One year from Hurricane Katrina
Cincinnati Change on this one year Hurricane Katrina Anniversary believe that we have a plan to aid in which the playing field for the moderate to poor income consumer in Gulf through a alliance with companies from Cincinnati who will concentrate it's efforts in New Orleans.We believe that if we lose New Orleans then we lose more than those poor black people that is the image of New Orleans. We lose ways of life that are unique to America. This includes a unique New Orleans perspective, jazz, gumbo ya-ya.
The Mission of Cincinnati Change through a operation called Gulf Change will address the needs of the people who were left behind long before the vicious winds and violent waters of Hurricane Katrina & Rita came along to wash them away. We are now picking up on this date the development of Gulf Change with a group of partners that includes Architects and Engineers.
Citizens are resourceful and through our membership in two premier grassroots organizations, The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now with whom we will work with in the flood zones and the close neighborhood after neighborhood as we tie together the opportunities to develop businesses owned by the people of Gulf.
- create the digital infrastructure that will help frame a vision for rebuilding that serves the interests of all residents and is connected to like people in greater Cincinnati;
- use the expertise of contractors hired by Cincinnati Change to develop specific plans and proposals that are technically informed and resident-led that focus on those who have the least;
- support the development and operation of 1,000 community based businesses;
- create the infrastructure to support the message that resident voices must be consistently heard by city, state, and federal officials as key decisions are made in the months and years ahead as we create housing opportunities for 20,000 households through a investment in a mutual fund, and;
- make sure that over the next three years that at least 50% of the job opportunities go those who are designated as hard to serve.
The release of billions of dollars in federal recovery funds for New Orleans, as well as some private grants, depends on the formation of a single master plan covering everything from city-wide infrastructure issues to neighborhood-specific projects. In a July 5, 2006 press release, Mayor C. Ray Nagin, the New Orleans City Council and the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) announced their agreement to adopt a common plan, to be overseen by the Greater New Orleans Foundation's (GNOF) New Orleans Community Support Foundation (NOCSF).
Among other things, the New Orleans Community Support Foundation calls for each of New Orleans' 73 neighborhoods to select from a recommended (selected by an expert national review panel) list of professional architects, urban planners and other professionals to assist in their efforts and/or endorse projects already in progress, spearheaded by the BNOB, the Lambert-Danzey group, and by the neighborhood groups themselves over the many months that no other resources were available.
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