Building community capacity in the rebuilding of New Orleans : the role of philanthropic funders post-Katrina

How can funders strengthen community capacity in post-Katrina New Orleans? Residents of low-income, minority neighborhoods have historically faced government neglect, and consequently distrust decisionmakers, in a city of extreme race and class segregation. These communities are now being overlooked in a market-driven rebuilding process. Based on a tradition of self-determination, groups across the city are fighting to meet new needs. With massive institutional failure at all levels, philanthropy could support these groups. The purpose of this thesis is to help the Gulf Coast Funders for Equity, a consortium committed to more equitable redevelopment, think strategically about how to allocate resources to strengthen these groups, some of which form, struggle, and evaporate before funders can reach them. I use a mixed-method case study approach: in-depth interviews with key informants; review of media coverage and documentary sources; and a secondary review of comparable approaches. First, to sharpen the rationale for community capacity building, I examine the pre- and post-storm roles and contributions of informal groups in New Orleans. These groups serve as nodes of trust, support and enthusiasm in overlooked communities.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Bavishi, Jainey K. (Jainey Kumar)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Xavier de Souza Briggs.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39931

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39931