Gulf Coast Recovery
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Rebuilding Together is looking for volunteers to help rebuild houses for low-income elderly and disabled residents. Learn More
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Read weekly reports from the Gulf Coast from Walter Gallas, Director of the New Orleans Field Office. Learn More
For most of us the events associated with Hurricane Katrina are memory. For hundreds of thousands people on the Gulf Coast they are a daily fact of life as they travel the long road to recovery. The National Trust for Historic Preservation continues to work diligently with our partners in Louisiana and Mississippi to protect and enhance the special character of the places these people enjoy.
Our Position
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is committed to playing an active role in responding to catastrophic national disasters. We are dedicated to assisting affected neighborhoods in rebuilding and stabilizing cultural resources and older and historic communities and support full compliance with Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act in the aftermath of any natural or man-made disaster -- particularly in the distribution of Federal disaster aid in the form of grants, loans, tax credits and any in-kind contributions, which may also be provided in match from States and localities to affected citizens.
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In New Orleans we maintain a New Orleans Field Office that provides on the ground leadership and advocacy to protect buildings from unnecessary demolition, monitors governmental agencies for compliance with preservation laws, proposes policies that help owners of historic properties in their recovery efforts and helps coordinate the dizzying array of preservation activities throughout the city. The Director of our field office, Walter Gallas, maintains a lively preservation blog about the unique city of New Orleans and its equally unique preservation challenges.
We also operate the HOME AGAIN! program out of our New Orleans Field Office. HOME AGAIN! provides direct technical assistance and funding to low and moderate income owners of historic properties. Since late 2005 we have helped 11 different families reclaim their homes and restart their lives. You can find some of their stories here. We are currently working with 7 new projects. Our HOME AGAIN! efforts are concentrated in the Holy Cross neighborhood in the 9th Ward of New Orleans and are intended to be a catalyst for neighborhood renewal and a demonstration to a watching city and world of the viability of New Orleans' historic neighborhoods.
All of our efforts in New Orleans are made possible by the strong partnership we have with the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans. Not only is our field office housed in their headquarters but they help us coordinate all of our efforts in the city. This includes:
- The National Main Street Center working to establish a new, citywide Main Street program in New Orleans.
- The National Trust's Community Revitalization Department efforts to help build the capacity of Operation Comeback and placing a Field Officer in New Orleans.
- The opportunity for National Trust members and supporters to volunteer on specific rehabilitation projects.
Likewise, in Mississippi we are working with our partners, the Mississippi Heritage Trust and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to save those important remaining historic places on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. The future of places like Beauvoir, the Gulfport Veterans Administration Hospital campus, and the Charnley House are still in the balance and our support of our partners in working for the future of these special places is an integral part of our Gulf Coast recovery efforts.
Lowe's Katrina Cottage
Lowe's is supporting hurricane recovery efforts through a contribution to the National Trust's Hurricane Recovery Fund and in offering the Katrina Cottage, a small, permanent home designed as a dignified alternative to the FEMA trailer. The National Trust supports this initiative and commends Lowe's for its leadership in making these units available.
PreservationNation Blog: Gulf Coast Recovery 
Notes from New Orleans: Partners in Preservation
With the announcement yesterday morning of the five recipients of the Partners in Preservation grants in New Orleans, I joined Rev. Otto Duncan at St. James AME Church in Mid-City as the local Fox-TV affiliate covered the story. Partners in Preservation is an initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. St. [...]
Notes from New Orleans: Volunteers Rebuilding in Broadmoor
Seventeen National Trust for Historic Preservation volunteers were in town this past week to participate in rebuilding efforts in the Broadmoor neighborhood. This was part of the nationwide HGTV/Rebuilding Together events that had kicked off on New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl. Kevin Mercadel of the field office gave them an overview of our [...]
Notes from New Orleans: Upholding Traditions
Mardi Gras Indians probably best represent the complexity of New Orleans culture, a tradition with Native American and African roots that flourishes in a city which more often looks to the Carribean than to North America and Europe for its creative inspiration. A few of the Mardi Gras Indians paraded a few Sundays ago, from [...]
