New Orleans Neighborhoods Partnership Network

August 11th 2008

Panelists Plug the Civic Engagement

http://blog.nola.com/tpmoney/2008/07/panelists_plug_the_civic_engag.html

Panelists plug the civic engagement that emerged after Katrina
Posted by Molly Reid, The Times-Picayune July 25, 2008 5:57PM

In the ongoing struggle to fix the social, economic and political ills that plagued New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, the city is a more accepting and cooperative place than ever before, a panel of business and community leaders said Friday to an audience of young professionals from around the country.

In the final panel discussion of the Urban Next Summit, a two-day conference for young professionals hosted by CEOs for Cities and the local nonprofit NOLA YURP Initiative, panelists offered the audience members lessons learned during the unprecendented wave of civic engagement and cooperation post-Katrina.

Participants tried to evoke the sense of excitement and possibility that emerged after the hurricane, when New Orleanians attended weekend after weekend of planning sessions to determine how their neighborhoods should evolve as they were rebuilt. Panelists said that sense of engagement can be transplanted to other cities.

“One of the obligations for us in New Orleans is to get the word out that this is not a New Orleans problem,” said panelist Robbie Vitrano, president of Trumpet Advertising. “These are issues that every city is facing. It would be valuable if people looked at and came and interacted here. In that way, another community becomes a catalyst for thinking differently in your own community.”

Nolan Marshall III, associate director of the nonprofit Common Good and president-elect of the Young Leadership Council, said many residents have reached the point where civic participation no longer dominates their social lives, as it did after the storm. After attending so many planning meetings, he said, people are “planned out.”

However, that meeting mania gave citizens a solid understanding of the city’s bureaucracy, helping to make the job of community organizing more streamlined and focused, said Mai Dang, a community organizer for the Mary Queen of Viet Nam Community Development Corporation.

The city-wide participation in planning and rebuilding also helped neighborhoods connect and find commonality across racial, religious and socio-economic lines, Marshall said.

“The conversations about how to rebuild are going on in all these communities, the organizing is going on in all these communities … but the steps they’re taking are all the same, which really surprised me,” he said, referring to New Orleans’ storied provincialism.

“New Orleans is a city that is beginning to realize that we are a lot more alike than we are different,” said Vera Triplett, director of the University of New Orleans-Capital One charter schools. The city has also become more accepting to newcomers, a development that could better attract new residents and businesses, he said.

“I hear people saying to someone who’s lived one, two years, ‘Oh, you’re a New Orleanian.’ Before the storm, you could live here 10, 20 years, if you weren’t born here and raised here, you were not a New Orleanian,” Marshall said.

Molly Reid can be reached at or 504.826.3448.

August 11th 2008

New Orleans 100

http://www.alldaybuffet.org/2008/08/11/new-orleans-100/

A Look at The Good That’s Happened Since Katrina.

Millions of voices will unite to speak out about positive change in New Orleans during the week of August 25th – the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The “New Orleans 100” initiative will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

“After hearing so many of the positive changes and innovative projects post-Katrina, we’ve decided enough is enough,” said Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Co-Founder of alldaybuffet. “It’s time to put an end to the negative press in mainstream media. We know that the levees broke. We know that our city is dysfunctional. We know that. But do you know about Prospect.1? Or about the influx of young professionals into New Orleans? The world needs to know about the NEW New Orleans.”

To combat top down media, the project will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.), which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.

“The New Orleans 100″ features projects like Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States, and NOLA YURP, an organization that offers a support and resource network to connect, retain, and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans. The list will highlight 100 of the most inspiring people, organizations, and projects that define the rebirth of New Orleans.

We’ll release the list on Monday, August 25th and call on everyone on the social web to participate. Our goal is to reach 1,000,000 views by 8.28.08. Everyone can make a difference. All it takes is a click!

To view the list and find out more information, please visit http://www.alldaybuffet.org/neworleans100