Overview
To school children, Plaquemines Parish is the “big toe of Louisiana’s boot” protruding into the Gulf of Mexico. On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck on the west bank of Plaquemines Parish. The 20-foot storm surge hit the southern coastline and gradually inundated the entire parish as it moved northward. A month later, Hurricane Rita’s three-foot storm surge caused more damage to the already weakened levees in Plaquemines Parish, resulting in more flooding.
In 2006, the Foundation established an affiliate community foundation in Plaquemines Parish, because it believed that the rebuilding process in devastated areas should be led by those who live and work there. To establish a solid framework for their efforts, the Plaquemines Community Foundation partnered with the St. Bernard affiliate to hire nationally renowned Healthy Neighborhoods founder, David Boehlke. He brought together a cross-section of residents and business leaders with the purpose of identifying community assets and creating a strategy to market them to current, former, and future residents and businesses.
Since then, the PCF has awarded grants to support education programs and agricultural initiatives. They also partnered with the SBCF to create the Southeast Louisiana Fisheries Assistance Center, which currently serves as a clearing house where local fishermen can receive free business planning, financial assistance (in the form of grants and low-interest loans), fishing licenses, and a slew of industry-specific training services.
