Welcome to help4NOLA.com!
The best thing about all the planning processes in New Orleans post-Katrina was that they were all neighborhood based.
The goofiest thing thing about all the planning processes post-Katrina was that they were neighborhood based.
Why goofy?
Because no New Orleanean maintains an allegiance only to their neighborhood. We have all lived all over the city (and state, often) and we have family and friends who live across the city, state, and region. Our allegiance is to New Orleans as a whole, the State of Louisiana, and, indeed, to the entire Gulf South.
Here's the trick: in an era of pathetic government support -- from the city, state, or federal level -- how does a neighborhood group help or "save" the city, state, or region?
Obviously we can't. It's even grandiose to consider it. But can't we help? Can't we make a difference somehow?
We take these questions seriously in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans because we take our allegiances to N'awlins, Louisiana, and the Gulf South seriously. Because we are still struggling to bring back our own beloved neighborhood and don't have enough capacity to fully implement our own recovery plan yet, we certainly can't do much directly for anyone else. We just don't have the staff.
But there is a way we can help. We can share all our programs, practices, ideas, and secrets, because it's to our benefit that the whole city, state, and region recover.
If Broadmoor recovers, but our neighborhoods around us don't -- or the city doesn't, or the state doesn't -- that does us little good. Recovery is a rising tide that lifts or destroys all boats. We are all in this together.
And so, with the help of students from Harvard College during one of their January and March breaks in 2009, we created this website, to share with New Orleans what we know and are doing.
We don't share it because we have all the answers. We clearly don't. We share because some of our ideas might help others. And we share to encourage others to share with us. We need help, support, and ideas, too. We (clearly) don't have a monopoly on best practice ideas and success. It is in the spirit of civic sharing that we created and offer this site. Enjoy it. Share your ideas with us. Help us recover, too. Success for one of us is success for all of us. Let's help each other succeed!
On this website, you’ll find links to information about urban planning, organizational issues, local New Orleans resources, and more. We hope they help you achieve even greater success.
Hal Roark
Executive Director