Tag Archives: Hurricane Katrina

Sweet Home New Orleans Works to Preserve Local Culture

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You can help raise awareness for the work of Sweet Home New Orleans by adding the charity logo to your website.

Founded in 2006, Sweet Home New Orleans has worked on a variety of fronts to preserve the cultural and musical traditions of New Orleans through restoration of communities and the lives of individuals within communities whose presence is so vital to the city’s unique culture.

At the time Sweet Home New Orleans began its work, the cultural integrity of the city of New Orleans was severely threatened when hundreds of thousands of those who make up the city’s rich cultural base were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.  Many of those displaced lacked the necessary resources to return to their homes and resume their lives.  As a result, a large number of communities were left in a fragmented state and were vulnerable to the threat of gentrification.

Sweet Home New Orleans has addressed the situation by stepping in to revitalize endangered communities—providing social services including financial assistance, case management and advocacy for more than 2,300 members of the local music community struggling against barriers to finding affordable housing and sustainably resuming their lives.  Sweet Home New Orleans provides its services through staff from within the communities it serves to target the needs of local musicians and artists, Mardi Gras Indians and members of Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs of New Orleans.

You can visit the official website of Sweet Home New Orleans to learn about volunteer opportunities or call 1.887.933.8466 to find out how you can help with a donation.  You can also help by getting the word out, which can be done simply by adding the Sweet Home New Orleans logo and adding their official link to your own website.

HandsOn New Orleans Involves Communities in Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort

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HandsOn New Orleans volunteers prepare to enter a home damaged by Katrina for a restoration project.

HandsOn New Orleans Volunteers prepare to enter a home damaged by Katrina for a restoration project.

One of the most active nonprofit organizations in helping to revitalize the city of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has been HandsOn New Orleans.  Begun in March of 2006, volunteers for HandsOn New Orleans have collectively pitched in more than 542,000 hours to a variety of projects.

HandsOn New Orleans takes an approach to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort which goes far beyond simply providing a particular service such as property restoration.  In addition to offering services such as property restoration and construction of new housing in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, HandsOn New Orleans works in active co-operation with community leaders to design projects specially designed to meet that particular communities’ needs with Community Driven Projects as well as Volunteer Leader Training for those who wish to become active in co-coordinating community projects.  Additionally, HandsOn New Orleans offers Youth-Friendly Projects through its Youth Engagement program to empower the youth within a community to take a positive role in their own community’s development and well-being.

There are a variety of ways by which you can become involved with HandsOn New Orleans in their effort to restore New Orleans communities in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.  In addition to a project calendar, the HandsOn Network website includes links to each of the programs—including a Volunteer Housing Program for those who wish to take part in an extended project and become a stronger part of a community of volunteers dedicated to common goals.  HandsOn New Orleans also accepts tax-deductible PayPal donations through their website or by mail, as well as donations of household and office items.

UNITY of Greater New Orleans Addresses Homelessness After Hurricane Katrina

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UNITY of Greater New Orleans is currently the only organization which has conducted regular statistical surveys of homes abandoned following Hurricane Katrina to gauge the levels of homelessness in the city.

UNITY of Greater New Orleans is currently the only organization which has conducted surveys of abandoned property following Hurricane Katrina in the city of New Orleans to gauge levels of homelessness in the city.

Among the most active nonprofit agencies in the disaster relief effort following Hurricane Katrina in the Greater New Orleans area is UNITY of Greater New Orleans, a consortium of 63 non-profit and government organizations founded in 1992 with the goal of providing housing and services to individuals in the city currently suffering homelessness.

UNITY of Greater New Orleans seeks to effectively address the most severe problem of homelessness in the nation; one of many lingering after-effects of Hurricane Katrina.  According to conservative estimates taken by UNITY four full years after Katrina in August of 2009, approximately 11,000 people, constituting nearly four percent of the city’s population, remain homeless; more than four times the national average of most major metropolitan areas and more than double the rate of the city with the next highest homelessness rate—Atlanta, at 1.4 percent.  UNITY also estimated a total of more than 6,000 squatters living in the city’s nearly 66,000 abandoned homes.  UNITY additionally found nine homeowners living in unrepaired, flood damaged homes which contained toxic hazards and were deemed unfit for habitation.

UNITY of Greater New Orleans is currently the only agency which is taking regular surveys of abandoned homes in the city of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.  In addition to taking surveys of abandoned homes, providing the most accurate known estimates of homelessness in the city of New Orleans and working with policymakers to help provide sufficient, affordable housing to struggling and homeless families and citizens in the Greater New Orleans area, UNITY of Greater New Orleans has created UNITY HousingLink—a free online listing resource which provides guidance for potential renters to determine affordable housing budgets in helping to find affordable housing while simultaneously helping landlords and agencies to fill vacancies.

For private individuals who wish to become involved with UNITY of Greater New Orleans in their effort to address the problem of homelessness in the city and surrounding area following Hurricane Katrina, UNITY of Greater New Orleans accepts donations of household goods, toiletries and bedding supplies for their warehouse, where volunteer opportunities are available to help inventory and sort donated goods.  Volunteer opportunities are also available at the UNITY office to assist with data research and computer graphic and website design, or on-call for pick up and delivery of goods or with UNITY’s moving team.  You can also make a tax-deductible donation by telephone to support the nonprofit efforts of UNITY of Greater New Orleans to help provide housing and services to those suffering homelessness in the area.