for the reconstruction process, or donated to the Green Project to re-sell in New Orleans. Revenue from those sales will sustain the project, and the entire process creates new jobs in heavily damaged areas.

In key areas such as New Orleans, Mercy Corps is advancing an integrated, holistic neighborhood revitalization strategy that brings deconstruction together with other aspects of its program, including youth projects, loans to small businesses and non-profit grants.

Providing hope through economic opportunity
Mercy Corps is committed to bolstering the economies of low-income, hurricane-affected neighborhoods in New Orleans. To achieve economic rebirth these neighborhoods need, we've teamed up with a local credit union, HOPE, which is sponsored by the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, to provide low-interest loans to small business owners whose businesses and livelihoods have been destroyed by the storm.

Mercy Corps is investing in high-return areas that need capital to rebuild the retail services needed to sustain the returning population. An initial allotment of $350,000 will provide $10,000 to $20,000 chunks of capital to get established but damaged businesses back to work.