Coastal 5+1 Initiative

Many observers have commented that levels of civic engagement rose significantly after the breaking of the levees. Because local, state, and federal governments failed to respond adequately to the crisis, individuals took matters into their own hands. Citizens became organized to help their neighbors and save their neighborhoods. Increasingly they engaged in the monitoring of public entities and policymakers. They began to expect more from local government. Many nonprofit organizations were launched.

The goal of the Civic Engagement and Leadership Program is to join Orleans Parish with its southern neighbors in advocating for the coast at the state and federal levels. In the short-term, our strategy focuses on

1. creating linkages around the issue of coastal restoration among political/civic leaders and institutions in all 6 parishes (with a special focus on linking New Orleans with the coastal parishes), and
2. educating the affected public about emerging state restoration plans and the effects that they will have on settlement patterns and the still local economies.

In the longer term, we focus on regional leadership development and training to influence national efforts that seek to create a healthy Mississippi River Delta, to stem wetlands loss, and to create a region that grows and manages its surface water in a more sustainable way.

Ever since the disasters brought about by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, as well as Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, residents have had to make major adjustments in how they respond to increasingly dangerous storms. Whether man-made, such as the recent Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, or natural, these disasters have critical repercussions for the most vulnerable people in our communities—low-income and working families, children, and the elderly. The experiences of the last five years have spurred a level of community engagement rooted in a commitment to better preparation, advocacy for fair and humane public policies for relief, and rebuilding in a manner that is smarter, safer, and more equitable. Clearly our region’s future will be significantly shaped by our responses to its unique environmental challenges.

The goal of the Environment and Sustainable Communities Program is, year after year, to encourage resilience, adaptation, sustainability, and ecological, economic, and cultural vitality through support for equitable, environmentally focused policies and programs. Our strategy is to support

1. the implementation of environmentally-related best practices that will have an immediately beneficial and measurable impact on the lives of our citizens and on the long-term viability of our economy;
2. transformation of processes and systems that impede equitable progress;
3. practical revision of zoning regulations to reflect current opportunities and needs;
4. land use and planning as well as community organizing and education to ensure state and federal investment;
5. the development of soft engineering solutions to managing surface water challenges, such as rain gardens, permeable surfaces, roof gardens, cisterns which are part of a water recycling system, and planning for more compact communities that conserve valuable absorptive land; and
6. the creation of sound water policy as it relates to the Mississippi River as an ecosystem, transportation corridor, and revitalizing community amenity.

Through these strategies, the Coastal 5+1 Initiative will create an adaptive culture through the building of resilient housing, integrated water management infrastructure, and equitable planning, which is the only alternative to mass migration further inland.

Geographic isolation and concentrations of low-income people in our coastal region have been exacerbated by the recent, devastating storms. Gaining access to opportunity – especially for our African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American communities – is increasingly difficult because of high housing and transportation costs, shifts in job creation away from low-skilled work, and the exodus of major corporations from the metropolitan New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina. We believe that the development of water management technologies and the bringing to scale of these inventions will lead to new career opportunities for local residents that are well paying and enduring. Cultivated in the correct manner, they can lead to workforce opportunities that can, in turn, make our region into a world leader in such areas as integrated surface water management and resilient construction – areas that the Dutch, for example, have mastered and now export for profit.

To drive the development of this new economy for in our region, the Sustainable Economic Development Program will support

1. economic opportunities that are unique to the region’s resources, such as traditionally viable industries in agriculture, fisheries, and energy production;
2. workforce development programs that are specifically tailored to emerging careers in such fields as wetlands restoration, innovative surface water management, planning and engineering;
3. workforce development programs conducted by professional trade organizations and community development financial institutions; and
4. non-traditional youth outreach and training which includes after-school education efforts geared toward empowerment, self-esteem and self-discipline, wealth creation and asset-building.

With this “blue ocean” strategy, we can begin not only preserving our coastal communities but also improving the lives of people whose economic status has been long limited by a combination of geographic isolation and overdependence on unsustainable industries.