New Orleans Recovery Initiative (NORI)
The New Orleans Recovery Initiative (NORI) was designed to connect the expertise of the University's faculty, students and staff with the needs of community groups in New Orleans. Its origins lie in a challenge issued by Walter Isaacson, Vice-Chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, during a Poverty Center-hosted event (Katrina Revisited, September 8, 2006). Mr. Isaacson called for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to commit its resources and energy to aid in the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans. In response, Oscar Barbarin, a professor in the School of Social Work, traveled to New Orleans later that fall in order to explore ways that the University of North Carolina could become involved.
Upon his return, Professor Barbarin joined forces with Professor William Rohe (City and Regional Planning) and Dr. Spencer Cowan (Center on Urban and Regional Studies), and after consultation with the Poverty Center's Advisory Board, they selected District 6 as their area of focus. District 6 includes the greater Gentilly area in New Orleans and is racially and socioeconomically representative of the city's rich heritage.
In discussions with community spokespersons and planners, NORI identified two projects in which the participants' expertise and the residents' needs overlapped. The first is the creation of a neighborhood information center that would provide returning residents access to the full range of information necessary to undertake the rebuilding of their houses and lives. The second project is a study of various redevelopment scenarios: one of which will examine the cost and consequences of random, scatter-shot development; the other will look at patterns of development if "clustering" (the concentration of residences and businesses) is promoted.
Representatives from NORI have since returned frequently to New Orleans to meet with neighborhood associations, planning consultants, faculty at local universities, community leaders and others. Joanne Caye, also a professor in the School of Social Work at UNC, has come on board as the project director for the information center and five students (four from City and Regional Planning, one from Law) are currently working on the project. The project also intends to enlist the help of the School of Information and Library Science, the Kenan-Flagler Business School and other departments at UNC.
In addition, NORI is partnering with the faculty members from the University of New Orleans and Dartmouth University, the planning firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk and other local community leaders and organizations in New Orleans. It also has the support of the Office of Recovery Management.
Not only does NORI promise to assist the residents of District 6 in rebuilding their community, its engagement with the community, melding of research and action, emphasis on student involvement and interdisciplinarity all reflect the Center's mission. The Poverty Center envisions numerous projects and events arising out of NORI's experiences in New Orleans, including the possibility of panels, speakers, publications and studies.
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