[StBernard] 'A new frontier' in New Orleans draws new residents

[Westley Annis]

'A new frontier' in New Orleans draws new residents 

By Korina Lopez, USA TODAY
Despite all its problems, New Orleans is attracting new residents.
David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service,
says a growing trend, dubbed "the brain-gain phenomenon," is getting
traction in New Orleans. "Katrina offers a new frontier for people who care
about social change," he says.

After two years of volunteering in AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian
Community Corps), Ashley Sloan, Greg Loushine and Jackie Smith decided to
start their own non-profit group, Live St. Bernard.


"There were so many volunteers and not enough skilled workers," Sloan says.
"So volunteers are often left standing around, waiting to be shown what to
do. We wanted to start a program designed to attract and retain skilled
laborers to the area."

Nathan Rothstein, executive director of NOLA YURP Initiative (New Orleans,
La., Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals), moved to New Orleans after he
spent his senior-year spring break volunteering in the area. Katrina "is our
generation's civil rights movement," says Rothstein, 23. "People come from
all over to make an impact, to have a part in history." He estimates 5,000
people have settled in the area.

And Richard Campanella, a geographer with Tulane University's Center for
Bioenvironmental Research, estimates that 2,000 to 3,000 working
professionals have moved in.

Zack Rosenburg, a Washington, D.C., criminal defense attorney, and his wife,
Liz, who worked in the non-profit sector, were so deeply affected that they
started the non-profit St. Bernard Project, which helps find money, supplies
and labor to assist residents in moving back into their homes. With the help
of volunteers, the St. Bernard Project has rebuilt 88 homes in the past 16
months.

"Many volunteers stay because they bond with and identify with residents,"
he says. "It's hard for the volunteers to leave and continue with their
lives after bonding with the residents." The couple have decided to make New
Orleans their permanent home.

"New Orleans represents the great optimism of America," Eisner says. "We've
seen people turn their experience in long-term volunteering to inform their
career paths. We've seen people move to change their lives of success to
lives of significance."
 

  
 
  
 

  
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-14-katrina-volunteers-side_N.htm