Rebuilding New Orleans with Hands, Hope, and Healing
A Resource Handbook for Immersion & Service Groups

Below you will find a list of executive summaries and links to other important articles, but this time about the post-Katrina outlook for New Orleans, the trends and statistics, and some of the major problems the city and its residents will be facing. 

Survey of Katrina Evacuees
The Washington Post, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/katrina_poll091605.pdf
This survey of 680 randomly selected adult evacuees in Houston shelters was conducted September 10-12, 2005.  

Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Reconstruction
By Bruce Katz, Matt Fellowes, and Mia Mabanta of The Brookings Institution; February 2006.
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/200512_katrinaindex.htm
This is a report published monthly that sheds light on the most recent statistics regarding population, social services, unemployment and labor, and other general trends.  

Measuring Post-Katrina Progress—Katrina Issues and the Aftermath
The Brookings Institution—Metropolitan Policy Program
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/katrina.htm
This is the main Katrina site for the Katrina Index above.  It is very comprehensive, including sections on Re-Building the Gulf and Emergency Response (Housing Families Displaced by Katrina; Post-Katrina Housing Assistance; and Post-Katrina Recovery Update).   

Contractors in New Orleans Allowed to Violate Worker Safety Standards
Interfaith Worker Justice—Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity; February 13, 2006
http://www.iwj.org/actnow/gccre/gccre_osha.html
The Department of Labor and OSHA have relaxed its safety standards and inspections, not forcing companies to comply with the basics such as “safety rules for worker training, protective equipment, and other safety measure, even while workers cleaned up hazardous and toxic materials in the Gulf Region.”  

Let King’s Legacy Inspire Renewal
From The New Orleans Times-Picayune; January 18, 2006
http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1137568110272460.xml?nola#continue
Musician and New Orleanian Wynton Marsalis spoke to students on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  He remarked: “Don't wish for someone else to do later what you can do now.”  

Goodbye, New Orleans: It’s Time We Stopped Pretending
By Mike Tidwell, Orion Magazine; December 2005
http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/sidebars/front/index_Tidwell.html
Important marshland that in the past has buffered New Orleans from huge tide surges of hurricanes is rapidly disappearing.  While politicians look to fix the human-made, structural flaws, like the levees, they are ignoring the real danger: the eroding natural environmental habitat that protects the inland areas.

A Failure of Initiative: Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina
U.S. House of Representatives; February 15, 2006
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 
     
The Times-Picayune 2006 Mayoral Election Guide
http://www.nola.com/elections/ 
That’s right!  Despite less than half of the New Orleans’ population has not returned, the City of New Orleans will hold its Primary Election on April 22, 2006, and its General Election on May 20, 2006.  Check out all the latest in how the election will be run, who will get to vote, and who the candidates are for mayor.   

Hurricane Katrina: Social-Demographic Characteristics of Impacted Areas
Congressional Research Services (CRS) Report to Congress; November 4, 2005 
http://www.gnocdc.org/reports/crsrept.pdf

The Impact of Katrina: Race and Class in Storm-Damaged Neighborhoods
by John R. Logan, Professor at Brown University
http://www.s4.brown.edu/Katrina/report.pdf

Fights Between Texas, Louisiana Students Worsen
By The Associated Press, with Chris Duncan contributing; January 31, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Congress.html
Cultural gaps between Katrina evacuees and Texas students continues to increase, as school fights, cafeteria riots, and arrests are occurring more frequently in middle and high schools there.  Principals and school officials are trying to establish peace- and community-building activities to bridge the cultural and social gap. 

Change is Mantra of Citizen Group
By Bruce Nolan of The Times-Picayune; February 12, 2006
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/113973055622690.xml
The new Common Good Initiative hopes to end the racial tensions that have been part of the city’s past by bringing together city leaders, clergy, and non-profits groups.