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Survey

Small Entrepreneur Developer Program:

Providing Individuals Access to NORA Properties

Please Complete by April 7, 2008

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) is creating a new Small Entrepreneur Developer program to assist small developers – both for-profit and nonprofit - in applying for and acquiring NORA-held properties that can be developed into housing. It is not aimed at the large professional developers, but those individuals and small organizations that are interested in developing 1-5 properties as a means to participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans and to tap into the economic potential of rehabilitating dilapidated houses or developing new homes on vacant lots.

NORA would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete this survey. By doing so, you will provide direction to NORA in the creation of a program that includes the necessary support systems to ensure its success. All responses will be confidential.

1. What is your experience in developing housing in New Orleans in the past five years:

□ Developed more than 10 houses

□ Developed 6 - 10 houses

□ Developed 1 – 5 houses

□ Never developed housing

2. What are the biggest obstacles you experience in developing housing in New Orleans?

3. In which areas would you be interested in receiving training?

□ Budget / Pro forma Development

□ Construction Management

□ Marketing

□ Housing Design / Specification Writing

□ Financial Packaging / Available Funding Sources

□ Collaborative Project Planning

□ Legal Issues

□ Other: ______________________________

4. What is your anticipated source of funding for redevelopment projects

□ Personal Funds

□ Bank Financing

□ Government Subsidy

□ Need Funding Assistance

□ Other: _______________________________

5. In what ways could NORA assist you in developing housing? What is your anticipated source of

6. Any other comments or concerns you would like to express?

7. Please indicate your name and contact information, if you would prefer to be contacted personally.

Name _____________________________

Phone Number _________________________

316 N. Capitol Ave., Suite D-2 Lansing, MI 48933 Phone 517 483 4051 Fax 517 483 7673 E-mail: lancomme@tir.com www.lansingmicrofund.org

Thank you for completing this survey. Your input is important to NORA.

Please send the information to Amy Hovey, consultant with the Genesee Institute assisting NORA, at amyhovey@protogenia.com or fax to 810.257.3090.

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Stay Local: The Craft Mafia, A Well-Organized Syndicate

by Danielle Murphy-Cannell and Dana Eness, staylocal.org

Local artists have faced many challenges after Katrina, but collective power and a technology-driven business have allowed some to reach new audiences. The New Orleans Craft Mafia (www.neworleanscraftmafia.com) is an artists’ collective fashioned after the model of Austin’s Craft Mafia, with an internet-based shop. It is one of many around the country, yet it has its own distinct legacy. The group formed in the summer of 2005, just before Hurricane Katrina, and has remained solid ever since. Membership in the NOCM currently includes seven businesses comprised of local artisans contributing nonpareil crafts with New Orleans flair.
Many of the artists knew each other pre-merge from vending at various markets around the city. Others joined after the storm. Membership is open to any professional artist in New Orleans who is willing to become an active associate of the NOCM. The current condition of New Orleans has played a large role in facilitating the collective, as now more than ever it is necessary to pool resources and aggregate business capacity with like-minded individuals. And, for the artists of NOCM, it has always been more about making art than making profit.
“There was a group-held belief that we’d all do better as a one or two person-run business if we pooled our resources together,” says Margaret Coble of art by mags!, “but a co-op of eight to ten micro-businesses doing similar but uniquely different things might have more of a chance. And so far, that theory has really worked.”
The online collective is at times the only thread to unite the group. The NOCM web shop was critical in keeping the collective together in the months after Katrina and provided an Internet retail presence for the artists to continue selling their art.
Much of the NOCM’s success can be attributed to their overt expressions of solidarity for their city and striking “do-it-yourself” designs that make local art accessible to the public. Products such as iconic water meters and crescent moon designs, houseware and accessories made from recycled materials, and vintage relics central to New Orleans culture have “struck a chord with the buying public” according to Coble.
“Shopping wasn’t exactly high on folks’ lists of things to do. Many of us, post-Katrina, came up with new designs and new products that were New Orleans-centric,” says Coble, “People were hungry for items to proclaim their pride and belief in the city and its possibility for rebuilding, revival.”
The Mafia does not operate with a storefront; however, they will have a holiday market at the Big Top Gallery at 1630 Clio Street, on Thursday, December 20th from 6-10 p.m. “Most of our members will be participating in multiple holiday markets around the city for the entire month of December,” says Coble. “Several of us will be at Festivus (www.festivusmarket.org) as well as the Recycle-for-the-Arts ‘Oddities Bazaar (December 8th) sponsored by the Green Project. Several of us will also be in many of the monthly neighborhood art markets like Bywater, Freret and Arts Council.” To get open-air market schedules for these and other markets citywide, go to http://www.staylocal.org/events/

Craft Mafia Line-up:

greenKangaroo.com: Rachelle Matherne makes handmade resin jewelry, magnets, altered clothing and more. She is the founder of the New Orleans Craft Mafia.

dismantled designs: Mallory Whitfield makes one-of-a-kind, handmade, reconstructed clothing and accessories, mostly from used or vintage clothing, fabrics, and trims. See more at: http://www.dismantleddesigns.com

Miss Malaprop: Also run by Mallory Whitfield, MissMalaprop.com is a blog whose tagline is “indie finds for your uncommon life,” which focuses on independent artists and businesses, both in New Orleans and beyond.
art by mags!: Margaret Coble makes spray-paint-stenciled art clocks out of recycled vinyl records with original designs, as well as silkscreen and stenciled t-shirts and other clothing. She also creates signs from recycled wood and other building scraps, picked up off the streets of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Unique Products: Heather MacFarlane and Mark Kirk make eclectic house wares, lighting, jewelry, t-shirts and accessories using recycled materials, including their famous fused Mardi Gras bead lights and blue tarp messenger bags.

Jeremy the Alien Designs: Jeannie Detweiler makes fine art paintings, stuffed toys, handmade faux-fur purses, funky throw pillows, and more.

Claverie Crafts: Kelly Claverie makes a wide variety of handmade crafts, from clothing to note cards to housewares and accessories and more.

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Why Coastal Louisiana is Important to the Nation

Robert Thomas, Ph.D., Interim Director of Loyola University’s School of Mass Communication

In the aftermath of Katrina, hundreds of thousands of Americans have given of themselves to help rebuild our coast.  I recently visited with a group of students from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and shared why New Orleans is important to our nation.  When finished, Conrad Smith, one of the group’s chaperones, approached me and said, “You don’t have to convince me how important New Orleans is to Nebraska.  I’m a corn farmer.  When Katrina hit, we were in the middle of our harvest.  We couldn’t send our product past New Orleans on the Mississippi, so we filled up our silos.  About the time they were full, the bottom fell out of the market and we lost our year’s income.”
There are two paths out of this quagmire of devastation.  Citizens must dig deep to pull themselves up, and that is happening.  And citizens must elect enlightened leaders who can reconnect the dots that were so horribly scattered after Katrina and Rita.
Here are a few of the major dots:

Oil and gas:  Louisiana is the energy coast, with 30 percent of all oil and gas entering the country passing through the Port of Fourchon.  The industry annually pays salaries of $2.7 billion to over 40,000 employees, half of whom are residents of other states.

Petrochemical corridor:  Louisiana’s petrochemical business is consistently number three in serving the needs of the U.S.  In 2005, the Katrina/Rita year, we shipped $50 billion in product.

Coastal fisheries:  America’s WETLAND is the nursery that provides 40 percent of the commercial fisheries in the continental U.S.  Nationally, seven of the top 10 landing ports are in Louisiana.  We are the nation’s largest producer of oysters and supply 50 percent of the shrimp.  Total annual value is $2.85 billion and fisheries provide 40,000 direct jobs.

Coastal agriculture:  Sugar alone produces $1.7 billion in economic value.  Though rice production took a beating in the storms, its most recent value was $235 million.

Port system:  Louisiana is home to the number one port complex in the nation, hosting five of the 15 largest individual ports in the nation.  A recent study showed the ports’ total annual economic impact was $30 billion, and supported more than 240 thousand jobs.

Tourism:  Before the storms, tourism produced $10 billion in revenue, and provided more than 110,000 direct jobs.  Greater New Orleans consistently ranks number two in desired destinations for Americans.

Unique culture:  One cannot put a value on the gumbo culture that we all love, and that is arguably the largest draw of tourism to coastal Louisiana.  The ambiance of coastal Louisiana is directly attributable to the people who live here, their cultures of origin, and the means by which they have adapted to living in this unique coastal wetland environment.  The place created the people, and the people’s consequent lifestyles are extraordinary.

Inherent abilities of our citizens:  Frances Smith has relocated to the metro Dallas.  She and other New Orleanians in the area are networking for the betterment of their displaced community.  Members of the group have launched several restaurants, and other members volunteer their time and effort to make them successful.  There are often lines of customers out the door – mainly because of two things we take for granted.  One is that we cook very tasty food, and the second is that we do that because there are so many culinarily gifted people living along the coast.  I’ve heard that many of our citizens who have relocated are immediately improving their work lives:  sous chefs are becoming chefs, waiters are becoming maetre d’s, and the like.  What we see as commonplace, others see as extraordinary.

Steve Cheramie, a Houma Indian from Point-aux-Chen, says that his tribe defines itself in terms of the place it lives.  He believes that if the land where he lives sinks beneath the sea, the Houma will cease to exist as a people.
I believe most citizens of south Louisiana feel the same way.  If we lose our way of life, the place we live, we will not be the same people, and America will have lost its most unusual geographic and demographic area.
When the dots are reconnected, enlightened leaders will see the outline of a key to national security and prosperity that will only work in the lock of a restored coastal Louisiana.

Dr. Robert A. Thomas is Director of Loyola’s Center for Environmental Communications; email is rathomas@loyno.edu

This Column ran in the Op/Ed section of the Times Picayune on page B-5 on 7-30-07

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Be a New Orleanian: Dirty Coast Style

Mike Dingler, New Orleans Artist

You’ve seen their shirts around town.  You know their look.  And now, you can find their store.
Dirty Coast began as a concept shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and it is one idea that has made it through the rain.  Starting small with a solid idea, Blake Haney and Patrick Brower decided that they should grow their business through good ole word of mouth.
The first concept that came out of Dirty Coast was their shirt “Metairie, it’s safe here.”  Made about seven months before the storm, the shirt reflects a time when it was still safe in Metairie.  The most recognizable designs and typically the best selling, are shirts that locals can immediately identify with, such as: “Be a New Orleanian.  Wherever you are,” “I am New Orleans,” and “Premium NoLa.”
Following the storm, which served as the catalyst for this business idea, New Orleanians sought a means of identifying themselves with their city and there has been no other t-shirt company that has aided in that than Dirty Coast.  Initially started with a web-based storefront, and aided by local stores carrying their shirts, Blake and Patrick decided to go to the person with a discriminating taste in t-shirt choices.
Though they had an ambitious ad campaign of over 250,000 stickers, Patrick feels that the designs they offer sell themselves.  “People want a way to identify themselves with our city and we do that,” he explains.
“I have to say the shirt that nails the city, in its identity and value is “New Orleans: So far behind, we’re ahead,” Blake adds.  “As the rest of the country begins to value their neighborhoods, localism, walk-ability and identity, they will realize that New Orleans has been on the right path all along.”
There have been some design issues with some of their shirts, most notably “Snitchin’ is Bitchin’” which was meant to be interpreted as promoting snitching (talking to the police about crimes), given the egregious murder rate.  On the back of the shirt, instead of the usual Dirty Coast logo, is a cell phone connoting that people should call in crimes  Due to the lack of understanding by critics, they pulled the shirt from the website, though it is still available at the store.
Recent designs for t-shirts involve the popular New Orleans personality Lil’ Doogie (“Brah, I’m Real?”) and “Iraq needs a Contra-flow.”  While they like to work from an idea out, they do very selectively accept design submissions.  An excellent design and a good concept will catch their eye and Blake says, “We like our shirts to say something or create a reaction.”  Depending on the complexity of the work, they’ll pay a design fee for the pieces they accept.  “A pretty image of a chicken on a shirt isn’t very Dirty Coast,” adds Blake.  Patrick follows with, “We wanted something that was more of a high end New Orleans t-shirt.”  These aren’t stiff shirts, though, as they see their target audience as “anyone who loves New Orleans and the Gulf South area and has a sense of humor.”
Adhering to the organic growth philosophy, their physical store location opened quietly at the beginning of September, with no address, no sign, no awning and no hours on the door.  “It worked out well for us,” Blake explains, “Folks has to know where we were or seek us out, which created a little buzz.  All non-intentional, but a nice happy accident.”
Since opening, Patrick says that the sales at the store have at least equaled their internet sales.  “I know I’ve shipped up to Canada and over to England, but also every state in the country.”  Patrick believes that many of the shirts have been shipped to our ex-patriot citizens living in other states due to the 504 area code that is attached to many of the orders.
It’s not all business, though.  Dirty Coast sponsors a number of fashion shows, which is undeniably a reason to have a party.
“I am of the philosophy that if there is an opportunity to throw a party it is your duty as a New Orleanian to do so.  If we don’t entertain ourselves and revel in being here amongst other New Orleanians, then we might as well live above sea level,”  Blake says.
“We give out a bunch of shirts to friends and get them to parade on stage to show the new designs.  It’s basically a reason to drink and be merry … it goes with the Dirty Coast attitude,” Patrick says of the fashion shows.
When asked about what the hope for Dirty Coast was, Blake answers that it’s to “keep building the audience so we gain more reach across the country.  The more folks wearing our stuff the more conversations about New Orleans can be struck up.”
Blake says that his hope for the city is much more expansive in that the hope would be to “bring to power leaders who understand the city’s best interest and speak for the citizens (versus business interests elsewhere).  Or, in the absence of that leadership, citizens keep doing things on their own and find new ways to collaborate and communicate on the hopes and ideas for each block, neighborhood, district and then city as a whole.
“I hope that new NOLA converts keep coming to the city and are accepted with open arms because we need new energy and new ideas…Let’s bring young talent to the city to start new businesses, do research and fix up the homes in our beautiful neighborhoods.  It’s not to say that locals can’t save the city, but there are much fewer of us than there were before the storm.  But, we have one huge asset going for us:  We are New Orleans!
“The people who matter usually love us or are intrigued enough to visit and then you know the rest of that story.”
With the desire to make enough money to live on and keep the business running smoothly, they are happy to expand looking into the feasibility of hats, bags and paper products.  “It’s great,” says Patrick, “sometimes we have people return weekly to get a new shirt.”
“We want to keep the ideas and quality high so we never have our audience question our brand value,” follows up Blake.
Dirty Coast is another success story in post-K New Orleans and further proof that New Orleans is rising.  When asked if they’d like to give a shout-out to anyone, the answer was unequivocally New Orleans: To all the “crooks and criminals” who “Keep the brand out there” and to the local politicians who think 15-25K is enough money to accept as a bribe to justify destroying their careers.  Keep it up!”
If you have a t-shirt idea you’d like to share or you want to find a shirt that represents your love for New Orleans, visit Patrick and Blake at Dirty Coast Press at 5704 Magazine Street, near the corner of Arabella and Magazine.  You can also find them online at www.dirtycoast.com .

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Broadmoor’s friends at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, in partnership with Bard College of New York, are planning a FREE event for the public – especially for neighborhood leaders – to help folks use data more effectively for fundraising, project implementation, project management, etc. See the email below.

Please consider attending, and kindly pass this email onto anyone else you think might benefit from attending the event. All are welcome. The free GIS training has limited space and is first-come, first-served so be sure to sign up immediately if you would like to attend this workshop. The data event at the CAC on November 3^rd has plenty of space to accommodate any who would like to attend.

For detailed information on the Nov 2 and 3 events download the following pdfs,

November 2 workshop

November 3 invitation

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NEW ORLEANS - - Not even Hurricane Katrina can keep the people or businesses of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region down. It’s no secret that $10 billion worth of public and private projects are up for grabs as the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast kicks into high gear.

After receiving a grant of $3.2 million from the BP Foundation, the National Urban League and BP America have developed the Gulf Coast Economic Empowerment Program to help small and minority-owned businesses become part of the rebuilding process. The program offers training and resource support, enabling the businesses to pursue and secure contracting opportunities and resources in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast in the housing and construction industry sectors. (more…)

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Rachel Leigh Mays Staylocal.org

   Fair Grinds Coffeehouse, Mid-City’s fair trade coffeehouse and community center, has avenged Katrina on its own terms and with the gentle principles that guide it. Owners Robert and Elizabeth Thompson can reel off countless stories of what they consider their real success long before the Ponce de Leon establishment was officially reopened in June of this year.As two of the few people who returned to the city immediately after the storm, the Thompsons recall the dark and still calm-after-the-storm days as those that mean the most to them. Upon returning to the Big Easy from Houston in the fall of 2005, the Thompsons found their former haven transformed into what it seemed would be a never-ending nightmare of reconstruction and starting over.It wasn’t long however, before the waterlogged space once again began to form the backdrop for one story after another of goodwill and generosity.  Robert gave up on keeping a list of all of the people who volunteered their services from carpentry to clean-up crews after it surpassed four typed pages of names.As Robert recounts, the first few months were intense as Fair Grinds was the only place “open” in Mid-City. The National Guard would visit and bring food, while a few FEMA contractors brought in a BBQ kit to serve up New Orleans-style BBQ for up to fifty lonely and abandoned people.Since Fair Grinds had an electric water heater, people also came to the coffeehouse for their hot showers - not to mention free coffee and wi-fi. They also received milk and sugar donations from Verizon and Bell South volunteers. As everyone was on a waiting list for a refrigerator and Fair Grinds has an ice-machine, Robert and Elizabeth also gave out bags of ice.For the Thompsons, Katrina was a lesson in humility.  Robert still tears up when he recalls an elderly Italian lady he had always seen pushing her little European-style cart to and from the corner grocery store, unwilling to relinquish her independence and self-reliance to old age. She stayed during the entire storm. He recognized her when she came to him one day begging for ice.  She was so fiercely independent that she insisted that Fair Grinds take her two dollars.“Taking her two dollars was a matter of respect for her self-reliance,” says Robert.  “She was an icon of survivability, but ultimately when it came down to the magnitude of the situation, we had to learn the art of graciously accepting the help of others.”Fair Grinds served as a referral for people seeking help of many sorts, leading FEMA to designate the coffeehouse-gone-grassroots community center as a daily drop-off for food and otherwise unavailable supplies. Scads of donated goods arrived at the coffeehouse daily.   Word got out that people could come to Fair Grinds for just about everything: food, water, clothes, shelter and support.Aware of fragile mental conditions, the Thompsons wasted no time in setting up AA and NA meetings and Holistic healing counseling in the community room upstairs.  Musicians began frequenting Fair Grinds to fill the silent nights and provide therapeutic tunes for the many seeking solace and smiles in the turbulent aftermath.One evening, Loyola professor, uptown resident and singer/songwriter Mark Fernandez arrived with guitar in hand and asked if he could play “until things got better.” Mark played through the desolate days to lift spirits and heal through his music. The musicians he brought with him continue to play there today and include Tom Maron, a singer/songwriter with styles ranging from Celtic, country, eclectic fiddle, guitar, harmonica and toe-tapping jigs - accompanied by a singing dog.According to Robert and Elizabeth, the real success after the storm was in the relationships born and a flux of a thousand friends maintaining mental health, creating a nexus for people to come meet, rehabilitate, network, and simply be with people. The idea of reopening only seemed important upon seeing the renovation and thus feeling obligated to get the business off the ground as a show of thanks for the level of community participation that brought everyone so far.Through hell and high water, Fair Grinds has remained true to its vision, to borrow sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s term, of creating a “great good place” that “allows people to relax and unwind, encourage sociability instead of isolation, and make life more colorful and enriched.”  Today, Fair Grinds has a revolving door of loyal customers and newcomers alike who can’t help but want to be regulars. Lawrence Gobble, one of the fortunate few who has worked at Fair Grinds since Katrina, stated, “I love working here; the people are always different, always changing and always the same.”Fair Grinds  is located at 3133 Ponce de Leon, New Orleans, LA  It is open from  6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Call (504)-913-9072 or e-mail info@fairgrinds.com for more information. Stay Local! is a city-wide initiative for creating a strong economy based on locally owned and operated businesses in New Orleans. They encourage consumers to shop locally and help independent businesses operate more effectively.  

Economic Development, Trumpet Issue #8 Sept. 2007

Freret Market Will Include Art, Food and Thrift Shopping

NEW ORLEANS, LA (September 4, 2007) - Less than six months after the City of New Orleans announced a plan to focus redevelopment efforts primarily on 17 strategic areas, a second target recovery area project has been established and is set to open to the public.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin will be joined Saturday by Councilmember Stacey Head; Dr. Edward Blakely, Executive Director of Recovery Management; and Peter Gardner, Executive Director of the Freret Market, as the Freret Market officially opens at the corner of Freret Street and Napoleon Avenue in the heart of Uptown. The market will open for business at noon Saturday, with the ceremonial opening program beginning at 2 p.m. It will include live music, an in-house palm reader and a children’s tent. (more…)

Economic Development, Events