Despite pouring rain,* we had a great turnout of neighborhood leaders who attended this quarter's roundtable on the topic of resilience. Mayor Landrieu and Jeff Hebert, Chief Resilience Officer and Executive Director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, emphasized how important neighborhood organizations will be in developing a resilience strategy for the City of New Orleans.
Highlighting a series of less commonly used examples of resilience--including youth mentorship programs and community farming initiatives--Mr. Hebert stressed that a resilience strategy must include more than just natural disaster preparedness. He offered a working definition of city resilience as "the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience." Neighborhood leaders were then asked to discuss in small groups what strengths exist in their own communities that make them able to bounce back from shocks. Community members are encouraged to continue to share examples of resilience, which will be compiled and put into a "map of resilience." For more information or to share your neighborhood's strengths, visit nola.gov/resilience.
After the presentation on resilience, Ryan Berni, Senior Advisor to the Mayor, announced plans in preparation for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and how neighborhood organizations can get involved. The City will launch a K10 website in the coming weeks that will outline these plans, which will include a city-wide day of service.
Stay tuned for the next Neighborhood Leaders Roundtable in the 3rd quarter of 2015.
*A few umbrellas were left behind on Saturday. If you are missing your umbrella, call us at 658-4980.